LAHORE - A two-week festival titled ‘Lahore Biennale’ kicked off at Lahore Fort Saturday.

Biennale opening weekend programme included performances, guided tours of artworks and venues as collateral gallery programming within the city. The cultural event was held to create more awareness about the exciting developments taking place in the region.

Biennales are large scale public art exhibitions that take art beyond the realm of galleries and museums into public domains.  All the exhibition of the biennales is free and open to the public.  Speaking on the occasion, Novelist Mohsin Hameed shed light on art and culture and stressed the need for promoting such events.

“Art is not a luxury. It is not a frivolity. It is not a plaything of the elite. It is not primarily these things. Art is our imagination at play. We do not lack artists. Artists from here have travelled all over the world and displayed their work in the most prominent places”.

Director of  LB Qudsia Rahim said that historically, Lahore has been one of the capitals of arts, culture and letters, a city of gardens and monuments. Today, the city is home to prominent artists, cultural practitioners, music gharanas and art institutions. However, given that Pakistan lacks spaces such as museums of contemporary art to showcase such work on a sustained basis, one of the aims of the Biennales to create this exposure for local audiences, and to enrich conversation and dialogue within the local, and global art scene.

We are grateful for the support of the government and various departments of the government that have assisted us throughout the process, our private sponsors, and our international cultural partners. We acknowledge this in humility, and value the trust individuals and organizations have placed upon us in realizing the first Biennale.”

Additional Information and Culture Secretary Saman Rai said: “It is an honour for me standing here tonight and representing government. I’m really thankful to Qudsia Rahim because she contacted us and discussed the idea of Lahore Biennale which is turned into reality today. I’m grateful to Chief Minister ian Shehbaz Sharif who approved the budget and made this event possible.

I hope soon we will see the second edition of Lahore Biennale.”