Numaish Karachi

Wazir Khan Chowk

Lattoos—Spinning Tops | Tahir Mahmood

Materials: Handmade with Sissoo wood, terracotta, coloured resin

The spinning top, with its speed and motion, has enraptured children across the world for centuries. Some of the earliest tops were found in the Middle East over three thousand years ago and were made of terracotta. While packaged versions of the toy will mostly be made from plastic and metal, the traditional subcontinental lattoo is made of wood and spins on a metal base, which is usually a nail that pierces the length of the top. It takes a long cotton thread wrapped around the top and an expert flick of the wrist to throw a perfect spin. Though a rarer sight now, it is still common to see children in the street battling lattoos with skill and precision. Tahir Mahmood invites visitors to revisit those times with his custom-made lattoos.

Overflow | Noor Ali Chaghani

Hafiz Bilal Ashraf, Danish Baloch, Syeda Komal Fatima, Taimoor K Mumtaz, Azmat Naqqash, Sana Nizami

Materials: 18 000 one-inch-long bricks

In this installation, handmade miniature terracotta bricks are used to create wavelike sculptures around the drains in the Wazir Khan Chowk. The brick is a fixed form; it denotes stability and structure, and yet here it undergoes a metamorphosis, to take on the fluidity of undulating waves. They spill from drains that have been installed to clear rainwater from the area. The Chowk itself lies near the Dina Nath Well, which is now dry and walled off. Noor Ali Chaghani’s bricks mimic the flow of water—an overflow—but only to highlight the frustration of water trapped in a material (terracotta) that is as unyielding as earth. 

Jharoka Pavillion | Umar Hameed, Raza Zahid, Saima Zaidi 

Materials: Mirror finish stainless steel, powder coated mild steel
Dimensions: L 17’x W 4’8”x H 9’4”

The narrow streets of the Walled City of Lahore have required their architecture to negotiate the close proximity of public and private spaces. One solution came in the form of a jharoka, or overhanging balcony, which served as an elevated extension of private space into the public realm. Its skin consisted of a jaali or screen, a popular feature in Mughal architecture, which provided much-needed visual separation. Jharokas often served as a vantage point for women without being observed: a veil, hiding and revealing at the same time. Over the years, however, they have ceased to serve this function and have gradually atrophied from neglect. They are remnants of a past only preserved as façades of the Walled City havelis.

The pavilion is an interactive screen comprising of 335 highly reflective triangular modules that reference the aa’ina kari (mirror mosaics) of the Sheesh Mahal in the Lahore Fort. Much like a jaali, they too blur the distinction between body and silhouette. The reflectivity of the geometric grid results in a pixelated collage that brings together the mosque, the street, the sky and the people and allows dialogue between them to continuously evolve as the modules rotate on their axis.

Mehrab—The Arch | Tahir Mahmood

Materials: Powder coating, steel, deco-paint
Dimensions: L 10’x W 38”x H 31”

Arches are, structurally and symbolically, an integral element of the Walled City. From the towering entrances of masjids to latticed hujras and the smallest window, they are visual reminders of the inner city’s rich architectural past. This arched table combines this history with the communal bonds that hold the city together. Through Mehrab, Mahmood evokes a very specific table that stands on the roof of an old residence in the Walled City. This small, cement platform has become a central hub in the rooftop network, witnessing games of ludo or neighbours chopping vegetables together whilst sharing updates of their lives. Mehrab is constructed from steel, with the table’s surface painted to resemble the patterns that adorn the floor of Emperor Jehangir’s tomb. Accompanied by benches, the arch and table come together to provide an avenue into new stories and conversations.

This Body of Work | Affan Baghpatti

Materials: Utensils made from copper, brass, fiberglass and silicone

Affan Baghpatti reimagines vintage items and works with objects that were once considered functional but have fallen into disuse: mostly abandoned. In This Body of Work he brings together several household objects—the sarota (betel nut cutter), katori (pannikin or metal cup), dibya (a small container), surmedani (a vessel for surma or kohl), lota (a jug for ablution)—which may seem familiar, having been used by previous generations.

These hybrid metal objects allow a glimpse at handicrafts and an aesthetic that is no longer used in an age of industrial production. Their subcontinental context evokes a strong sense of nostalgia. In this series, Baghpatti invites us to question the quest for functionality through the relics it leaves behind.

Disruption as Rapture | Shahzia Sikander

Shahzia Sikander’s 10-minute film, Disruption as Rapture, is inspired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s 18th Century manuscript, Gulshan-I Ishq (Garden of Love), written in 1657-58 by Nusrati, court poet to Sultan Ali Adil Shah II of Bijapur. The poem is written in Deccani Urdu and Persian Naskh script, the language of the Muslim elite in South-Central India, and is a North Indian Hindu love story recast as a Sufi tale for an Islamic court. It is thus a manuscript infused with plurality—Hindu and Sufi, metaphor and message. 

Its allegorical tale of connection, separation, longing, and the final union of lovers is told through the iconography of lush gardens and magical beings. Sikander uses movement and lyrics to play with the love story’s metaphor for a soul’s search for the Divine. 

The film was produced in collaboration with Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Du Yun and vocalist Ali Sethi. Sethi explores elements from Hindu and Muslim lyrical poetry to create an improvised passage into a devotional process. The collaborative spirit of the work is reflected in the multiplicity of aural and visual languages.  

This short has been previously screened internationally, as well as nationally at the Karachi and Lahore Biennales 2017 and 2018 respectively.  

One and a Half… | Durre S Ahmed

Materials: Bricks

The terracotta-work re-Construction: One and a Half…  refers to the expression derh eent ki masjid  ‘the mosque built with one and a half bricks’: a way to express a person who is set on running counter stream. Ahmed’s work deconstructs this expression through an extreme visual representation to question whether the postmodern world deprives individuals of the ability to communicate shared meanings. Has the need to hold on to endless distinctions and binaries—image and text, artist and spectator, religion and science— lead to an inability to meet on common ground? Ahmed invites viewers to let go of the literalness of seeing ‘only to the letter’ of things.

Naqsh | Sahar Musharraf

Materials: Terra Cotta
Dimensions: 10 inch diameter spheres

The first tenet of sacred Islamic geometry is a perfect circle. Taking this one step further, Sahar Musharraf celebrates the equally versatile sphere. With no edges, starting or ending point, the sphere symbolises an infinity matched only by the numerous geometric variations that can be etched into its surface. The circle produces triangles, hexagons, octagons, stars in a dizzying array of patterns, some of which have been demonstrated in these handmade clay spheres. This series is a tribute to the geometric patterns that can be found in the Walled City and to the circle itself, a symbol of perfection and the universe in Islamic culture.

Sitar | Ziauddin Saheb

The sitar, a stringed instrument from the Veen/Been family, is said to have been sent down from heaven. The word is derived from the Persian sehtar, meaning ‘three-stringed’ and its invention is sometimes credited to an 18th century fakir named Amir Khusro who shares his name with the celebrated poet. The modern sitar is four feet in length with a deep pear-shaped gourd body and a long, wide, hollow wooden neck. Its invention can be traced to Mughal rule in India where Persian lutes were played in the darbars.

Today it is a dominant instrument in the subcontinent, often accompanied by the tambura (drone-lute) and tabla (percussion) ensembles. It is also used in Northern Indian kathak (dance-dramas).

Tabla | Aqeel Akhtar

The tabla is a pair of percussions instruments that originate from ancient mridangam and pakhawaj drums. While its invention is credited to the 13th Century poet Amir Khusro, the exact origin and evolution of the instrument is unclear. It remains an integral sound in a variety of genres and styles of music.

The Quartet | Nisa Hafeez, Fatima Hamdani, Furqan Karim, Muhammad Mehdi, Momina Qadri, Safa Shahzad (Habib University)

Materials: Ultrasonic sensors, Arduino Uno, LED light strips, Lasani wood, Acrylic sheet
Dimensions: 4.5 x 4.5 ft

This interactive light installation combines sacred geometry with a communal spirit. The inner city has a strong hold on all who live and have lived here. It is not uncommon to hear of families who have moved away, returning to their old neighbourhoods to revisit favourite haunts and meet friends. Inspired by these bonds, this installation has been designed so that only sections light up when someone standing on the marker activates the sensor. It is only when four people, The Quartet, come together that it lights up entirely.

Instructors: Umair Azfar Khan and Saima Zaidi

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