Projects
Artists Amna Saeed (Pakistan) Elisabeth Rosenthal (Germany) Magda Fabianczyk (Poland/UK) Muzzumil Ruheel (Pakistan) Narjis Mirza (Pakistan) Sarah Mumtaz (Pakistan) Zeeshan Younas (Pakistan) Zhou Bin (China) Flags over Seaview; whistles at Khadda Market; voices in the People’s tree; and bodily revulsions projected onto the walls of eating places. The culmination of Vasl’s third International Artists’ Workshop took place around Karachi over the 9th, 10th and 11th of March, with performances and sound works arranged across the streets, and video installations installed in galleries and public spaces around the city. Focussing on Performance, Sound and Moving Images, Vasl Artists’ Collective invited ten artists to attend this year’s international workshop after an open call. Taking place between the 23rd February and the 11th of March, the workshop culminated in an ‘open weekend’ that gave the artists an opportunity to display the output of their interactions with Karachi and one another. Unlike the typical residency programme, the artists’ workshop initiates a particular intensity by involving an almost unmanageable number of artists working together over a limited duration. The resulting environment inspires a speed of exchange, research and collaborative activity. The coordinators of Vasl felt that unlike the two earlier workshops that had taken place in Gadani in 2001 (Vasl’s first ever project), and then in 2006, the artists’ workshop could offer more of a contribution to the local art scene and the public population when it took place in the urban territory. Exploring uncommon and unexposed forms of artistic practice, the artists working with Vasl were not making paintings or sculptures, but were working on films, audio pieces, performances and installations.
