LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Lahore Biennale, a large-scale international contemporary exhibition ongoing in the Pakistani city of Lahore, is aiming to reclaim the historical city’s place on the international arts calendar, its curator and featured artists have said, and be a “collective and participatory” event that involved the whole city and its citizenry. 
Of Mountains and Seas, the third edition of the Biennale, is curated by John Tain, the head of research at Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, and considers the themes of ecology and sustainable futures, with special reference to recent floods and agricultural disasters in Pakistan as well as the country’s urban pollution and social, economic, political and sexual inequalities. 
This will be the first edition since 2020, which had Emirate curator Hoor Al Qasimi at the helm and was displayed before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Biennale features over 60 artists representing 30 countries, presenting site-specific exhibits as well as immersive installations that draw attention to issues caused by environmental degradation, along with illuminating the city’s vernacular and indigenous heritage as transformative resources for future sustainability. 
Exhibitions are being featured across a dozen venues across the city, including the UNESCO World Heritage site the Lahore Fort in the ancient Walled City and the famed Mughal-era Shalimar Gardens, a true treasure of Islamic garden design and hydrology that will be showcased for the first time in the Biennale. 
“We wanted to showcase our art in a bustling public space, not art as gate-kept by colonial legacies or their bureaucracies,” Abdullah Qureshi, a Pakistani Artist who curated a show titled: ‘Decolonial Feminist Ecologies: On Body and Land’ put together by the Pakistan Art Forum (PAF) in collaboration with the Lahore Biennale Foundation, told Arab News. 
“We tend to think of art as this controlled, quiet space where people are observers from a distance. [The artists in this show] think about these ideas outside the Western canon.”
A press release by the biennale management said the idea of placing historic sites in dialogue with more contemporary works was aimed at bringing to light the ways Lahore’s celebrated culture, architecture, and gardens, “generally understood to symbolize its palimpsest of connections to Asia and Europe through trade routes and the migration of people and knowledge, also connects with more recent conversations about the significance of historical and indigenous forms of knowledge and practices as necessary alternatives to the extractivism that plague modern societies.”
“Evidence of these local and vernacular forms can be abundantly found everywhere in the architecture, art, cosmology, cuisine, and literature across the city, as well as in the diversity of its inhabitants— people whose relation to local and regional ecosystems have been fine-tuned over millennia of cohabitation and adaptation,” the statement added. 
Tain, who has previously served as curator of modern and contemporary collections at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, sees the Lahore Biennale as being “collective and participatory in nature.”
“One way to think about a biennale is that it’s something which is a space in time that allows for activities and programs to take place and that necessarily involves other people outside the artist,” Tain said at an event before the launch of the exhibitions last week. 
“So I think what is being planned is not artists just making work and putting it on wall or putting it on a floor, but thinking about the work as something that involves other people.”
Qudsia Rahim, a graduate of Lahore’s esteemed National College of Arts and the executive director of the Lahore Biennale Foundation, said the purpose of the biennale was for the “whole city” to take part. 
“To be a part of this biennial, you don’t necessarily have to be an artist,” she said. “The good thing about art is that you don’t need the wall of a drawing room or gallery but what’s important is an idea and for that an audience is important … So, the point of the biennale’s purpose is how can we connect with each other, because we are social animals and in a way we want the whole city to be a part of this biennale.” 
“ART IN A BUSTLING PUBLIC SPACE”
Free and open to the public, the biennale commenced on Saturday, Oct. 5, and will run through Friday, Nov. 8, complemented by a number of collateral exhibitions and programs scattered all over the city. 
One such show that took place during the opening weekend (October 5–7) was the ‘Decolonial Feminist Ecologies: On Body and Land,’ curated by Abdullah Qureshi and featuring Iranian-born artist Sepideh Rahaa and Kenyan-German collaborative artist Syowia Kyambi.
“This is a collateral event for the Lahore Biennale 03, which is taking place in the Brown House inside the Masjid Wazir Khan courthouse,” PAF founder Imtisal Zafar told Arab News, referring to a 17th-century Mughal mosque located in the Walled City.
The mosque was commissioned during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a part of an ensemble of buildings that also included the nearby Shahi Hammam baths. Considered to be the most ornately decorated Mughal-era mosque, Masjid Wazir Khan is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.
“[Art] can’t be constricted to a neat and tidy studio or a clean canvas,” Nairobi-based Kyambi told Arab News. “Art is forever moving, changing and clamoring.”
Her work showed two distinct worlds, the high-rises and apartment complexes and rural countryside and at Thursday’s event, the artist handed out maps and pictures to her audience, shared stories and painted bright colors on a mud wall. She also encouraged her audience to speak out during her performance and voice their opinions on whether they liked it and what they understood of her art. 
“We want to imagine futures of solidarity, community and resistance,” she said. “Not just stay quiet at everything unfolding in front of them.”
Speaking about the experience of working in a place as richly-textured and cosmopolitan as Lahore, with its many iconic and historical buildings, Kyambi said: 
“When I entered for the first time to check the space [at Masjid Wazir Khan], it had a really light energy, and the rooftop is just perfect for my practice in this particular work, because it holds the scale but it’s also outdoors so the work can also keep on changing with the environment ... It’s wonderful to be near the mosque as well and I think it’s a really special part of town.”
PAF founder Zafar said the purpose of the biennale, like the ‘Decolonial Feminist Ecologies’ show arranged by the Pakistan Art Forum, was to promote local and lesser-known artists and bring them in conversation with international, globally acclaimed ones “to show the world how much talent we have here in Pakistan.”
Stephan Chow, a Singaporean artist whose work is featured at the Lahore Biennale, said the people of Lahore and Pakistan were very open to new ideas and art. 
“This is my second trip to Pakistan,” he said, “and I find the people of Pakistan to be very rich in culture, knowledge, and they embrace ideas very well.”

MULTAN: Joe Root said there are “many more runs to get” after he surpassed Alastair Cook to become England’s greatest Test match run-maker on Wednesday.
Root moved past Cook’s 12,472 runs when he drove Aamer Jamal for a boundary to reach 71 on his way to a brilliant 176 not out on the third day of the first Test against Pakistan.
The 33-year-old batted through the day in the heat and fought cramp to register his 35th Test century, taking England to 492-3 and within 64 runs of Pakistan’s first innings after an unbeaten 243-run stand with Harry Brook.
“(I feel) tired, more than anything. It’s been a long day,” said Root.
“I’m obviously proud, but still feel there’s plenty more left to do and many more runs to get.
“I’m sure I’ll look back at it at some point when I’m finished and be very proud of it.”
Root also put on century partnerships with Zak Crawley (78) and Ben Duckett (84), who came in at four after hurting his thumb while taking a catch to wrap up Pakistan’s innings late on the second day.
He and Brook (141 not out) then set about putting England in a strong position after two days of toil in the field, as Pakistan struggled for answers with the ball on a flat wicket in Multan.
“I think more than anything just the way we played today as a team is what stands out,” said Root.
“We’ve still got an opportunity to win the game, which is really exciting. Hopefully we can kick on tomorrow.”
Duckett, who combined with Root to add 136 for the third wicket, hailed the achievements of his team-mate.
“He (Root) is one of the greats of the game and certainly a great of English cricket,” said Duckett.
“He is extremely humble and those things don’t bother him and he wants to play for England as long as he can.”
With 12,578 runs, Root is now fifth in the list of all-time Test run-scorers. India’s Sachin Tendulkar sits at the top of the pile on 15,921.
“It’s just a pleasure to share the dressing room with him,” said Duckett. “He is probably still working as hard as he ever has, always grinding away in the nets.
“We make jokes that he says he is out of form and he is still getting hundreds, so it’s probably a good place to be in.”
Duckett revealed Root was fully aware of the milestone and backed him to set more records.
“He 100 percent was aware (of the record) but I think he made out that he didn’t have any idea,” said Duckett. “I did not know so I asked him and he told me, so he definitely knew.”
“When he is in good form, he cashes in and scores big and I hope it continues,” added Duckett.
“If he stays fit and stays on the park there is no reason why he can’t break more records. He is an incredible player and there are no signs of his form dipping.”
England batting coach Marcus Trescothick, a former opener who played 76 Tests, expressed his pride at Root’s accomplishments.
“We’re lucky enough to sit and watch history being made,” Trescothick told Sky Sports. “The way he goes about it, the work he puts in and continues to strive for greatness all the time.
“He’s been superb and think will continue to be superb for a number of years yet.”
Pakistan captain Shan Masood, who made 151 for the hosts in their first innings total of 556, tipped Root to eventually go past Tendulkar.
“Congratulations to Joe, but I personally want to hold this congratulations till he becomes the leading Test run-getter, which I’m sure he’ll achieve,” said Masood.
“He’s not only the best batsman I’ve come across in my life but one of the best human beings also.”