LAHORE: A widely acclaimed art curator has transformed the third edition of the Lahore Biennale into an artistic engagement with ecology and the environment, selecting historic public spaces across Lahore for art installations to attract a wider audience and spark conversations about sustainable living.
Originally from Hong Kong, John Tain’s career has spanned several countries, including the United States, Taiwan, and India, where he digitally archived art before taking over curatorial duties in Pakistan.
The Lahore Biennale Foundation has been working since 2014 to preserve the city’s rich legacy of arts and culture, a heritage that stretches back thousands of years. This year’s theme, “Of Mountains and Seas,” reflects the pressing concern of how the Global South is disproportionately affected by the climate crisis.
Pakistan itself has witnessed a series of catastrophic floods, heatwaves and droughts that have claimed countless lives, caused massive financial damage and raised concerns about food security.
This is despite the fact that the country contributes less than one percent of global carbon emissions, yet remains one of the most severely affected by the impacts of climate change.
“[This year’s event] looks at the themes of ecologies and sustainable futures, but not from the perspective of the problems that we’re all facing, but really from thinking about what are the possible solutions,” Tain said while speaking to Arab News on Friday.
“Specifically, what are the solutions that we can find in a place like Lahore, Pakistan, and thinking about what resources are available locally and in the indigenous culture,” he added.
The event, which kicked off on October 5, will culminate in a Climate Congress next month, featuring international scholars, academics and artists, coinciding with the notorious smog season in the city.
Tain maintained that Lahore was the ideal location to carry out the biennale since it had been significantly impacted by the worsening climate.
“Working with 61 artists who come from over 30 countries, it’s really not about importing answers and knowledge from elsewhere,” he said. “It’s really about looking together for resources and what we can do together to find solutions for sustainability.”
Pointing to the paintings lining the walls of the Shalimar Garden, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in 1641, he highlighted works on melting glaciers and fossil fuels by artists like Hamra Abbas and Niamat Nigar.
“Lahore Biennale as a project is not located in art museums or elite spaces,” he said. “We’re really in the city. So, here we are at Shalimar Gardens, where families are playing football and taking strolls.”
Tain mentioned that art installations had also been placed at other public locations, such as the Orange Line metro system, which people use daily.
“So, it’s really meant to bring art to the people, rather than make people come to the art,” he added.
Asked about the Climate Congress at the end of the biennale, he said a lot of research on the environment had been done by experts and researchers, though it had not been properly communicated to the general public.
“The biennale is trying to think about how art and exhibitions can be vehicles for communicating these kinds of messages,” he continued, suggesting that the Climate Congress would be a continuation of the same effort.
While it has only been a week since the biennale installations were opened to the public, Tain said he was happy with the response.
“I think there was a good attendance on both of the opening days [of the inauguration],” he said, encouraging people to attend the event, which is open until November 8.
Celebrated art curator champions vision of climate action, public engagement at Lahore Biennale
https://arab.news/jjarn
Celebrated art curator champions vision of climate action, public engagement at Lahore Biennale
- John Tain’s career has spanned several countries where he digitally archived art before arriving in Pakistan
- He shunned ‘museums and elite spaces’ and used public places for art installations to attract wider audience
Saudi couturier Mohammed Ashi dresses stars at the Golden Globes
DUBAI: Saudi couturier Mohammed Ashi dressed three stars at Sunday night’s Golden Globes in Hollywood, with Mindy Kaling, Kristen Bell and Ari Graynor showing off looks by the Paris-based designer.
Kaling showed off a gold column gown from Ashi Studio, hailing from the label’s Spring/Summer 2024 couture collection.
The first designer from the Gulf to take part in Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, Ashi also dressed Graynor in a risque look complete with cutouts across the bodice. The all-black gown was plucked from his label’s Fall/Winter 2023 couture collection.
For her part, nominee Bell shimmered in a gold, beaded Ashi Studio gown that boasted a peplum and rounded neckline.
With some of Hollywood's most fashion-forward stars up for awards this year, it's going to be an eventful season. The Golden Globes gets it all started, with stars — and their stylists — marking their territory at one of Hollywood's splashiest events, the Associated Press reported.
“Wicked” star Ariana Grande showed off a pale yellow Givenchy haute couture look. The gown was in crafted in silk with a hand-beaded bodice — a vintage 1966 gown from what the designer calls the Audrey Hepburn era of Givenchy.
Cate Blanchett looked like an awards statue come to life in a glistening gold gown with a ruched top by Louis Vuitton — one that she also wore at the Cannes Film Festival. New gold stones were added to the gown, designed by Nicholas Ghesquière, to freshen the look.
Where Blanchett glistened in gold, Nicole Kidman sparkled in silver, in a daring, one-shoulder backless Balenciaga gown. The “Babygirl” star polished off the look with a chic, voluminous half-ponytail.
Globes host Nikki Glaser zeroed right in on Timothee Chalamet, one of the hottest stars in Hollywood, in her monologue, telling him: “You have the most gorgeous eyelashes on your upper lip.” As for the clothes on his body, Chalamet went more traditional than other recent trips to the carpet, wearing a sleek Tom Ford black suit with embellished jacket, a white shirt and a blue scarf tossed around his neck (or was it a tie?).
Always a winner on the red carpet, actress Zendaya provided yet another high fashion moment at the Golden Globes in a custom Louis Vuitton ballgown paired with Bulgari jewelry.
Over 4,000 participate in second World Athletics-certified marathon in Karachi
- Athletes from Poland, Germany, Japan and other countries take part in marathon event
- The event featured Marathon (42.195 KM), Marathon Relay, Half Marathon (21.0975 KM) and 5KM Fun Race
KARACHI: At least 4,000 people from all walks of life took part in an annual marathon event, accredited by the World Athletics and held in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Sunday, its organizer said.
The event kicked off on Sunday morning from the city’s Nishan-e-Pakistan monument at Sea View. It featured five types of marathons, such as the Full Marathon (42.195km) the Half-Marathon (21.1 km), the Relay Marathon, a team of four participants for 42.2km (10.5km run, 10.5km run, 10.5km run, 10.5km run and the Fun Run, a 5 km run.
Athletes hailing from Poland, Germany, Japan and many others participated in the event, Sports in Pakistan, one of the organizers of the event, said in a press release. The marathon’s certification by the World Rankings Competition ensured a world-class experience for all participants, it added.
“We are delighted with the overwhelming success of the Karachi Marathon 2025,” Shoaib Nizami, CEO of Sports in Pakistan, said.
“The event has emerged as a testament to Karachi’s unwavering resilience and warm hospitality and we extend our sincerest gratitude to our participants, sponsors, and partners for their invaluable support.”
The top performers in each category were:
Marathon Category:
- Male Winner (1st Prize): Israr Muhammad (Pakistan) – Time: 2:30:13 won Rs. 500,000/
- Male Winner (2nd Prize): Muhammad Riaz (Pakistan) – 2:32:13 won Rs. 250,000/
- Female Winner (1st Prize): Enub Khan (Pakistan) – 3:47:49 won Rs. 500,000/
- Female Winner (2nd Prize): Uzma Abid (Pakistan) – 4:01:13 won Rs. 250,000/
Half Marathon Category:
- Male Winner (1st Prize): Muhammad Ajhtar (Pakistan) – Time: 1:12:08 won Rs. 50,000/
- Second Runner-up Male (2nd Prize): Qasim Bajwa (Pakistan) – 1:12:52 won Rs. 40,000/
- Female Winner (1st Prize): Mumtaz Naimat – 1:43:26 won Rs. 50,000/
- Second Runner-up Female (2nd Prize): Dua Nazakat (Pakistan) – 1:51:45 won Rs. 40,000/
The city saw its first-ever World Athletics-certified marathon last year in January 2024 where hundreds of people from all walks of life participated.
Pic Group president David Sinapian discusses French brand’s expansion and Gulf success
DUBAI: With three Michelin stars at their flagship restaurant Maison Pic in Valence, France, the president of Pic Group, David Sinapian, and his wife and celebrated chef Anne-Sophie Pic are on a mission to take French culinary genius to the world.
After entering a long-term partnership with French luxury label Dior to open Dior Cafes around the world — starting with two outposts in Japan in December 2024 — Pic and Sinapian have their sights set on the Gulf.
“We have almost reached the potential for development of the catering business in Saudi Arabia, and I believe that the future holds great opportunities for the industry in the Kingdom. It is a no-brainer,” Sinapian told Arab News en Francais recently, three years after the Pic Group hosted a pop-up restaurant in AlUla.
Meanwhile, in the UAE, the group opened La Dame de Pic Dubai at the city’s swanky One&Only Zaabeel hotel in 2024, nabbing a Michelin star in the 2024 guide and being voted the World’s Best New Restaurant 2024 at the fifth annual World Culinary Awards.
“I have witnessed an evolution at a pace that continues to surprise me ... and that’s what characterizes business in the Emirates,” Sinapian said of the famously fast-paced food and beverage industry in the city.
“You can be in fashion one moment and quickly out of it the next, because the market changes, and if you can’t adapt, you’re left behind,” he added.
The Pic Group’s international accolades are the latest in a long list of culinary nods for a brand founded in the late 19th century.
The precursor to Maison Pic, Cafe-Restaurant du Pin opened its rather more humble doors in 1889, with Pic’s great grandmother cooking ingredients hunted and farmed by her husband. Pic’s grandfather, Andre, then took over the family restaurant and earned it three Michelin stars in 1934.
Over the decades, Maison Pic lost and gained stars with the most recent blow being dealt after Pic’s father Jacques died in 1992 — the restaurant lost its third star in 1995 before Sophie-Anne returned in 1997 to head up the kitchen. After 10 years of creating memorable dishes in the restaurant, she gained back the third star in 2007.
“We began to build an ecosystem together and expand our business by opening other restaurants,” Sinapian told Arab News of the period that followed.
In 2009, they cut the ribbon on Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“I was in charge of building the project in terms of identity, design and team building, while Anne-Sophie began to create a new menu using Swiss products,” Sinapian said, explaining their working relationship.
The Pic name then expanded its activity internationally, with openings in Paris, London, Singapore, Megeve, Hong Kong, and Dubai alongside its projects in Japan.
A new Monsieur Dior restaurant opening in Osaka, Japan, in 2025, will be orchestrated by the French chef.
“Anne-Sophie has had an affinity for Japan for a very long time, and so have I. It’s the love she has for tea, the products, and Japanese refinement,” Sinapian said.
French Algerian actress Sofia Boutella begins year with ‘SAS Rogue Heroes’
DUBAI: French Algerian actress Sofia Boutella started the new year on a high note with the premiere of season two of the BBC series “SAS Rogue Heroes.”
“Happy New … SAS season 2 is out … and Happy New Year,” she wrote on Instagram this week, sharing on-set pictures of herself and her co-stars from the military drama, which chronicles the exploits of the British Army’s special forces unit.
Series two, created by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”), picks up with British troops in the spring of 1943 during World War II.
Returning for the sequel are actors Jack O’Connell, Connor Swindells, Dominic West and Sofia Boutella, who reprises her role as French intelligence agent Eve Mansour.
Commissioned by the BBC, the show is based on Ben Macintyre’s best-selling book of the same name, with season two having been directed by Stephen Woolfenden.
Boutella most recently starred “The Killer’s Game,” which hit cinemas in September, and Netflix’s “Rebel Moon — Part 2: The Scargiver.”
In the sci-fi adventure — a sequel to last year’s “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire” — a peaceful colony on the edge of a galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force.
Kora, played by Boutella, has assembled a small band of warriors — outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds.
Boutella drew on her history as an immigrant. She grew up in Algeria during its civil war and later moved to France and found herself navigating the complexities of adapting to a different culture.
“Having left Algeria young, when I go back there I don’t feel like I belong to Algeria. And then, in France, I don’t feel like I belong to France because I didn’t grow up there,” she told Arab News in a previous interview.
Boutella has learned to embrace her rootlessness, though. “I feel like I belong to this planet. I have the freedom to travel wherever I want, without any limitation,” she said. “But sometimes, I miss the proximity and attachment that people have to their country.”
Kora was not Algiers-born Boutella’s first role as a sword-wielding extraterrestrial. The actress, who at the age of 10 fled to Paris with her family during the Algerian civil war, is known for her breakout performance in the Oscar-nominated film, “Star Trek Beyond,” in which she portrayed the fierce alien warrior, Jaylah.
What We Are Reading Today: South Sudan: The Untold Story
Author: Hilde F. Johnson
South Sudan was granted independence and became the world’s newest country. Yet just two-and-a-half years after this momentous decision, the country was in the grips of renewed civil war and political strife.
In this book, Hilde F. Johnson provides an unparalleled insider’s account of South Sudan’s descent from the ecstatic celebrations of July 2011 to the outbreak of the disastrous conflict in December 2013 and the early, bloody phase of the fighting.
Johnson’s personal and private contacts at the highest levels of government, accompanied by her deep knowledge of the country and its history, make this a unique eyewitness account of the turbulent first three years of the world’s newest – and yet most fragile – country.