Rooted/Pivasta: Public art at Lawrence Gardens

Glasgow studio, Lahore-based artists collaborated over project

LAHORE: Rooted/Pivasta—the second Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) public art project—was inaugurated on Friday at Lawrence Gardens.

The initiative was curated and commissioned by the foundation in collaboration with the British Council and the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA).

A performance by Olomopolo Media was staged following the project’s inauguration.  LBF executive director Qudsia Rahim said the foundation had called for proposals for an onsite semi-permanent artistic intervention.

She said the jury had selected Lahore-based artists Unum Babar and Matt Kushan to work with Pidgin Perfect, a Glasgow studio, in this regard. Rahim said eight art works pertinent to the site had been installed there.



She said these included an Islamic star inlaid in the ground south of Quaid-i-Azam Library. Rahim said the aforementioned installation acted as a marble compass.

She said it served as a map outlining the way to the remaining seven art installations.

Rahim said each of these featured a marble seat placed to stimulate introspection and dwell in solitude. She said the project encouraged one to explore and personalise undiscovered spots across the park.

Unum Babar of the Beaconhouse National University (BNU) said not many knew that Bano Qudsia had penned Raja Gidh at Lawrence Gardens.

She said the project aimed to celebrate people’s relationship with trees, the history associated with them and one’s relationship with nature.

This, Babar said, was something that was getting rare courtesy rapid urbanisation.

British Council Arts Director Sumbal Khan said the project was part of a Lahore-Glasgow programme premised on poetry in translation, friendly exchanges and a curatorial partnership of literature festivals in Lahore and Edinburgh.

PHA DG Mian Shakeel said the authority had been proactively striving to ensure that Lahore remained a city of gardens. He said art gave the government an opportunity to transform some green spaces into creative areas for public recreation.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2016.