‘We’re all mad here’: Artwork that captivates viewers

New media impresses audiences at PNCA

ISLAMABAD: We’re All Mad Here is an art exhibition, curated by Natasha Jozi, which introduces the work of local art students in the form of new media, including heartening live performances, contemporary art and video pieces at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA). 

As the name suggests, the exhibition is an exciting look into the raw madness of truth, seen through the eyes of various young new media artists.

‘Rang-e-khaak’, one of the most thought-provoking performances, represented societal interdependence in which artists took turns to stand on one leg and paint the other with clay.

Another interesting performance, ‘The Game’, featured individuals wearing brown paper bags with eyeholes depicted life as a game of constant interplay.

“It is heartening to see that new media finally making its way to the PNCA refreshingly portraying issues of gender, hierarchy and pain through the prisms of newer generation” said art professor Saleema Hashmi.

Hurmatul Ain and Rabbya Naseer’s video documentation performed in front of a live audience in Delhi displayed the role of food and service in developing relations.

‘Building America’ a critique on the association of black body to slavery by US artist Jeremy G Bell was also on display.

Jozi also had her art performance on display where two individuals incessantly peel through turnips with glass walls placed between them. The glass, scribbled mostly with personal truths is an open slate for anyone to write on. This piece explores the limits of the body existing within power politics, social pressures and cultural narratives that dictate the self we exhibit everyday.

Other art pieces addressed celebration, festivity, curiosity, female beauty, conversation, states of mind, relationship with past memories, loss of self, and enigmatic meaning of artistic beauty.

The exhibition was packed with guests as they marvelled in the unique impact of new media. However, perhaps the best time to absorb the most from each multi-layered piece would be in solitude when one is undistracted from the energies of large crowds.

The exhibition goes on till the May 15 at the PNCA.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2015.