KARACHI: The opening ceremony of Karachi Biennale 2017 (KB17) took place on Saturday at the historical 160-year old Narayan Jagannath Vaidya (NJV) High School, the main venue of KB17. The biennale will be open to the public from October 22 to November 5. Senior art critic Marjorie Hussain chaired the inaugural session with galaxy of artists, professionals, civil society and businessmen of the city attending the inaugural ceremony. The inauguration ceremony, with participation from 1,000 members of public from different walks of life, featured a session with visiting artists, a discussion on public art and addresses by chief curator and KB17 CEO. The Karachi Biennale will feature two prizes which acknowledge the most evocative exhibits in KB17: the KB17 Mahvash and Jahangir Siddiqui Foundation Juried Prize and the KB17 Shahneela and Farhan Faruqui Popular Choice Art Prize. The prizes would reflect the Karachi Biennale Trust’s sustained commitment to recognising the effort and impact of participating artists’ work as it engages with conversations around art, cities, and the act of witnessing. The trophies had been designed to capture the spirit of Karachi and interpret the thematic witness. Over 140 artists would showcase their work at the biennale which would be open to public at 12 venues all across the city, with five on MA Jinnah Road. The artists have come from Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Far East, and various parts of Pakistan. The works of internationally renowned artists like Yoko Ono, Shahzia Sikander, Richard Humann, Michelangelo Pistoletto, ORLAN, Bani Abedi, Meher Afroz, Miro Craemer, Bankleer, and Ruby Chishti, among others, would be on display for a large audience. To help the audience get an insight into the work and expand interdisciplinary connections with art, Karachi Biennale offers educational and discursive interaction to visitors. In this regard, a series of conversations and lectures across two weeks of the event featuring Meher Afroz, Savita Apte , Saquib Hanif, Dr Marek Bartelik, Dr Marcella Sirhandi, Paolo De Grandis, Carlos Aceros Ruiz, Adriana Almada, and Dannys Montes de Oca Moreda, would be held at the ZVMG Rangoonwala Community Centre and the State Bank auditoriums. Other public events such as poetry and book readings on Karachi, a performance and installation by Jamal Shah, performance works, a sound and light installation by German New Media artist Wolfgang Spahn, Dholi Taro (Drum Circle), and project screening at different public spaces in Karachi would also be a part of the biennale. The chief curator would be Amin Gulgee, a well known artist and curator of Pakistan. This year, the theme of the biennale would be “gawahi” or “witness”. Works of art and installations at the Karachi Biennale would be based on this theme, which was chosen for its strong relevance to politics of representation, erasure and selective documentation. Held in over a 100 countries across the world, art biennales have played an important role in transforming the perception of cities and it is hoped that by organising this inclusive cultural activity in Karachi, KB17 would foreground the city’s vibrant art scene. Local audiences will experience art from other countries and understand its vital link to life, like literature and music. Since the 1950s, as Karachi grew from a small harbour town to a mega urban centre, it has attracted and embraced independent thinkers and artists who wanted to respond to the personal and the political with greater freedom. The city has been home to many influential modernists and contemporary artists, with a gallery circuit that is one of the most vibrant in South Asia. The closing ceremony of KB17 will take place at Frere Hall on November 5, 2017. Published in Daily Times, October 22nd 2017.