Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 14, 2005|Volume 34, Number 7

This untitled work was created via a collaboration between Pakistani artists Saira Wasim, Talha Rathore, Muhammad Imran Qureshi, Hasnat Mehmood, Aisha Khalid and Nusra Latif Qureshi.

'Aesthetics & Politics' in Pakistan to be explored

Arts and politics in contemporary Pakistan will be the focus of a display and panel discussion being held 4-6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19, in Rm. 102 of Linsly-Chittenden Hall, 63 High St.

Titled "Aesthetics & Politics -- Reflections on Image, Power and Modern Pakistan," the event is sponsored by the South Asian Studies Council at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies. It is free and open to the public.

The program will include a presentation of artwork by the contributing artists and curators of the exhibition "Karkhana: A Contemporary Collaboration," now on view at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

The Urdu term "karkhana" describes the kind of painting workshops patronized by Mughal emperors who ruled the territories of present-day India and Pakistan. In these workshops, multiple artists worked on a single miniature painting under the direction of a master. The pieces in the current exhibition were produced as part of a creative experiment by Muhammad Imran Qureshi, in which he and six other Pakistani artists in cities around the world passed around two paintings each had started on hand-made paper, until all had made a contribution to the work.

The display at Yale will be followed by a brief presentation on modern Islamic art by Mahnaz Anwar Fancy, director of Arts of the Islamic World at The New School in New York, and Faisal Devji, also of The New School.

A roundtable discussion chaired byYale Professor Abbas Amanat will include Veronique Benei, Shameem Black, Jonathan Katz, Courtney Martin, Dhooleka Sarhadi Raj, Emilie Townes, Farzin Vahdat and Laura Wexler -- all of Yale; as well as Devji, Kishwar Rizvi of Barnard College and Naveeda Khan of Johns Hopkins University.

"The panel will be a lively, interdisciplinary approach to the subject," says Raj, who is associate chair of the South Asian Studies Council. "Pakistani culture has never been more relevant to modern politics; the panelists will help identify what emerging creative voices can tell us about Pakistan."

The event is the last of three public panels being held in conjunction with the Aldrich Museum exhibit on art, writing and film in contemporary Pakistani culture and their political context. The first took place on Oct. 11 at The New School in New York; the second will be held on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 2 p.m. at The Aldrich Contemporary Museum, 258 Main St., in Ridgefield. Art AsiaPacific is the media sponsor for all three panels.

For further information about the "Karkhana" exhibit, call (203) 438-4519 or visit www.aldrichart.org.

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From bones to bronze: Building Torosaurus

Yale participating in human genome initiative

Former World Fellows will return to campus for forum

Literary theorist wins Israel's EMET Prize for contributions

'Aesthetics & Politics' in Pakistan to be explored

Experts to address global warming at conference

Treasures from Yale's Collections

Panel to focus on debate over career vs. motherhood

Event honors Jacques Derrida, originator of 'deconstruction'

Chemistry department symposium to celebrate opening of building

Events pay tribute to former University printer Greer Allen

Yale Books in Brief

Edward Kaplan has been designated as an INFORMS fellow