The nomadic contemporary art project RedoPakistan has traveled through Pakistan, London and Bangladesh and lands in New York this month. On view at The Guild Gallery until June 18th is the exhibit:

DECLARATION1 OF WAR2 AGAINST3 THE PRESENT4 TIME5
1 The formal announcement of the beginning of state or condition.
2 To deal with or end a particular unpleasant or undesirable situation or condition.
3 In anticipation of and preparation for a problem or difficulty.
4 Expression of action now going on or habitually performed or a condition now existing.
5 A distinct period of history.

This title is a literal translation of ‘Zarb-e-Kalim’, the title of the poetry compilation by Dr. Allama Mohammad Iqbal in 1936. RedoPakistan aims to update this message for 2010 and spread it via radio shows, newspapers, publications, exhibitions and talks. The project on view now features 31 artists from all kinds of artistic, social and geographical backgrounds. The curator of the project, Fatima Hussain talked with Thomas Mader about the arts influence in the public realm and the social and political role that art plays.

Thomas Mader: Could you please explain what OtherAsias and Redo Pakistan are and how the two projects are connected?

Fatima Hussain: OtherAsias is an artist led initiative, co-directed by Hamja Ahsan and me, that challenges Asia as a region through fluid exhibitionary structures. We see ourselves as art activists and operate as an open assemblage of artists, writers and designers that weave together re-animated alliances and counter-cartographies. We grew discontented with the ‘official cross-cultural’ departments, institutionalized post-colonial studies and the third world subjects becoming the contemporary ‘art’ in places like the Asia House. Redo Pakistan was a project initiated by OtherAsias in 2009. Dismayed by the way the art of Pakistan was carelessly exploiting the political scenario of the country, we set out to invite visionaries and artists to come up with solutions to reform the nation, but this time, not only addressing the issue to exploit it aesthetically, but also to come up with active solutions.

Thomas: Do you think that it is possible to provoke political change through art?

Fatima: I wonder if it’s the possibility that I look at, when I am making such works. It is a natural response to my surroundings, which I feel becomes my responsibility. This project is a commentary on the art scene of Pakistan, where you find ‘artists’ taking inspiration to make works from the political turmoil and not giving anything in return. The idea to ‘redo’ Pakistan through art initiated from particularly that. I wouldn’t want to quote problems. So let’s think of solutions. Change might come in different packages. What it does on a very micro level is that it bursts bubbles all around us. The comfort bubbles we all live in. This act of redoing makes us think, makes the youth think, which is what we aim at.

Thomas: At your first opening, your exhibit was ransacked and many of the pieces were demolished. What exactly happened that day and what effect did the incident have on the project?

Fatima: Redo was launched as an exhibit the first time around at the Shanaakht Festival, the only contemporary arts festival in Pakistan. This festival was not a secluded elite art festival, it was open to the public, which means that there were public schools coming in and that people from all kinds of backgrounds were looking forward to the four day festivities. Our exhibition was in the gallery space right next to an exhibition by VASL. One of the works of their show was showing a very controversial photograph of Benazir Bhutto, sitting in Zia-ul-Haq’s lap. Some people in Karachi, the hub of the PPP, Bhutto’s party, took offense to the work of art and walked into the gallery and ransacked it. They did not realize that there were two shows exhibited and not just one. Taking it all for granted, they trashed our show, too, hence the festival got canceled. So our launch obviously did not go through and we decided to curate the show in Lahore instead. However the importance of the situation was very urgent and all of a sudden our works seemed trivial and so did the idea of another exhibition, complete with invites and ‘tea’ following it. So we decided to take it to the next level by reducing it to the form of a newspaper, which was much more accessible to the audience. I think we needed that jolt to make us redefine aesthetics pertinent to our project. I think now Redo is more urgent in terms of the nature of its calls and curatorial strategies. It’s also much more accessible to the audience now. It is an art project, but one that reaches audiences who have no clue about what art in the modern world is.

Thomas: Is the introduction of people, who usually wouldn’t get in touch with contemporary art much, to artistic expression, what you consider the responsibility of the artist? That “giving back to society”, that you mentioned before?

Fatima: In a place like Pakistan, yes. The art scenario here in Pakistan is limited to the art school graduates, which are only a handful. Every other opening or intervention is full of people that you might know or should know through the art circle. You would hardly see any general public at these events. And I find that very annoying and I feel that it is the duty of an artist to give back to society, the way Olinde Rodriguez defined it in the 1860′s. The role of the art school has yet to be defined in a country like Pakistan and if we do not look at all possibilities, we might end up looking at art institutions devoid of the dialogue currently present within its environment. Secondly, the nature of our project Redo Pakistan demands the interaction with the city and its general public. I just feel that it cannot exist in isolation, in white washed spaces with a selective audience. The project requires instant contact and an active dialogue over the issue at hand. The media, newspaper and radio shows, have been reduced to utter simplicity, where the content takes charge of the project.

Thomas: Why is the newspaper as a medium for the RedoPakistan project important?

Fatima: Newspaper as a curatorial possibility seems to be the only solution to bring the project out of the gallery space where everything can be termed ‘art’ and is being hidden away from the general public. This form of intervention makes its way into the city. It opens up dialogue, makes interaction with the people in a number of ways. For us, the idea of ridding the art of its value by printing only its idea as part of a larger publication is very interesting. Here the aesthetics of a medium are overpowered by an idea.

Thomas: The title of the current issue is rather aggressive. What does it mean to the curating team, what were the reactions to it on the side of the participating artist and also on the side of the gallery owners?

Fatima: The title of this show is aggressive because I think it is urgent. I think within our project it is time to stop beating around the bush. And we are at a juncture where we were 73 years ago, the founding moment. Declaration of war might not mean actual war with arms etc.. War can be interpreted as an opposing voice, as a demand for rights and justice, as a complaint about anything you feel is going wrong. We, the curating team, are very eagerly setting up platforms in NY, London, etc., for the envisioners to declare war in any way possible. The declarations are expected in any form and language, from visual arts to mass communication. We had an overwhelming response recently that got curated as part of the publications. Also recent entries are being given time on our radio shows, which are now on the air in Pakistan. The gallery owners on the other hand have had mixed opinions. Some felt that it was very threatening to present a show with the word WAR in it. Some of them have actually taken it up and are now using the word in order to re-interpret it.

Thomas: Are there any changes and/or progressions between last year’s issue and the current issue?

Fatima: There is obviously a marked progression from last year, when we were only exploring our ideas of “redoing”. This year it seems like we have come down to a solution, which is to declare war. The project has somewhat found its focus and is now dealing in ways that are new and obviously interesting to explore.

Thomas: This year the project is also making stops outside of Asia and can be seen in NY and London. Considering that a white washed space might not be as exclusive and the audience not as selective in the US or the UK as it might be in Pakistan or Bangladesh, do you still feel that the same rules apply to all of the exhibition spaces that you’ve chosen for the current issue?

Fatima: RedoPakistan already made it to the Deptford Art Festival in September 2009. The space was not a white washed space for exclusive art lovers. Instead the show curated itself on Deptford High Street, with a constant flow of events throughout the week, that included reading groups, performance events and walks, film screenings, radio shows etc. The project got response from the general public and the Pakistani diaspora based in London. As for the rules, they’re definitely not the same from one city to the other. It is an intervention and it depends a lot on what the response is like. For New York, we chose to show it in a gallery space for now, because we feel that that’s where our audience might be. For London and Pakistan we have a completely different chain of events planned.

Thomas: Could you tell us some details about the shows in London and Pakistan?

Fatima: Since our project responds to each and every city, we have the Pakistan leg of the project outlined to be some kind of a public intervention, where the artist as a kind of vendor goes out with a cart to hand out the newspaper. Our side events include week-long radio shows, talks, reading groups etc. London might have a different blend of events. We might be seen intervening in different art spaces etc.. It is still under discussion.