Zambeel Dramatic Readings in collaboration with artist Bani Abidi at the Gandhara Art Space.
The performance is situated within an installation of six video projections about public spaces in Karachi.
Asad Muhammad Khan’s text Toofaan kay Markaz Mein reflects upon a Karachi in the 50s when the Karachi University campus was located in Saddar and the locality brimmed with the energy and dynamism of student life.
In short vignettes, the author steers his readers through a defined precinct dotted with specific landmarks that were central to his life and that of his contemporaries. This multi cultural, autonomous world is described as unruffled, silent, and as peaceful as the eye of a storm. It is their refuge from the sharp contrast of a tumultuous life in the outer perimeter of the storm where they lived. Peppered with episodes that reflect the gradual changes Saddar was undergoing, both physically and politically, Asad Muhammad Khan’s text carries the burden of this impending transformation that would disturb and intrude upon their tranquility forever.
Performed as part of artist Bani Abidi’s video installation ‘Funland – Series II’, the text creates an interesting dialogue with the surrounding videos about the changing, segregated nature of public spaces in Karachi and our relationship with the city.
Performers: Fawad Khan and Meesam Naqvi
Direction: Asma Mundrawala
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2016, at 7 pm
Venue: Gandhara Art Space, F-65/2, Block 4, Clifton, Karachi (Click here for map to venue)
Zambeel Dramatic Readings 