As a powerful corporate champion, the Bank of Punjab (BOP) exhibits its unwavering dedication to advancing literature, the arts, and crafts throughout the nation. The bank actively encourages reading, the arts, culture, and the preservation of historical sites via a long history of commitment to several projects and programmes, such as literary festivals. In a huge step towards promoting the arts and culture, BOP and the Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) have partnered.
At the much-anticipated curtain-raiser ceremony for the much-anticipated third edition of the Lahore Biennale, LB03, held at the Alhamra Arts Council in Lahore, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) formalising this relationship was signed. Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Danyal Saleem Gilani, the Secretary of Information and Culture of Punjab, Zafar Masud, the President and CEO of BOP, Tariq Mahmood, the Executive Director of Alhamra, Naazish Ata-Ullah, the Chairperson of LBF, Raza Ali Dada, the Executive Director of LBF, Qudsia Rahim, the Executive Director of LBF, Kamran Lashari, the Director General of PWCHAA, and several other dignitaries were present at the prestigious event.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony that officially launched LB03, curator John Tain gave patrons and visitors a guided tour that highlighted the variety of abilities that went into the exhibition. The preview show included works by well-known artists like Haegue Yang, Lo Lai-Lai Natalie, Hamra Abbas, Ali Kazim, Usman Saeed, Carolina Caycedo, Abuzar Madhu, Mehreen Murtaza, and Imran Channa, as well as retrospectives by artists Zahoor ul Akhlaq, Mian Salahuddin, and Sheherazade Alam.
Zafar Masud, President and CEO of the Bank of Punjab, emphasised during the event how crucial business cooperation is to advancing the arts. After that, LBF and BOP signed an MOU, which established an institutional alliance for the next three Biennale editions. This is a major turning point in the joint efforts to promote and honour Pakistan’s rich cultural and artistic heritage.
Qudsia Rahim, the Executive Director of the Lahore Biennale Foundation, added to the significance of the occasion by sharing her thoughts. She stated that the foundation challenges conventional critique methods and popular frameworks for curating, researching, and archiving material culture, built ecologies, and histories by using an inclusive and context-driven approach to achieve its projects and goals. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Bank of Punjab for their kind assistance in organising this biennial.
The final words were spoken by Mr. Mohsin Naqvi, the chief minister. He sent his sincere congratulations to the Biennale organisers and the imaginative people responsible for the smooth operation of such outstanding international events. It is no small task to organise such an endeavour, and we are really proud of their commitment and diligence. It’s easy to worry about our nation’s future as we sit in our houses, but I really think that sports, the arts, and culture are great unifiers that bring people from all over the world together. It is conceivable and unavoidable for our nation to make tremendous progress if we prioritise these three foundations.
This development highlights the inventive approach and creative attitude that both BOP and LBF offer to the cultural scene, highlighting the significance of varied viewpoints in moulding Pakistan’s artistic discourse and arts. October 5, 2024, is the projected opening date of the 2024 Lahore Biennale.
