New Directions in Art from Pakistan

[caption id="attachment_8440" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Flying Rug of Drones [Swarm I and Swarm II"], an installation by Abdullah Syed | Photograph: Declan Walsh for the Guardian

[/caption] The Rising Tide: New Directions in Art from Pakistan 1990-2010 is a large-scale exhibition in Karachi's Mohatta Palace Museum, showcasing contemporary visual artists from Pakistan. Pakistani art has come of age on the world stage.As a result of growing international interest in Pakistan contemporary art offers another face to its identity, providing it with a much needed catharsis for a bruised global image. The Mohatta Palace Museum in Karachi is taking the lead in showcasing contemporary art from Pakistan. Karachi has been a gateway for the absorption and dissemination of diverse artistic traditions for centuries. It is historically and culturally relevant to locate such an exhibition against the backdrop of the city’s cultural evolution and the position that the Museum occupies as a space for public interaction and exchange. The exhibition examines how Pakistani artist have engaged in space marked by multiplicity, colonialism, modernity and spirituality. The exhibition is discussed and reviewed in this article in The Guardian (UK) where you can also view a gallery of images from the exhibition.