MANZAR: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today, to be held from Nov.1 - Jan.31, brings together more than 200 artworks — including paintings, drawings, photographs, videos, sculptures, installations, tapestries and miniatures, plus commissioned works by artists and architects currently living and working in Pakistan and its diasporas—to present various views of the country’s artistic and architectural movements.
Organized by the future Art Mill Museum and presented in collaboration with the National Museum of Qatar, which will host the exhibition, MANZAR presents the enormously diverse output of the painters, photographers, architects and others who have defined the array of narratives, histories, and contemporary perspectives of Pakistan’s cultures over the past 80 years. The artworks, programs and events extend from the gallery spaces to the courtyard of the Palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al-Thani for a broad immersion in Pakistani art and architecture.
The ground-breaking exhibition, designed by renowned architect Raza Ali Dada and unfolding across 12 sections, will reveal how artists responded to and reimagined international modernist movements.
MANZAR brings to light lesser-known global art histories and demonstrates how they weave into broader social and cultural trends. Through themed galleries dedicated to aesthetic experiments and calligraphy, nation-building, regionalism, neo-miniature, the urban vernacular, and the politics of land and water, among others, the exhibiton presents a perspective on arts from Pakistan through unprecedented loans from public institutions such as the Alhamra Art Museum in Lahore and Pakistan National Council of the Arts in Islamabad; loans from private collections across Pakistan and in Dubai, London and New York; as well as works from Qatar Museums collections.
Mohammed Al Rumaihi, CEO of Qatar Museums, said: “By bringing the works of exceptional Pakistani artists and architects to Qatar, this exhibition affirms their contributions to their own nation and to the heritage of the world. We are especially proud to present this exhibition by the future Art Mill Museum in the galleries of the National Museum of Qatar, thereby emphasizing the close links between our nations, our histories and our futures. As with every Qatar Museums exhibition, this one is a bridge between cultures, and we are honored to provide an international platform for these hugely deserving artistic movements.”
