How an exhibit at the Karachi Biennale stirred a storm in a pre-partition bookshop
If you've had a chance to visit Pioneer Book House on Karachi's MA Jinnah Road in the past ten days you'll notice that this pre-partition era establishment is one of 12 venues the Karachi Biennale (KB17) has set up across the city.
You'll also notice that the dimly lit, cramped store plays host to a rather unusual visitor - a twisted, broken-down streetlight that winds its way from the store's ground floor to its mezzanine, where it comes to rest at an awkward angle, its bulb flickering on and off.
Titled 'An Ode to a Lamppost That Got Accidentally Destroyed in the Enthusiastic Widening of Canal Bank Road,' this streetlight is at the centre of a debate that consumed Karachi's arts community when KB17 kicked off last week — a debate that was sparked by accusations that this streetlight, which is a KB17 installation by artist Huma Mulji, damaged Pioneer Book House and was an insensitive use of the exhibition space.
Fueled by very real anxieties about classism, privilege, ownership and appropriation, discussions about the streetlight's place at Pioneer Book House cut right to the heart of KB17's message by questioning the beinnale's motives and whether it can ever truly harness the complexities of the city it tries to represent.
The revival of Pioneer Book House and its inclusion in KB17
In 2016 the owner of one of Karachi's oldest bookstores decided he'd had enough.
Zafar Hussain, the owner of Pioneer Book House, was ready to hand his business over to anyone who cared to take it as he was receiving barely any customers.
Pioneer Book House was founded in 1945 by Zafar's grandfather Inayat Hussain Dalal as a destination to buy stationery and books on law, and throughout the 50s and 60s it drew a healthy amount of patrons as the surrounding area was heavily populated by legal and government administrative offices. Located in the historic Avan Lodge (now called One Sami Chambers), Pioneer Book House was granted heritage status in 1997 but that hasn't halted the building's overall decline — or change that has swept through the locality.