The Karachi Biennale 2024 will kick off on Oct 27 with its first woman curator

The fourth edition of the Karachi Biennale (KB24), Pakistan’s largest contemporary art exhibition, will kick off on October 27 and run till November 10. For the first time, the exhibition will be helmed by a female curator — Waheeda Baloch, a professor at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

Spread across five public venues, the event will engage visitors with a rich mix of installations, performances, pop-ups, and interactive sessions focused on critical global and local issues. The venues include the Sambara Art Gallery, NED University (City Campus), Frere Hall, Bagh Ibne Qasim, and Alliance Française.

KB24 will be held from Monday to Thursday 10am to 6pm, and Friday to Sunday 10am to 7pm.

Curatorial vision: Rizq | Risk

This year’s Biennale will explore the paradox between “Rizq” (sustenance) and “Risk” (threat). With 40+ artists from 11 countries participating in 18 projects, KB24 will focus on the threats to food security amid Pakistan’s ongoing climate and ecological challenges.

Based on her experiences with the recent floods, Baloch will highlight themes of environmental degradation, food sovereignty, and social justice. In a statement on the Karachi Biennale’s website, she elaborated: “Rizq | Risk represents a perpetual paradox, aiming to spark critical conversations about the intricate relationships between food security, environmental sustainability, social justice, and cultural heritage.”

The exhibition will address the complex factors shaping food systems globally and locally, including colonial legacies, globalisation, climate change, and carbon emissions. It will explore the loss of culinary heritage, land ownership disputes, and neo-orientalist practices impacting food security while celebrating food memories, oral histories, and community-led alternatives to current food systems.

The Biennale will also spotlight the role of waterways in agricultural livelihoods and the impact of natural disasters on food production. Through these explorations, artists will function as activists and sustainability advocates, inviting the public to think critically about how food systems influence and reflect broader societal concerns.

The organisers hope to sensitise the public to the themes of climate resilience and social justice, with the art serving as a medium for both reflection and action.

A detailed schedule of public programming, including workshops and interactive sessions, is available on the Karachi Biennale’s official website. The full list of participating artists can be found here.