Bani Abidi

Bani Abidi (born 1971) is a Pakistani artist working with video, photography and drawing. She studied visual art at the National College of Arts in Lahore and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2011, she was invited for the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin program, and since then has been residing in Berlin.

Bani Abidi
Born1971 (1971)
Karachi, Pakistan
NationalityPakistani
Known forVideo,Photography and Drawing
Websitewww.baniabidi.com

She is known for her use of humour as a way of negotiating realities that are often difficult and absurd. She likes to mock power and side with ordinary people, empowering herself and others by means of tools with which authority can be dethroned and ridiculed. Her observations and works draw inspiration from everyday life in the cities where she has lived, from snippets of news, and from the grand narratives presented daily to its people by the State. She works most frequently with video, but is also interested in other possibilities of creating meaning through time, so also makes sequential drawings, photographs and sound installations.[1]

Early life and art background

Abidi was born in Karachi, the capital of Pakistani province of Sindh, in 1971.[2][3] She lived in New Delhi and Karachi, and currently resides in Berlin.[4][5] In 1994, she chose to study painting and printmaking, earning a Bachelor of Arts from the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan.[3][6][7] From 1997 she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, completing a master's degree in 1999.[7] While attending the Art Institute, she developed a profound interest in cinematography. She incorporated films with her other practices of art to produce works that address issues with nationalism and post-colonialism, specifically India and Pakistan. Relations between India and Pakistan have been complex due to a number of historical and political events. Relations between the two states have been defined by the violent partition of British India in 1947,[8] the Kashmir conflict and the numerous military conflicts fought between the two nations.[9] Consequently, even though the two South Asian nations share linguistic, cultural, geographic, and economic links, their relationship has been plagued by hostility and suspicion. Her interests are drawn upon the lives of individuals that are affected by these disputes.[10]

Not only has she depicted subjects that deals with the historical events that occurred between India and Pakistan, she has created documentaries that portray the minority groups in Pakistan such as the Hindus, Christian and Zoroastrian—emerging into the twilight to briefly claim some space in a public sphere that is increasingly hostile to religious differences.[11]

Works and experiences

Bani Abidi has shown her works in exhibitions and film festivals internationally and participated in numerous residency programs since 1996.[6] Films like Mangoes and Karachi—Series 1 display her compassion towards ideas and subject manners that often depict religious, social, and political commentary.

In 1999, her film Mangoes touches the lives of a Pakistani and Indian women who eat mangoes together. They share each stories about their childhood that heightened sense of nostalgia and nationalism that exists in the Indian and Pakistani Diaspora. These women stress the idea of a shared history, while they eat a mango.[12]

For Karachi—Series 1 (2009), she photographed non-Muslim Pakistanis in the street at dusk during the holy month of Ramadan, when the metropolis is quiet as Muslims sit down to break their fast. Abidi renders visible the Hindu and Christian minorities, which together constitute less than five per cent of the population, acknowledging that the city is their home too by inviting them to carry out mundane domestic activities—reading a newspaper, ironing, arranging flowers—in public space.[10] Abidi states that the work is "a way to think about the presence of communities that have lived in the city since before the country came into being. As non-Muslims, they have somehow slipped out of mainstream life and are increasingly marginalised and invisible."[13]

As she thought "Pakistan is actually only depicted in news media and almost never through film, literature or art",[14] in 2000, she started working primarily in video[6] instead of just using photography to comment upon politics and culture. "I prefer to engage with things I may or may not find important at my own discretion, and feel a bit throttled by the world’s anxious curiosity about Pakistan. So I think I make a conscious effort to stay away from a flat definition of what is critical or political, both conceptually and visually."[14] Abidi stresses, however, that her work does not only look at Pakistan, "It's about power, security, and militarised architecture; and it's about the vulnerability of regular people."[15] Although there were only few artists, especially female artists working with video and photography,[14] she believed it would succeed, "As for the media of video and photography, they are only now starting to be used by younger artists."[14]

She also tried to participate in numerous residency programs between 2000–2012. In 2011/2012, she was the artist in Residence at DAAD Artists Residency in Berlin.[16]

Residency programs[2]
2011 DAAD Berliner Kunstler program, Berlin
2005 Fukuoka Artist Exchange Program, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
2000 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine
2001 Khoj International Artists Residency, Delhi

She has shown many of her works in different exhibitions, which proved that her works was evocative to the people, in both politics and culture.

Solo Exhibitions[2]
2012 Then it was moulded anew, Experimenter Gallery, Kolkata

Frame – Experimenter Gallery, Frieze Art Fair, London

2011 Bani Abidi – Baltic Center for Contemporary Art, Newcastle
2010 Bani Abidi – Section Yellow, Project 88, Mumbai

Bani Abidi – Karachi, V.M Art Gallery, Karachi

Bani Abidi – Karachi, Green Cardamom, London

2008 Standing Still Standing Still Standing: Video and Prints by Bani Abidi, Green Cardamom, London

Bani Abidi – Recent Works, Gallery SKE, Bangalore

2007 The Boy Who Got Tired of Posing, Gallery TPW, Toronto
2006 Shan Pipe Band Learns the Star Spangled Banner, Oberwelt, Stuttgart,

The Boy Who Got Tired of Posing, V. M Art Gallery, Karachi Shan Pipe Band Learns the Star Spangled Banner, Haines Gallery, San Francisco

Group Exhibitions and Screenings[2]
2014 In Plain Sight, Smack Mellon, New York

2nd CAFAM Biennial, Beijing

2013 Only to melt, trustingly, without reproach- Skuc Gallery, Ljubljana

Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space – Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham

Lofoten International Art Festival, Lofoten

No Country: Contemporary Art from South and Southeast Asia – Guggenheim Museum, NY; Asia Society, Hong Kong; Center forContemporary Art, Singapore.

I think it rains – Burger Collection, Cattle Depot Artist Village, HongKong

5th Moscow Biennial Film Program, Moscow

Artist Film Club- ICA, London

On Dithering – Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart

2012 Labor Berlin 12: Drifting – Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin

Kochi-Muziris Biennial 2012, India

Acts of Voicing, Wurttembergischer, Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany

9th Shanghai Biennale -Shanghai, China

DOCUMENTA 13 – Kassel, Germany

Sub Topical Heat – New Art from South Asia, Govett Brewster Contemporary Art Museum, Taranaki

Making Normative Orders – Demonstrations of Power, Doubt and Protest, Frankfurter Kunstverein

Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space – Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell, Ithaca, NY

2011 Liberalis – Pursuit of Liberty, KUNST + PROJECTE, Sindelfigen

In India and Far Beyond – Khoj, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Berlin

Incheon Women Artists Biennial 2011, South Korea

Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung

Home Spun, Devi Art Foundation, Delhi

Blockbuster: Cinema for Exhibitions, MARCO, Monterrey

The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds After 1989, ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe

4th Fotofestival – Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Heidelberg

Parc de la Villette, Paris

The Luxury of Dirt, Galerie Bob von Orsouw, Zurich

2010 Barrier (free) – An exploration of resistance and obstacles, Ratskeller, Berlin

Heat Wave, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York

Selection from AiM International Biennale, Riso Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia, Palermo

Where Three Dreams Cross – 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London and

Fotomuseum Winterthur

2009 AiM International Biennale, Marrakech, Morocco

Xth Lyon Biennale: The Spectacle of the Everyday, Lyon

Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Asia Society, New York

Freedom is Notional, Experimenter, Kolkatta, India

The View From Elsewhere, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation and Queensland Art Gallery, Sydney Lines of Control, Green Cardamom at VM Gallery, Karachi

2008 7th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea

5th Seoul International Media Art Biennale, Media City, Seoul

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Toronto

Six Degrees of Separation: Chaos, Congruence & Collaboration', Anant Art Gallery and Khoj International Artists Association, Delhi, India

Usable Pasts, Concerted Forgettings, SMART Project Space,Amsterdam

POL1T1C. VIVO. Media Arts Center, Vancouver

Bani Abidi & Ayaz Jokhio, NCA Art Gallery, Lahore

Crossroads, Elementa Art Gallery, Dubai Destination Asia: Non Strict Correspondence, Elementa Art Gallery, Dubai

2007 LUSH,Gallery SKE & Jack Tilton Gallery, New York and Miami

Tri Dimensional Scene, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Art Beijing International Art Fair, Beijing

Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York

GeoPoetics, Centro José Guerrero, Granada, Spain

Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany

The Communism of Forms, Gallery Vermelho, São Paulo

Destination Asia: Non Strict Correspondence, Soros Center for Contemporary Art, Kazakhstan

2006 Singapore Biennale 2006, Singapore

The Artists Cinema, Frieze Art Fair, London

Sub-Contingent: The South Asian Sub Continent in Contemporary Art, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy

Asian Contemporary Art Week, Asia Society, New York

2006 Contemporary Commonwealth, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

2005 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Fukuoka, Japan

Something Purple- Digital Art from Pakistan, Artists Commune, Hong Kong

Cinemascope, Scope Art Fair, St Martins Lane Hotel, London,

Bollywood Chaat, SAVAC, Toronto

Puppet in a Box, Kunstiftung, Baden-Wurttemberg, Stuttgart Beyond Borders: Art from Pakistan, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai

2004 Old Masters, Young Voices, SAARC Artists Group Show, Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore

LA Freewaves, 9th Festival of Film, Video and New Media, Los Angeles

Aar Paar 3, Mumbai and Karachi

Mateela Film Festival, Lahore

A Place Called Home, South African National Gallery, Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg

Along the X-Axis: Digital Art from India and Pakistan, Apeejay Media Gallery, New Delhi

2003 Darmiyaan, Neher Ghar Gallery, Lahore

3rd I, South Asian Film Festival, Roxie Theatre, San Francisco

BOLLY>LOLLY>HOLLY>TOLLY- SAVAC, York Quay Center, Toronto

Peace with India, Nehar Ghar Gallery, Lahore Around the Miniature too, Nairang Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan

Awards[2]
2011 Sharjah Art Foundation Production Grant

Major installations and performances / Selected published works

[17]

2014'Funland' Karachi Series II
2013A Table Wide Country
2012Proposal for a man in the sea
2011The Speech Writer
2010Section Yellow
2009'Karachi' Series -1
2008Intercommunication Devices
2008Security Barriers A-L
2007The Address
2006RESERVED
2006The Boy Who Got Tired of Posing
2004Shan Pipe Band Learns the Star Spangled Banner
2001The News
2000Anthems
2000... so he starts singing
1999Mangoes

Ideas and conceptions

The ideas and concepts of her works were all from her own divided biography (Doshi, 2010).[18] Her works consist of heavy political and cultural elements, the tension between Pakistan and India in particular (Cheng, n.d.) .[19] Her works showed her critiques to culture and politics (Guggenheim.org, n.d.),[7] most of the time, she comment through absurd vignettes and humorous (Anon, n.d.).[20]

The sense of political and cultural elements came from her first trip to India when she was 21 years old. It was the very first time for her to feel her own place in the North Indian history. When she was studying in Chicago, she ended up the friendship with many Indians. It had then turned to an understanding of the contradictions between the conflicting national identities between Pakistani and Indian. The cross-border friendships between Indian and Pakistani was described by Bani Abidi as "seamlessness" and "comfort" in which the friendships gave her a pleasant surprise because it was unlike the exclusionary national narratives produced by the two countries (Cheng, n.d.).[19] Selected works belong in the Guggenheim Collection.[21]

References

  1. "Bani Abidi/Priya Sen". Sommerakademie. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  2. Abidi, B. ‘Bani Abidi’s CV’ at Bani Abidi’s personal website: http://www.baniabidi.com/short%20bio.html Archived 14 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine and http://www.baniabidi.com/CV.pdf Archived 17 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Whiles, V. (2008). Bani Abidi. Art Monthly, (315), 18-19.
  4. Christov-Bakargiev, C. ‘Bani Abidi’ at dOCUMENTA (13) : http://d13.documenta.de/#/participants/participants/bani-abidi/ Archived 2015-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Ali, Amra (17 August 2016). "Life is infinitely more beautiful than art: Bani Abidi". Dawn. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  6. "Artist Biography - Bani Abidi". Australia: National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  7. Guggenheim.org. (n.d.). Collection Online | Bani Abidi – Guggenheim Museum. [online] Available at: http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artists/bios/11675 Archived 28 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine [Accessed 3 Apr. 2016].
  8. Dalrymple, W. (29 June 2015) ‘The Great Divide’ at The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple
  9. BBC News. (1 March 2016) ‘Kashmir profile – Timeline’ at BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-16069078
  10. "Collection Online | Bani Abidi – Guggenheim Museum". www.guggenheim.org. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  11. "ArtAsiaPacific: Bani Abidi". artasiapacific.com. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  12. "BANI ABIDI – WORKS". www.baniabidi.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  13. Bueti, Federica (11 October 2019). "Bani Abidi: 'What you see in my films is what I know'". Ocula.
  14. "Interview: Bani Abidi". Granta Magazine. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  15. Bueti, Federica (11 October 2019). "Bani Abidi: 'What you see in my films is what I know'". Ocula.
  16. Bani Abidi’s Artist Dossier at Experimenter: http://experimenter.in/web/?q=node/19 and http://www.experimenter.in/web/artists/bani/dossier.pdf Archived 14 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  17. Abidi, B. ‘Bani Abidi’s Works’ at Bani Abidi’s personal website: http://www.baniabidi.com/works.html Archived 14 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  18. Doshi, A. (2010). ArtAsiaPacific: Section Yellow Bani Abidi. [online] Artasiapacific.com. Available at: http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/72/SectionYellowBaniAbidi [Accessed 3 Apr. 2016].
  19. Cheng, E. (n.d.). Interview with Bani Abidi | Asia Art Archive. [online] Aaa.org.hk. Available at: http://www.aaa.org.hk/Diaaalogue/Details/796 Archived 2016-04-19 at the Wayback Machine [Accessed 3 Apr. 2016].
  20. Anon, (n.d.). Bani Abidi – Disruption of a Biblical Memory (from A Table Wide Country) 2013. [online] Available at: http://www.experimenter.in/web/artists/bani/baselfolio.pdf Archived 14 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine [Accessed 3 Apr. 2016].
  21. https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/bani-abidi
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