The IAF-19 aims at bringing Pakistan’s vibrant young art scene and its innovative and energetic spirit in close contact with international artistic activity to explore cross-fertilisation of ideas, concerns and challenges.
Talking to NayaDaur Media, Shah said the platform will invite artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, creative disciplines and outlooks for a novel and multi-disciplinary aesthetic encounter and exploration of its thematic focus.
According to Shah, the event will provide opportunities for research and interaction to the young artists. They will be in direct contact with recognised professionals, which should make networking more systematic in visual arts, dance, theatre, music and cinema.
The festival's thematic focus will be “Aesthetic Encounter Between Tradition And Modernity” to be explored across cultures and identities inclusive of differences and similarities through the following manifestations of the curatorial themes:
- Indigenous vocabulary and contemporary expression
- Crush on modernity, affair with classicism and romance with romanticism
- Identity and contemporary challenges
- My tradition verses your modernity
The IAF-19 will invite 100 Pakistani and 30 to 50 regional and international artists to interpret and articulate the curatorial themes through their chosen genre and media, aspiring to engage huge audiences from diverse backgrounds and ages.
Selected artists will arrive in Pakistan at least 4 weeks ahead of inauguration.
The event will held at Gandhara sites at Taxila or Rohtas Fort, Katas Raj, Arts and Crafts Village, Lok Virsa, Open Air Theatre, Pak China Culture Centre, F-9 Park and local institutions/private galleries along with the main venue of PNCA.
The IAF-19 will further engage children and youth in aesthetic activities. Around 30,000 teachers and 300,000 students from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and surrounding areas will be indirectly involved in the festival.
The event will also be experienced by a large number of students and general public from all over Pakistan taking the numbers of indirect beneficiaries to over 500,000. These activities will be supported by the Islamabad and Rawalpindi Chambers of Commerce. Cooperation with art institutions, universities, galleries and research institutes for making special tours at the exhibitions has also been established.
The festival will be catalogued comprehensively with information on each participating artist along with detailed documentation of their projects and outcomes of the event. Books, reports, catalogues, and a cultural curriculum for schools will be published and films on various visual arts, theatrical, musical, dance projects and artists will be made.