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
Born	1971 (1971) Karachi, Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Known for	Video,Photography and Drawing
Website	www.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
2013	A Table Wide Country
2012	Proposal for a man in the sea
2011	The Speech Writer
2010	Section Yellow
2009	'Karachi' Series -1
2008	Intercommunication Devices
2008	Security Barriers A-L
2007	The Address
2006	RESERVED
2006	The Boy Who Got Tired of Posing
2004	Shan Pipe Band Learns the Star Spangled Banner
2001	The News
2000	Anthems
2000	... so he starts singing
1999	Mangoes

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

External links

• Official website