The AICA Podcast, hosted and initiated by Mihaela Ion, will have a new episode on October 17th with Niilofur Farrukh, a Karachi based art interventionist and AICA’s Censorship and Freedom of Expression Committee chair.

 The podcast is available on:

  • AICA’s YouTube account
  • AICA’s website

In this podcast episode, we will delve into the history of AICA in Pakistan, examining how the country’s evolving socio-political landscape has influenced artistic expression and art criticism. We will highlight the initiatives of AICA’s Censorship and Freedom of Expression Committee, which is actively working to establish guidelines that support artists, cultural workers, and curators in navigating the challenges of limited freedom of speech, fostering a more supportive environment for creative work in the face of censorship.

AICA, in collaboration with its international network, is actively developing Censorship Toolkit aimed at supporting cultural workers facing censorship challenges. In the podcast, Niilofur Farrukh is presenting in a short version, of the Censorship Toolkitthat holds strategies for navigating censorship situations effectively, highlight resources available for assistance, and promote solidarity among artists, curators, art critics and cultural practitioners.

This podcast episode also will focus on the Karachi Biennale, exploring its rich cultural heritage and historical significance in the region. The topic will explore the various challenges the event has encountered over the years, including logistical and social hurdles, while also highlighting the innovative new curatorial concept that aims to reiterate the Biennale’s impact on both local and international art scenes. The Karachi Biennale, aimed at establishing a vibrant Public Art Presence, is set to be held from October 27 to November 10, 2024, across five venues in the city, curating diverse artistic expressions and engaging the local community.

About the moderator:  Mihaela Ion – Ph.D in History. Mihaela Ion is a curator, cultural manager and art researcher based in Bucharest. Since 2021, she is an AICA member. Since 2022, she has been an International Board Member in AICA and part of the Digital Strategies Committee in the same association.  In the last 17 years, she presented papers about Communist Art, Cultural Wars, contemporary artworks at the most important conferences organized in Europe.  She collaborates with several art galleries and museums in Europe. Her PhD thesis focused on the heritage of communist artworks. She has had the good fortune of being a grant keeper as a cultural manager in London at body>data>space, and in Paris, Sélestat, Strasbourg and Nancy during her Courants du Monde grant from the French Ministry of Culture. In 2010, she cofounded the project Atelierul Magazine (https://www.revista-atelierul.ro/ ) – an international active online and offline platform that creates an intercultural dialogue between the design creators and the public.

About the speaker: Niilofur Farrukh is a Karachi based art interventionist whose work has expanded the space for art publication, curation and public art in Pakistan. Primarily motivated by issues of decolonization and the convergences between political ideology and visual narrative, her writing has focused on excavating the interdisciplinary connections that keep getting lost in Pakistan’s tangled cultural and political matrix.  She has three books to her credit. Her most recent publication is A Beautiful Despair – The Art and Life of Meher Afroz. Niilofur co- founded NuktaArt, Pakistan’s Contemporary Art Magazine and was its founding editor for 10 years, while it was in print. Her work has been printed in leading Pakistani and South Asian publications. She is regularly invited to speak at conferences in countries across the world.

Niilofur has served two terms as Vice President on the Board of the International Art Critics Association and is the former Chair of the Election and Membership Committee. She is currently the chair of the Censorship and Freedom of Expression Committee, a member of the FFC and on the Jury of Aica Young Critic Award.  In 2023, Niilofur was invited to be on the jury of the Shanghai based International Public Art Prize.  She is one of the Founder of the Karachi Biennale Trust’s and it’s Managing Trustee since 2016. Currently Niilofur Farrukh is the CEO of the Karachi Biennale. (www.karachibiennale.org.pk). 

About AICA: The International Association of Art Critics (AICA), established in 1949 under the patronage of UNESCO, aims to advocate for and promote art criticism globally, adapting to the evolving landscape of the art world while fostering the exchange of ideas and best practices among critics from diverse disciplines.

AICA, comprising around 5,000 art professionals from 95 countries and organized into 63 National Sections and an Open Section, has a strong presence globally, notably in Europe, Australia, the Americas, and increasingly in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The organization has hosted Annual Congresses across diverse locations such as the Caribbean, Hong-Kong, and various European cities, with recent conferences held in Dakar, Istanbul, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, and Skopje over the past two decades. The next congress will be held in Bucharest and Iaşi, România, in November 2024.

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