Portfolio - 2022

PORTFOLIO

by Azeem Hamid

Education

MSc. Design and Technology Futures Tallinna Tehnikaülikool & Eesti Kunstiakadeemia 2021 - present

Knowledge Entrepreneurship Universität des Saarlandes 2022 - 2023

MPhil. Art & Design Education (Research) PIFD 2017 - 2019

Selected Work Experience

Creative Director Rearts (Private) Limited / Rearts Records 2018 - present

Creative Content Strategist Global Telecom Investors PLC, Dubai 2022 - present

Creative Art Director & Consultant Sheherezade - An Anthropological Project MadLab, UK 2019

UX/UI Designer Swyft Logistics (MENA&P) 2019 - 2020

BDes. Visual Communication Design School of Visual Arts & Design 2011 - 2015

Dipl. Social Innovation Design Summer School, Uganda SINA (Social Innovation Academy) gUg, Germany 2018, 2019

Dipl. Information Technology Skills University of Cambridge 2004

T. +372 5394 9077 E. azeemhamid@gmail.com

Art Director Brand Manual OU, Estonia March - November 2022

Consultant Thomson Media gGmbh (TM), Berlin 2022 - present

Visiting Faculty Member / Assist. Professor / Lecturer PIFD and Beaconhouse National University 2017 - 2021

Research Associate & Design Consultant Social Innovation Lab (SIL) 2013 - 2014

Selected Awards

The DICE Research and Development FundInternational Digital Cultural Relations British Council. 2021

Global Shaper World Economic Forum, Oct 2017

Fellow at ChangemakerXchange Co-created by Ashoka & Robert Bosch Stiftung, 2017

DICE Fellowship British Council, 2019

A. Õle tn 19/1-9 Põhja-Tallinna linnaosa, Tallinn EE 10611 - Estonia

moon measuring sleep device/app

a UI/UX product design project with Human-Centred Design approach at TalTech

August 2021 - January 2022 | UI/UX Design, concept development, visual design, design research and process design.

Moon App and Device is a concept/device that supports people to measure their sleep quality to improve their overall health and well-being. The device/service should be easy to use, apply and should not require much time and thoughts to put into it.

Value Proposition: One of the most important factors for the quality of one's life and people’s mental well-being is sleep quality. Thus, it is of people’s interest to strive for a good sleep quality. Therefore, measuring the sleep quality and getting insights into it, helps to increase awareness of potential difficulties, gives information of how to improve them and might help in the long run to increase people’s sleep quality. In this case, the measurement process is designed in a way that supports the individual and keeping the cognitive load as low as possible in order to not deprive the customer/person.

Process

1. Identify lead-users in order to rapidly develop first prototypes and improve disruptive factors of the operation process.

2. Develop different personas in order to pre-think about integrating processes in different people´s life.

3. Examine a certain amount of representative daily routines in order to develop the devices differently for varying user-groups.

4. Get in contact with existing device/service providers to talk about possible co-developing/offering models.

What must be measured and how?

For the development of our prototype, we first of all had to determine which kind of measurement we want to implement in the final design of the device.

Research showed that we could combine the EEG and EOG in one device and that the EMG is not feasible for us, because it implies an attachment of a needle into a muscle which we thought of being negatively affecting to the subject of exami- nation (sleep quality). Following you can see sketches of measuring points on the head for the respective measure- ment procedure:

Electrooculography (EOG) Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Prototyping V.1 (Sketch and Low-fidelity Prototype)

Other valuable insights included:

. Data connection points to the sleep cycles.

. Comfort levels of the user experience.

. Accuracy of the app.

. Navigation and ease of access.

. Understanding key essential needs of users and stakeholders involved.

Prototyping V.2 (The Sleep App - Moon)

kaupmees service / brand design

a service and brand design project under Brand Manual OU

March 2022 - November 2022 | Creative direction, brand development, curation, visual design, service design and brand identity. I’ve been the art director of the project spearheading it while working at Brand Manual OU.

Kaupmees has been a pioneer in wholesale services for 30 years. Kaupmees believes in building long-term relationships with its customers. The priority is to get the job done through direct person- to-person contact.

Kaupmees values long-term relationships and partnerships - with customers and suppliers alike. Kaupmees takes personal responsibility for its partners and does utmost to ensure they can do their job well. Hence, Kaupmees is a service provider - even though they sell goods and products.

Special people gather around Kaupmees. They're not just doing business, they're all about partnership. This is also true for Kaupmees various units, their current and future employees and, above all, their customers and suppliers. For their customers, buying goods is an activity that has a greater purpose and a job to be done. They are shopkeepers, cooks, food producers or suppliers of goods. Kaupmees allows them all to focus on their core business. They count on Kaupmees to do their job well and get them the right products, at the right time, in the right place. Whether it's receiving the goods in Kaupmees C&C, delivering their order direct to their door or helping them enter the Estonian market.

A person who, on the one hand, values stability, is unwaveringly trustworthy and can be relied upon by partner

On the other hand, a person who values person- to-person interaction, is caring in his work and knows that flexibility and responsiveness build long- term relationships.

Chanterelle mushroom butter

RECIPE 4-le

INGREDIENTS

Labore pos velia pro de eosant illest minveri orpore paribusant volecto eum mi, quatquunti volla dolorepudit, simus sit velenis dolupta cust quid quis quamend ignatur aut ariaturiatem autaquu ndiaes minum fugia non eatatem core sediame cum quidunt endesto ipide sinciminctur moleni aut quodior umquam, aut faccus cus doluptas nonsentiae quature et adisquia sam aborpor erioreperit debis inctia sequidit harum ab imus ma solut eratium quam ad eat voloraestio. Ferum faceaque quassiminto ipid quibus quatibea siminim consequis estia poremo eveles eturiti des et earumque dolore velecaest eium lab id quae quam aut ommolor ionesti offictus consequia sunti volore,Oditiorp orescia que.

200g 200g 200g 200g 200g 200g 200g 200g

Chanterelle mushroom butter

4-le 25 min

Chanterelle mushroom butter

RECIPE 25 min

chanterelle mushrooms Unsalted butter Shallot Thyme Salt Garlic Vegetable oil Sourdough (for serving)

Labore pos et velia pro de eosant illest minveri orpore paribusant volecto eum is id mi, quatquunti volla dolorepudit, simus sit velenis dolupta cust quid quis quamend ignatur aut ariaturiatem autaquu ndiaes minum fugia non eatatem core sediame cum quidunt endesto ipide sinciminctur moleni aut quodior umquam, aut faccus cus doluptas nonsentiae la quature et adisquia sam aborpor erioreperit debis inctia sequidit harum ab imus ma solut eratium quam ad eat voloraestio. Ferum faceaque quassiminto ipid quibus quatibea siminim consequis estia poremo eveles eturiti des et earumque dolore velecaest eium lab id quae quam aut ommolor ionesti offictus consequia sunti volore,Oditiorp orescia que.

INGREDIENTS

200g 200g 200g 200g 200g 200g 200g 200g

chanterelle mushrooms Unsalted butter Shallot Thyme Salt Garlic Vegetable oil Sourdough (for serving)

Chanterelle mushroom butter

Labore pos et velia pro de eosant illest minveri orpore paribusant volecto eum mi, quatquunti volla dolorepudit, simus sit velenis dolupta cust quid quis quamend ignatur aut ariaturiatem autaquu ndiaes minum fugia non eatatem core sediame cum quidunt endesto ipide sinciminctur moleni aut quodior umquam, aut faccus cus doluptas nonsentiae la quature adisquia sam aborpor erioreperit debis inctia sequidit harum ab imus ma solut eratium quam ad eat voloraestio. Ferum faceaque quassiminto ipid quibus quatibea siminim consequis estia poremo eveles eturiti des et earumque dolore velecaest eium lab quae quam aut ommolor ionesti offictus consequia sunti volore,Oditiorp orescia que.

INGREDIENTS

200g 200g 200g 200g 200g 200g 200g 200g

Labore pos et velia pro de eosant illest minveri orpore paribusant volecto eum id mi, quatquunti volla dolorepudit, simus sit velenis dolupta cust quid quis quamend ignatur aut ariaturiatem autaquu ndiaes minum fugia non eatatem core sediame

chanterelle mushrooms Unsalted butter Shallot Thyme Salt Garlic Vegetable oil Sourdough (for serving)

i don’t know what to wear - sensorial design project

a sensorial design research project staged in Estonia

2021 - 2022 | Research Design, Speculative Design and Sensorial Design project at Estonian Academy of Arts and TalTech. Facilitated, curated and organized by Azeem Hamid, Merje Niinepuu and Karina Klais.

This research study is an arts-based design project that stems from the Speculating on Sustainable Futures study course at Estonian Academy of Arts, which prompted to explore different aspects of speculative design

Hence, the project titled ‘I don’t know what to wear’ was created where I got the opportunity to work in a collaborative environment with designers. The research focuses on visual motion patterns that are designed and projected on to an individual’s body in an active environment and alters one’s perception of body.

Research Question:

1. How short sensorial design interventions can allow an individual’s perception and visual experience.

2. How might the ‘inter-subjectivity’ of design contribute to the development of generating new experiences.

The Design Process

Design processes such as design framing (creative exploration), interpretation (ways of thinking, seeing and acting) and design reflection (intentional progression) can be applied and identified through interaction with material to understand the sense of perception and experience (Desmet & Hekkert, 2009). This informs an individual’s own practice, learning and perception, as the process of design is co-creative, iterative, open to ambiguous interpretation and has a sense-making attribute to it (Lundberg & Pitsis, 2010, pp. 277).

The projections were tested on the upper body area, this was mainly due to limited positioning and scale of the projector lens and the limitations of the space (a studio apartment) where the first prototype was being tested.

Reflection Framing Creative Exploration Ways of thinking, seeing and acting Intentional progression

Background and Research Phase

Interpretation

This collaborative design project stems from the Speculating on Sustainable Futures study course at Estonian Academy of Arts, which prompted to explore different aspects of speculative design and how it is viewed in a sustainable manner and went for period of three months. Hence, the project titled ‘I don’t know what to wear’ was created where I got the opportunity to work in a collaborative environment with designers and artists in understanding how short sensorial design interventions can have an effect on an individual’s perception and overall emotional experience. How the ‘inter-subjectivity’ of design can contribute to the development of generating new experiences.

The initial phase of the research draws influence and research framework of John Dewey’s approach of ‘joint inquiry’ as a design research methodology. Understanding from the project’s aim of changing one’s perception and experience, I started to explore and design various motion patterns which were categorized and tested on my own body to experience the process of design interaction that results in a new ‘experience’ (Cross, 2006) within which meaning is dynamically and continuously being made. Here experiencing design can be understood as a process of collaborative design thinking, or as a process of joint inquiry and imagination.

Space Phase #1: Prototype stage

Leading ideas: Design Thinking as aesthetic process innovation, Maria Lundberg & Tyrone S. Pitsis (2010) Desmet & Hekkert (2009)

Phase #2: Final Experiment

The final experiment was staged at an open gallery space Roheline Saal, in Telliskivi, Tallinn where a 1250 mm by 2500 mm box made out of 6 plywood sheets was constructed in the center of the gallery space and painted in black, with the entrance space of the box having a black curtain

Three participants [two females and one male, with ages ranging from 24 – 39] participated in this experimental research study project. Each participant was provided with a consent form to which they agreed prior to being part of the study. The informed consent gave details about the project, descriptions of the data collected, the benefits of the study and identified the risk on the contrary, and addressed data storage methods in keeping the identity of the participants confidential, as well as the use of the findings.

Participants Response/Observations

Felt extremely comfortable with the space, Spent a lot of time in moving around, Mostly rotating and seeing how the patterns felt on to his body.

His hand gestures and bodily movements were consistent throughout

A recurring pattern was noted that the participant consistently touched the garment he was wearing and tried to interact with the patterns.

Seen jumping to certain patterns which were more “sparky” and “bright”

It was a surreal experience, it felt I was in a metaverse where I get to see what I want to wear

Felt that some of the patterns were more interesting, the projections kept her engaged through out.

“I wanted to move my body with different patterns. It was surreal to me; my favorite was the sparkling one as it felt extraterrestrial.”

I felt relaxed. I enjoyed the space around me. and with the moment of the patterns I was intrigued to see what's next.”

The motion of the patterns made her touch her body at multiple occasions during the overall experience.

Provoked me to move, but I liked seeing myself in the mirror and how the patterns changed over my body.

dreaming the cities creative r&d project

a creative exchange project between Lahore & São Paulo

December 2020 - March 2021 | Creative direction, brand development, curation, visual design, artist engagement and exchange. I’ve been the creative director of the project spearheading it the joint-venture between Lahore, Pakistan and São Paulo, Brazil.

Dreaming The Cities is a virtual event designed to connect emerging artists and/or art collectives from the underprivileged and diverse communities of distant cities in the world through co-creation sessions.

Dreaming The Cities is a digital co-creation event-experiment designed to connect independent artists from distant cities’ art scenes through an exchange of ideas on cultural production and the realization of joint projects. In this first edition, the project proposes to build a bridge of over 15,000 km to connect the millenary city of Lahore, Pakistan to the multicultural metropolis of São Paulo, Brazil. Three pairs of artists representing each city will meet throughout 4 sessions of dialogue and exchange of knowledge on creative modes and local cultures that will allow to creatively imagine and speculate possible urban futures and will result in artistic performances presented to the public in a live session.

Dreaming The Cities is produced by Linha 3 (BR), Rearts (PK) with the support of DICE – Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies, British Council.

Alinhada

O objetivo da obra é mostrar como as cidades podem se tornar um espaço mais seguro para as mulheres possibilitando que elas saiam dessa caixa. A ideia de revolução é incorporada no título do trabalho usando uma fonte dourada que remete a valorização das mulheres que mesmo com suas mentes e corpos violados continuam encontrando maneiras de existir e resistir.

“Dabbay”

as cidades,

que

sociedade ainda é agressiva com o sexo feminino em muitas esferas. O trabalho apresenta diferentes tipos de corpos femininos de vários contextos diferentes dentro desta caixa. Os arredores são apresentados em preto mostrando um espaço sufocante.

Revolta Visualizer / Koral Alvarenga X Amna Riaz

swyft logistics branding, ui/ux design, web design

an e-commerce logistics company in Pakistan

2019 - 2020 | Brand development, Visual design, UI/UX Design and Website Design. Involved in designing the brand development, website, visual and web design for Swyft Logistics Pakistan - an e-commerce company.

Swyft aspires to reinvent logistics in Pakistan by staying a step ahead of its competition through real time tracking, digital payments that minimize transactional delays and by ensuring a delivery time of hours instead of days.

I was invovled in designing the entire visual branding, website design, user interface design for the app and was engaged in creative consultation to Swyft Logistics Pakistan. Furthermore, the project involved me in helping the brand develop a road map for their social media campaigns and visual look.

Web Layout and Design of swyftlogistics.com

The website layout and design was kept simple and bold so it is easy for the user to navigate and understand the narrative of the brand that is to reinvent the ecosystem of e-commerce with real-time tracking and keeping it culturally relevant.

Layout and

Brand Mark, Logo & Iconography

Design of the

The logo design was envisioned to reflect the brand’s statement of being efficient, swift, reliable and fast-forward.

logo designs

logos designed for multiple organisations, companies and projects from 2016 - 2021

2016 - 2021 | custom logo design for various organisations, companies and projects in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Logos designed for many brands, organisations and projects that I have been directly or indirectly involved with in terms of visual branding, design, creative direction and concept development.

Here are some of the logos listed which I personally curated and designed from 2016 - 2021.

designxchange summer school at sina

a cross-cultural collaborative design school & retreat

Summer 2018 - Present | Social Innovation Academy (SINA), Mpigi, Uganda

Facilitated, curated and organized by Azeem Hamïd, Etienne Salborn & Philippe Maentele

A collaborative project between Social Innovation Academy & Independent Theatre Pakistan

Individuals use the process of meaning making to understand themselves and the world around them. Design can be a useful tool towards developing this process. It is a more constructive process; that involves creating meaning through the ‘doing of design’ or by experiencing design. It allows us to generate new forms in dynamic relation with material contexts. “A combination of previous experiences, knowledge and circumstances that result in ‘an experience’ within which meaning is dynamically and continuously being made” (Cross, 2006). As a pragmatist John Dewey believes the creation of meaning occurs at a similar point of synthesis. Creative meaning making, takes place “through the intelligent use of materials and the imaginative development of possible solutions to problems issuing in a reconstruction of experience” (Dewey, 1938). This process of problem solving is what designers continuously aim to implement in their work.

I proposed a design research project towards facilitating a cross-cultural exchange program between foundation year design students from Pakistan Institute of Fashion & Design, Lahore (PIFD) and scholars from Mpigi, Uganda at the Social Innovation Academy (SINA). The objective of this research is to develop creative thinking skills and understand how the students apply these skills to make meaning. Collaborating in a cross cultural environment serves as the perfect precedent for the students to move out of their comfort zones, work together towards solving problems and engage in the process of meaning making. It examines the effect on student learning in small work groups, and multidisciplinary group dynamics.

The exchange program was designed to create a collaborative experience consisting of 10 design students enrolled in foundation year studies from Pakistan Institute of Fashion & Design (PIFD), Lahore, who participated for a period of five weeks in East Africa. Where they collaborated and learned with students from the Social Innovation Academy (SINA), in Uganda.

The first phase of the research project took place from June 11 - July 20, 2018 in East Africa. The second phase was implemented in December in Pakistan with the same group of students, in order to compare the findings and observe how the student learning was affected in the two alternative environments. The third phase commenced from June 19 - July 20, 2019 at SINA with a new cohort of students from three different design institutes.

For further information visit: http://www.socialinnovationacademy.org/

Structure of the Program

The Summer School consists of a personal growth module and a professional empowerment module. Participants overcome limiting believes and expand their comfort zones beyond what they believed possible.

Participants discover their purpose and are taken from idea generation until the creation of a social enterprise, prototyping and testing it. In the process participants are equipped with the tools to overcome personal and professional barriers and able to find new solutions to existing problems.

The biggest part of the module is practical experience.

Program

Mpigi, Uganda

Sustainable Fashion Project by Ali Naqvi, Olowo Omotoke & Odunayo Aliu (2019)

Location: Social Innovation Academy, Mpigi, Uganda

Program Objectives & Goals

The goal of the program is to empower students to become changemakers equipped with world class knowledge, skills, values and networks needed to succeed as responsible leaders and social entrepreneurs.

Personal Growth Module Professional Growth Module

• create a personal vision and steps towards its achievement

• learn and emerge in a cross-cultural setting

• identify personal strengths and weaknesses while receiving personal life-coaching

• apply empowerment tools such as selforganization, Nonviolent Communication and the 7 habits of highly effective people

• give and receive constructive feedback for personal growth

• break free from rigid limiting structures and become resilient

• learn and apply leadership skills

• work collaboratively in an intercultural setting on social innovation

• think outside the box and see problems as business opportunities for social change

• apply Design Thinking and Human Centered Design techniques

• explore successful Ugandan Social Enterprises as case studies

• put new ideas into practice and develop a validated business model

• experience a three-day changemaker experience in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement

• analyse and transform a real-life challenge of a rural Ugandan community and create a social enterprise or social innovation

• apply learnings beyond the Summer School and have a starting point for fundraising and financing of their own future social enterprise

Students discussing problems they identified during the visit at Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda (Summer 2019)

Visual from post-wellbeing retreat at Summer School 2018

sheherezade: the walled city anthology

a design collaborative exhibit

March 2019 | Lahore, Pakistan

Facilitated, managed, co-curated by Azeem Hamid, Saima Zaidi & Umar Hameed

A collaborative project of MadLab UK, British Council Pakistan & Numaish Karachi-Lahore

Sheherezade, proper noun. Persian. /ʃəˌhɛrəˈzɑːd/ from sheher, ‘city’, and zade, ‘born’; born of the city Anthology, noun. Greek. /anˈθɒlədʒi/ gathering of flowers, flower-collecting, a collection of extracts, stories

In the heart of Lahore lies Androon Sheher, a walled city within the city, that has survived through the centuries. It has been besieged and liberated, razed and rebuilt by dynasties of rulers–the Hindus, Sikhs, Afghans, Mughals, the British Raj–and in the process each left their cultural imprint. With the arrival of modernity, urban forces pressed at its gates, threatening to envelop it. What has remained untouched, however, in its serpentine alleys, is an ancient past that none who enter can fail to see.

This legacy has ensured the survival of Androon Sheher by giving it an enduring allure. Much like the legendary Sheherezade of Alif Laila or One Thousand and One Nights, the Walled City too has kept people captivated by eternally creating and unraveling stories in ransom for its life. Just as the twists and turns of Sheherezade’s storylines would surprise and delight her king, so too the labyrinthine alleys of the Walled City surprise and delight with each visual encounter: at one turn the narrow alley, at another the hidden haveli, opening eventually into a vibrant mazaar.

It is this spatial and mythic essence of Androon Sheher which inspires Sheherezade: The Walled City Anthology, an urban intervention that brings together architects, artists, computer scientists, craftspeople, designers, digital innovators and interdisciplinary teams. They have created projects that play on and invent from the materials, motifs and mysteries of the inner city in a conversation that fuses the digital realm with some of the more tangible aspects of its sacred heritage. Through interaction, engagement and community participation, Sheherezade seeks to draw people ‘born of the city’ into this historic space to explore and rediscover stories old and new.

The installations commence at the Delhi Darwaza and unfold along the Royal Trail to the Fort. Visitors emerge at Chowk Wazir Khan, the historic forecourt of the mosque commissioned during Emperor Shah Jahan’s reign in the 17th century and built by Hakim ‘Imuddin Ansari, better known as Wazir Khan. Lying at the confluence of the bazaars, this heritage site serves as the culminating hub for many of the projects. Other works unspool in the radial arteries leading off to Sabeel Walli Galli, Phullan Walli Galli (The Flower Alley), Galli Soorjan Singh and the Dina Nath Well.

Intezar Ka Dusra Rukh (Waiting & the Other Side of Waiting) by Azeem Hamid

Location

Khalifa Manzil, Walled City of Lahore

Intezar Ka Dusra Rukh is an interpretation and imagining of two aspects of love—longing and anticipation. The various states of light in its shades, gradients and transitions correlate and complement the waxing and waning of two people connected by love. The visual display transcends the barrier between tangible words and abstract emotions.

This installation pays homage to Saadat Hasan Manto’s classic narratives Intezaar and Intezaar Ka Dusra Rukh. Intezaar tells of a young man getting ready to meet his beloved, while Intezar Ka Dusra Rukh relates the same of his counterpart. The pair must overcome complications of both heart and mind, as well hindrances from family to meet each other. The lights engage in a similar dance, communicating through windows and across the barriers of the scaffolding that encases the building. As one light fades, we await the next.

Materials: 27 LED DMX 512 Spotlights

Curatorial Exhibits/ Installations

The installations commence at the Delhi Darwaza and unfold along the Royal Trail to the Fort. Visitors emerge at Chowk Wazir Khan, the historic forecourt of the mosque commissioned during Emperor Shah Jahan’s reign in the 17th century and built by Hakim ‘Imuddin Ansari, better known as Wazir Khan. Lying at the confluence of the bazaars, this heritage site serves as the culminating hub for many of the projects. Other works unspool in the radial arteries leading off to Sabeel Walli Galli, Phullan Walli Galli (The Flower Alley), Galli Soorjan Singh and the Dina Nath Well.

These spaces opened up for cultural production through transformative interventions that draw on the Androon Sheher’s narrative environment, sacred geometries, calligraphy, local industry and visual culture. The projects lie at the intersection of design, culture, science and technology and will unfold amidst live poetry and music, workshops and storytelling. Some works are inspired by the mosaics and floral frescoes adorning the mosque, while others extract from the dizzying juxtaposition of veined alleys telescoping out into moonlit courtyards.

Participants Included

Bilal Ahmed, Durre S Ahmed, Affan Baghpatti, Asa Calow, Noor Ali Chagani, Umar Hameed, Azeem Hamid, Dan Hett, Sarah Khan, Arif Mahmood, Tahir Mahmood, Zahid Mayo, Humayun Memon, Taimoor Khan Mumtaz, Sonia Murad, Sahar Musharaf, Shahzia Sikander, Naveen Syed, Rachael Turner, Imran Zafar, Raza Zahid

Interactive Installation by Dan Hett

alternative path in centre pompidou

a low-tech narrative experience theme: re-scripting interpretative texts

Spring 2018 | Centre Pompidou, Paris Project by Azeem Hamïd, Charles Bedel, Alexis Vilassa & Noémie Kawakita Supervision by Jérôme Picard & Césaap Facilitation Team

On the museum’s invitation, the Together at the Centre Pompidou workshop took place within the Centre Pompidou from Tuesday April 3rd to Saturday April 7th 2018, and offered young designers the possibility of working in teams on subjects linked to the living museum as embodied by the Centre Pompidou. The students were invited to approach the works, the collections, the site, and the missions of the museum with a designer’s eye.

This was a real opportunity for in situ transdisciplinary work in the context of an international learning exchange. The project was supervised by a team of teachers from the four Parisian schools and coordinated by Jérôme Picard from the Norwegian architecture agency 3RW arkitekter. It benefited from the support and equipment of the curatorial and cultural communication departments of the Centre Pompidou.

Césaap’s objective and ambition for this workshop was primarily to help reinforce and increase recognition for graduate schools and students in the field of research and co-creation, proposing joint working methods that are conducive to the initiation of new approaches to Conférence des écoles supérieures d’Arts appliqués de Paris design.

On the contrary, one of the aims of the workshop was to think critically in a design studio environment and use design as a generative tool in addressing the Pompidou Centre themes, as they were the base for this workshop. Césaap also aimed to re-envision the idea of creating a new space for this cultural institution as reflected in the ambition of the workshop itself: How can we accommodate the transversal design of new trends that are changing the face and role of a cultural institution such as Centre Pompidou?

How is this allowing them to remain an attractive actor of the public debate, not only to inform but become a learning platform, not only display but interact, not only house exhibition but become a destination in its own right, embracing the dematerialization of the space into virtual content while trying only harder to propose attractive and diverse venues, and proposing a layered program of activities acknowledging the complexion of its audience, from public to professional in a wider layering of ages?

Analysis the problem

The chronological order of artworks is not perceived by visitors, mostly due to lack of information and guidance from the museum. Hence, chronologically speaking, the path is thus lacking contextualization (links to other artwork, historical information, various themes and narrative of the artists), making it hard to create an immersive and learning experience. The visitor’s path seems erratic, without a specific goal.

Expected itinerary

Experience itinerary

Narrating a new itinerary to create new links to art

Creating an alternative path by hacking the existing identity and artworks, and thus giving supplementary information and context through a more personalised, narrative experience. This sensitive experience would foster empathy through interaction and communication, would foster critical thinking as well through active learning and participation. In addition, it also fosters creative thinking through understanding different modes of languages (verbal/non-verbal).

art

F lows narration

Concept/Ideation: creating a low-tech narrative path, booths and tickets

Narrative path:

A thematic narration inside the museum, proposing a new use of its space. It allows the user to have an active attitude towards the collection, with a thematic that can be usual or completely weird. It could be curated by the Pompidou Centre, but user-made path could also be uploaded and submissed to visitors, as well as archive of famous people’s or tour guide’s path.

EXAMPLES OF THEMATIC PATHS: - tape à l’oeil! effets optiques et art contemporain - les modernités - silence... le calme du musée - sur le chemin d’Hockney - Sophie Calle et l’intimité

Ways of learning

Visitors

level 4: re-mapping

Prototyping the booth: itinerary-printing analog machine

Booths: Three type of booths

01. Entrance (multiple paths)

02. Artwork-based (specific route at the starting point)

03. Portable (given by employee, randomly started)

Keywords: Role-playing, Flow Playful, Learning exprience, Space and time

the ticket: a multi-language narrative object

Tickets : Contextualizing art in space by understanding the museum’s space. Creating an immersive adventure inspired by old-school RPG, printed on an unique object inspired by receipts and tickets. It gives a narrative itinerary based on a theme, creating an alternative path through the collection. Its purpose is to leave a souvenir,informations and learning tools to the visitor.

Multi-language narration: axonometries, text, pictures

Booth prototypes for the analog-machine

CUMULUS Workshop: To Get Here Together Restitution Documentary

http://www.cumulusparis2018.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CUMULUS_WORKSHOP_RESTITUTION.mp4

wellbeing retreat for artists

a cross-cultural collaborative artistic retreat

Spring 2018 | The Happieee Place, Lahore

Facilitated, curated and organized by Azeem Hamïd, Greta Rossi & Alessia Cervone

A collaborative project between Recipes for Wellbeing & Independent Theatre Pakistan

Wellbeing Retreat for Artists was a collaborative venture by Independent Theatre Pakistan and Recipes for Wellbeing lead by Azeem Hamïd, Greta Rossi & Alessia Cervone.

This was the first South-Asian retreat for emerging artists took place at the Happieee Place in Lahore, Pakistan, in March 2018. The retreat explored ways for talented young artists to cultivate their wellbeing.

The purpose of this focused on the holistic approach to wellbeing in support to changemakers who are artists, designers, storytellers or filmmakers. In addition, it focused on traditional hard competences as a tool for holistic wellbeing to be understood as an essential ingredient to an effective recipe for changemaking. Wellbeing through changemaking requires the whole inner world of mind, body, heart, and spirit to be aligned to individual and shared purpose.

This retreat was attended by young emerging artists from across the globe which included, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Italy, Switzerland, United States of America, South Korea, Russia, South Africa and Belarus.

For further information visit: http://www.facebook.com/independenttheatrepak/ http://www.recipesforwellbeing.org/services/wellbeing-retreats/

Visuals from the retreat

re-visiting the lahore fort

re-contextualizing conventions of the city’s identity

Fall 2017 | Pakistan Institute of Fashion & Design (PIFD)

A project directed by Azeem Hamid in collaboration with students of Foundation year studies from PIFD

The Lahore Fort provides a space that captures the city’s cultural and historical significance. It served as the citidal of the city during the Mughal era and has consequently allowed multiple rulers to leave their contributions to its structure, creating an array of architectural features within. What remains of it, tell us a story about the past and the changes brought with the present.

“If it could speak, it would tell such things that would leave the listener breathless. It could tell of love, romance and adventure, of dark eyed beauties and fierce-browned warriors, of queens in flowing silks and kings in shinning armour, of poets, actors, slaves, and court intrigues, of coronations and assassinations, of treachery and black revenge.”

Identify the varying forms of architectural styles that exists within the region. Can you periodically arrange the various that changed with time? What are the layers that form? What do they tell us about the city’s identity? What are the main purposes or functions these structures fulfill? How much of the regions historical blueprints remain in the current scape of the region. To what extent are the historical layers of architecture continued, preserved. What are these varying architectural sites contributing to the regions identity?

Students from foundation year studies program at Pakistan Institute of Fashion & Design, Lahore were invited to participate and were introduced to design thinking methods to re-contextualize and re-image the space of the iconic Lahore Fort and create projects around different themes and contexts as instructed/directed to them.

Brainstorming/Exploration of Ideas

Keywords: Possible themes for the project.

Project 01: Documentary - The Market Outside Lahore Fort by Sana Khan, Khadeeja Zehra & Rida-i-Zainab

Theme: Surrounding Environment / Trade & Commerce

The project focused on the local market area right outside the Lahore fort and highlighted the struggles faced by the local market due to lower rates of tourists coming to visit the fort.

Within the documentary, the project focused on the employees of the fort and how the paid wages are very low which, therefore being not feasible.

The documentary included interviews in Urdu language.

Project 02: Designing fort imagery inspired Stoller Scarfs by Khadeeja Zehra

Theme: Frescoes & Wall paintings, Crafts

Contributing Emperors

Shah Jahan

Jehangir

Project 03: Vandalising/Censoring Movement

by Abira Ejaz

Theme: Inscriptions, Writing on the Walls, Censorship, Vandalism, Wall-paintings, Frescoes

Project 04: Experiencing Shish Mahal Virtually by Alina Sarfraz, Rameen H. Bhatti, Fatima Azhar, Maheen Masood & Hira Noreen

Theme: Shish Mahal, Virtual Tourism

This project focused on re-creating the experience of visiting the famous Shish Mahal site within the Lahore fort. This iconic space is reknowned for its mirror ceiling work and colorful geometrical patterns on the tiles as well as ornaments. The create awareness the participants took 360 degree images and recreated the experiences using VR glasses. Below can be seen the 360

3 kahaniyan (three stories)

visualizing and designing a theatrical performance

Winter 2015-2016 | Independent Theatre Pakistan

A project directed, lead and executed by Azeem Hamid Supported by Umar Hameed, Shehzil Malik, Omer Jilani (Happa Studios) and Mehreen Mir

3 Kahaniyan (literal English translation, Three Stories) was my personal commercial theatre/storytelling project under the banner of Independent Theatre Pakistan where I collaborated with various visual designers, artists and performers such as Shehzil Malik, Happa Studios, Mukarram Kaleem, Rashid Mehmood and Umar Hameed. I served as the creative/artistic director of the project and directed the theatrical performances and overlooked the whole project in terms of its arts management and in the department of art direction. The project initiated in June and staged in December 2015.

Independent Theatre Pakistan was founded by young theatre enthusiasts hoping to revive theatre in Pakistan by providing a platform for aspiring young artists with a focus on promoting local languages and narratives.

3 Kahaniyan is a play in three acts with three distinct storylines directed by three directors... presenting a unique challenge to build a cohesive visual theme that the audience can understand and find continuity. The central thread connecting all three acts was the struggle for identity and finding solace in a self-created madness, and I used this as a starting point to design sets and accompanying projections.

Act 01: Bu

"Bu" tells the story of two men living and working in the confined attic of a shoe shop. Surrounded by the pungent smell of leather, their whole world view is limited to their experiences in a dark box. A third character emerges to coax them to join the outside world, but ultimately his promises of freedom are not what they seem...

Touching upon themes of extremism, indoctrination and entrapment, Act 1 was a heavy mix of music and theatrics. The set design was thus kept to a symbolic version of confinement, and handdrawn projections were used to allude their setting in a shop.

Directed & written by Ayesha Mohsin

Act 02: Sammi Di Vaar

"Sammi Di Vaar" is a story about an elderly Fakir (ascetic) who is visited by the young granddaughter of his lost love. The Fakir nostagically talks about his childhood sweetheart and how she became the reason for his very existence as a lowly fire-seller. Touching upon the blurred lines between fantasy and reality, the play had to visually take the audience through the memories of Fakir as he converses with the spirited young girl.

The play was also performed in a Punjabi dialect for an audience with limited knowledge of the language, so projections were used to illustrate the words spoken.

Directed by Mehreen Mir and written by Najam Hussain Syed

Act 03: Badshahat Ka Khatma

"Badshahat ka Khatma" is the esteemed playwright Manto's take on identity, ego and man's slow descent into madness. The story pans out in an abandoned office space where the protagonist, Manmohan, is taking refuge. Everything changes when the phone rings and he hears the seductive voice of (what he imagines to be) a beautiful woman. The voice teases and cajoles him, and soon becomes tantamount to his existence. Little does he know all is not what it seems...

This sense of mystery and the power of Manmohan's imagination regarding the disembodied voice was brought to life by projections that were used to show the overpowering impact of Manmohan's visions.

Directed & adapted by Azeem Hamid Inspired from Sa’adat Hasan Manto’s short story

Act 03 Keywords Man’s (fragile) ego

Vanity Dreams Fantasy vs Reality

Smoke + Mirrors Shadows Madness

Moodboard

pakistan re-told

a visual anthropolgical research thesis: bachelors of design, visual communication

Summer 2015 | School of Visual Arts & Design, Beaconhouse National University

A project visualized, designed and executed by Azeem Hamid

Supervised by Prof. Umar Hameed, Prof. Gwendolyn Kulick & Komal Riaz

Pakistan Re-Told: is a personal project and an anthropological research point-of-view in the form of a visual imagery - which focuses on deconstructing the signification of the dictated myth propagated during General Zia’s regime creating identities that were self-constructed and that are still present affecting the society in today’s time leading to constructed false identities in our society. Strategy: Deconstruction of codes, myths, signs & visual images propagated in Zia’s regime creating new constructed identities that are present today.

Abstract

History in Pakistan has a very biased opinion on the creation and ideology of Pakistan. It follows a singular religious identity based perspective – propagated during dictatorial regimes. Hence, the perpetuated historical codes have constructed new myths and ideologies, such as the Arabesque “Al-Bakistan”, leading to a state of isolation and despair in our society by creating false superior identities and societal discrimination in a much structuralized manner.

In my attempt to see the effects of the existing myth, I plan to deconstruct the codes, signs and myths communicated in political regimes and how it affected the society in the long run in contrast to it affecting us in today’s time.

Problem Statement

This project is a research point-of-view in the form of visual imagery (a compilation series of text, visual) focusing on deconstructing the notion and signification of the dictated myth propagated in during various political regimes in Pakistan. This created identities that were self-constructed and authoritatively canonized within institutions to perpetuate a certain belief, affecting the social setup constructing new false identities in Pakistan.

Statement

Pakistan Re-Told is an anthropological research point-of-view in the form of a visual imagerywhich focuses on deconstructing the signification of the dictated myth propagated during General Zia’s regime creating identities that were self-constructed and that are still present affect- ing the society in today’s time leading to constructed false identities in our society.

Inspiration/Research

Understanding the account of Antonio Gramsci, he explained this whole phenomena of ruling as cultural hegemony which is the domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class, who manipulate the culture of that society - the beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values, and moralsso that their ruling-class worldview becomes the worldview that is imposed and accepted as the cultural.

Whereas, Pierre Nora coined the concept of place of memory to designate those artifacts that where collective memory crystallizes and secretes itself. This concept was created to analyze the French memory but soon became involved in discussions about the advisability of applying it to other countries.

Identifying how a myth is propagated in Pakistan

THE CYCLE KEEPS REVOLVING CREATING NEW EXTENSIONS OF THE PRPAGATED MYTHS

ONCE NATURALISED, IT BECOMES A REALITY AND REMAINS UNNOTICED

People

Dictated Political Regimes

DICTATED POLITICAL REGIMES IN POWER PROPAGATE NEW IDEOLOGIES

INSTITUTIONALIZE NEW IDEOLOGIES , CODES, SIGNS & MYTHS

Pakistani Myth

ALL THE PROPAGATED MYTHS NATURALISE AND BECOME ACCEPTABLE

IDEOLOGIES EVOLVE INTO NEW IDENTITIES ONCE EXPOSED & FLOODED TO THE AUDIENCES

Public Institutes

ALL THE CONSTRUCTED IDEOLOGIES AND MYTHS ARE FURTHER INSTITUTIONALIZED IN DIFFERENT WORK AREAS. E.G. EDUCATION

Textbooks Curricula

THESE IDEOLOGIES ARE FURTHER INTERNALISED FORMING NEW MYTHS

He said that a society's public memory can be observed in several spheres: political actors or groups, public discus- sion and memory sites.

Halbwachs' primary thesis is that human memory can only function within a collective context. Collective memory, Halbwachs asserts, is always selective; various groups of people have different collective memories, which in turn give rise to different modes of behavior.

According to Maurice Halbwachs individual memories are altered or moulded by socio-cultural contexts.

Myths

Myths are conveyed to the society through characters in stories or through the art of storytelling.

Keywords:

Myth, Cultural Hegemony, Stories, Memory Objects/Sites, Cultural Residue, Narratives

Institutes Cultural Hegemony

They have an impact on a society and create mainstream trends which general audiences follow. These trends play an important role in forming collective cultural memory.

The domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class, who manipulate the culture of a society. Hence, dictating what to be addressed to the public and what not.

Context:

Visuals of the final book compilation

Bey Se Pakistan was an interactive compilation book which compromised of film posters, lyrical content, newpaper articles, imagery and analysis of history textbooks all compiled in 5 chapters.

Strict laws were passed on national TV and media where it became necessary for women to cover their head in advertise- ments and in television dramas.

Television was used as a tool to propagate the ideology of Islamization and to gave way to new myths and ideologies. For instance, all the teleplays written by Ashfaq Ahmed were oriented towards the newly imposed Islamic Shariah Law passed during the Zia regime which were the mainstream tele-dramas during Zia’s regime.

Dictated Political Regimes

In 1980’s, during the regime of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq the Jihadist Islamization movement was carried out which influenced the country greatly in educational institutes and media changing the ideology of the country.

Pakistan’s military-bureaucracy complex had reinvented an ideological state based on a sectarian worldview; History was an instrument of propagating this ideology; and the jIhad became a new trend.

Today in the same manner, these patterns are being followed in all media forms such as films where modern heroes are being used as a recreation of the past false heros created during Zia’s time and are being glorified.

According to K.K. Aziz, “The Murder of History”, scrutinized over 65 textbooks, which have been promoting prejudice, xenophobia and discrimination in our young children. With this we destroyed our cultural stories and heritage and replaced them with destructive false myths that have today become reality for the masses.

According to the analysis of K.K Aziz in his book a textbook even mentions Maulana Maudoodi among the “founders of the ideology of Pakistan”, when in fact the right-wing leader bitterly opposed the creation of Pakistan and called Jinnah a non-Muslim.

Opportunity

Zia ensured that an unconstitutional overthrow of Bhutto’s government was due to an ‘un-Islamic system’. An Islamic Shariah law was passed - this wsa the first attempt to the rise of the false Arabic identity with cultural association of masses in Pakistan.

For instance, this proves the glorification of Muslims in history textbooks like Muhammad Bin Qasim considered a hero to have brought Islamic revolution in the Sub-continent which later led to the advent of Pakistan. In some history textbooks, he’s also considered to be the first Pakistani.

Changing the History and Pakistan Studies curricula was nothing more than a political propaganda aimed at indoctrinating young minds through half-truths and blatant falsehoods.

How myths were communicated in Zia’s regime and how it affected the society in the long run, affecting in today’s time.

1. What is a myth?

2. What does it do?

3. Why do we need it in our lives?

4. How does it affect our daily lives?

5. Why is it important?

Strategy

Deconstruction of codes, myths, signs & visual images propagated in Zia’s regime creating new constructed identities that are present today using various visual techniques such as entopicgraphomania, attention test, cinemagraphs etc.

Government Educational Institutes

People

Why/How was this cultural hegemony created in Pakistan?

Visuals of the

final project (cont.)

Analysis of the Pakistani history textbooks. The editions that were selected included the 1989 ed., 1992 ed. 1998 ed., 2004 ed.

The surrealist approach entopic graphomania was chosen for analysis of the content.

Visuals from Cinemagraphs & Attention Test

Cinemagraphs were made from found footage of General Zia-ul-Haq and were used as a metaphoric reference to visually portray how a myth is repeatedly dictated in various visual forms. Whereas, the Attention Test focuses on how a myth is perpetuated

Visual from the Cinemagraphs

Visual from the Attention Test

Attention Test Link: https://vimeo.com/150822313

Cinemagraphs Link: https://vimeo.com/159944676 https://vimeo.com/159944631 https://vimeo.com/159944630

Azeem Hamid

Õle tn 19/1-9 Põhja-Tallinna linnaosa, Tallinn EE 10611 +372 5394 9077 | +90 5360 31 5306 (WhatsApp) azeemhamid@gmail.com