|IN THE SPOTLIGHT
in conversation with
abid & mariam we speak to abid & mariam of wagging tongues productions, curators for the pakistani pavilion at the 2nd edition of london design biennale 2018. What does participating at the London Design Biennale mean to Pakistani art community and the country in general? The London Design Biennale is a highlight in the cultural calendar of the city. It not only showcases work by the most innovative designers from around the world but experiences a huge footfall of a diverse and international audience. In this day and age there is a great need to project soft power and to present unique stories from our country that celebrate our people. With so many biennales happening around the world, how is LDB different from the others? The natural footfall in London is greater and more diverse than most other cities hosting biennales. Traditionally most biennales centre around artists and architecture inviting participation from art galleries and architectural or design studios. London Design Biennale
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is mostly country centric with a focus on design, it offers an opportunity to define and promote a design aspect of a people through their unique interpretation of the biennale theme, which was Emotional States for 2018. Tell us more about Wagging Tongues Productions? We are a husband and wife team living between London and Lahore. Between the two of us we have forty years of experience. Wagging Tongues Productions came about as a response to the constant barrage of negative rhetoric in the mainstream media. It is not possible to silence the contentious stories that feed sensationalism in the news but we can begin a parallel counter narrative. This is why we wanted to create a platform where we could realise and curate projects that would help create positive data points that Pakistanis around the world could own. What was the role of Wagging Tongues in creating ‘Aangan’? Having done three very successful children’s theatre plays in London, the project was brought to us by our strategic partner Suniya Qureshi. We felt it was a great opportunity to further the cause of building a narrative for Pakistan on a global stage. The project was conceptualised, pitched and curated by Wagging Tongues Productions along with a fantastic team of people in the UK and Pakistan. How difficult was it to get selected amongst the top 40 countries showcasing their art at LBD 18? We started the process in December 2017 and it was not until March when we our concept pitch was given the go ahead after being vetted by Dr Chris Turner, Artistic Director of the Biennale and Keeper of Design, Architecture and Digital at the Victoria and Albert Museum. We weren’t quite expecting it and it was a rather daunting prospect. But we put our best foot forward and here we are now almost a year later. Tell us about the Pakistani Pavilion? Who created it? Pakistan Pavilion picks at one of our country’s strengths, the textile industry, and puts female artisans, the unsung heroes, centre stage. The focus of Aangan is the artisan and her emotional relationship with her craft. Craft, the first avenue of executing design, is deeply connected to the human touch. The