KARACHI: The Karachi Biennale Trust (KBT) on Thursday celebrated a decade of promoting contemporary art in Pakistan and formally announced the fifth edition of the Karachi Biennale (KB27), scheduled to take place from January 16 to 31, 2027, under the theme “Kal — Yesterday/Tomorrow.” The announcement was made at a press conference held at the Gulgee Museum.
The upcoming edition will be curated by Noor Ahmed, with Atteqa Malik serving as chairperson and Shanaz Ramzi as managing trustee. The event was attended by members of the media, corporate representatives, artists, and cultural figures from across the city.
Opening the event, Chairperson Atteqa Malik welcomed guests, followed by a visual presentation highlighting milestones achieved by KBT over the past ten years. In her remarks, Managing Trustee Shanaz Ramzi said the Trust’s decade-long journey reflected sustained cultural collaboration and reaffirmed its commitment to making art publicly accessible while fostering global conversations rooted in Karachi’s realities.
Bushra Hussain, artistic director of KB27, reflected on previous editions of the biennale, outlining their impact on the city’s cultural landscape. Curator Noor Ahmed shared her vision for KB27, expressing her intent to expand its scale and outreach while deepening engagement with contemporary themes linked to time, memory, and futurity.
The press conference was followed by an exclusive viewing of a one-day exhibition titled “Aaj Aur Kal,” curated by Amin Gulgee and Noor Ahmed. Featuring performance art, new media, and installations, the exhibition marked the official countdown to KB27. The show brought together 72 artists from 18 countries, including Salima Hashmi, RM Naeem, Raqs Media Collective, Meher Afroz, Heide Hatry, Natthaphon Chaiworawat, Richard Humann, Sohail Zuberi, and Risham Syed.
The exhibition was later opened to the general public following the exclusive preview.
Founded in 2016, the Karachi Biennale Trust is a non-profit platform established by art professionals and educators to promote creativity, innovation, and critical discourse in the visual arts. Its flagship initiative, the Karachi Biennale, functions as a city-wide temporary museum, presenting exhibitions, talks, seminars, and public programmes across heritage sites, cultural institutions, and public parks, free and open to all.
Noor Ahmed has previously co-curated River Landscapes, a transdisciplinary project between South Asia and Europe. She was part of the curatorial team for the Pakistan Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai and has led major digitisation initiatives, including the Digital Curation of Lahore and Taxila Museums project supported by the World Bank. She also served as assistant curator for KB19.
KB27 will be the fifth edition of the Karachi Biennale and will continue the Trust’s mission of advancing contemporary art discourse in Pakistan while connecting local narratives to global contexts.
