Memory, Myth, and Movement

Nayab Shaikh

A look into different art pieces and installations at KB24 that play with the senses. This is part of our ongoing coverage of the Karachi Biennale.

In the dynamic heart of KB24, art emerges not just as objects in a gallery but as intimate gestures of memory, myth, and shared movement. This year, artists draw us into complex conversations: sometimes gentle, sometimes searing, always moving. Each installation, each performance pulses with echoes from distant places, communities, and dreams of an equitable world.

Enora Lalet’s Vanishing Creature appears like a chimera that bridges the unseen and the visible. Half-born from mythology, half-embodied in this world, it reflects the perpetual human struggle to reconcile our inner fears with the tangible elements of life. Lalet, who travels and collaborates across cultures, weaves her food-based performances into tactile invitations to confront what lies within ourselves.

School students were attracted to Enora’s performance at Sambara Art Gallery, Karachi

The journey continues with Swedish artists Christer Lundahl and Martina Seitl, whose work River Biographies / That Which Is Not You but of Which You are a Part immerses participants in an unexpected communion with nature and trust. Half-blinded by sightless goggles, participants are led by their partner in a free form choreography where the solidness of stone and the fluidity of river water meld into a single, shared experience. Guided by voices, their hands find balance in the delicate push-and-pull of interdependence. Participants engage with the essence of becoming something beyond the limits of self, as they surrender to the care of another. As I was sitting on the floor, observing the big group of people navigate through this journey, after experiencing it myself with Seitl, I realized that by the end, a calm settles over you, a kind of peace that feels rare and profound. There’s a moment of release—a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. It’s not an exasperated sigh, but a gentle exhalation, a shedding of weight.

An experience to be ever remembered, people performing the immersive experience created through sound and movement by Lundahl and Seitl at NED University, Karachi.

Across the hall, Monika Emmanuelle Kazi’s A Home Care—machine learning is a kitchen of subversion, where five performers transform water into milk from a made-in Switzerland milk powder. Beneath the gentle rhythm of this transformation, however, lies a potent critique. Kazi calls into question the practice of exporting low-quality dairy powder to the Global South, where children’s health is undermined by corporate priorities. Here, the kitchen transcends domesticity; it becomes a battleground of memory, politics, and heritage.

Four girls performed with Monika Emmannuelle Kazi : a silent commentary on powdered milk at Sambara Art Gallery, Karachi.

Finally, Daniela Zambrano Almidón’s untitled installation brings together ceramic sculptures, soundscapes, and the aroma of live-cooked potatoes to reflect the cyclical movement of migration and memory. She invokes her Quechua heritage to honor the Andean relationship with the land—a connection shaped by both colonial dispossession and enduring resilience. The scent of potatoes wafts through the air, evoking memories that transcend time and place.

Daniela’s recipe came to life on November 1st, 2024 at Bagh Ibn e Qasim by a local chef who cooked and served everyone delicious steamed potatoes and other food items.

Together, these works transform KB24 into a sacred space of shared human experience. They reveal a world where art is not merely observed but felt. Each piece resonates with the wisdom that borders are constructs, and true belonging is woven from the threads of trust, heritage, and vulnerability. KB24 becomes more than an exhibition; it’s a powerful reminder of the world we all carry within, waiting to be seen, tasted, and felt.