Karachi Biennale Cancelled for 2027 as Regional Wars Dry Up Funding for Pakistan’s Largest Contemporary Art Event
KARACHI: The Karachi Biennale cancelled its fifth edition, which was due to run across the city from January 16 to 31, 2027. The Karachi Biennale Trust, which announced the decision in a public post earlier this month, blamed the war conditions prevailing in the region and the logistical constraints and uncertainty that came with them.
Funding dried up on two continents
“The regional wars have severely affected funding in Pakistan and Europe, and with no end to the uncertainty in sight, a citywide biennale could not responsibly be delivered,” the trust’s chairperson, Atteqa Malik, said. Trustees considered scaling the event down and postponing it before settling, reluctantly, on cancellation. The edition that will now not happen was meant to put exhibitions in public spaces, ports and parks, exploring Karachi’s history of migration, its relationship with the sea and pressures such as rising sea levels and damaged mangroves.
A curator left out of the decision
The theme was Kal — a word that means both yesterday and tomorrow — and curator Noor Ahmed had spent 13 months assembling more than 100 artists with three co-curators. She has called the cancellation devastating and said it was taken unilaterally, without consulting her, warning that it could damage Pakistan’s international art ecosystem. Founded in 2016 and first held in 2017, the biennale has engaged 841 artists from 50 countries and drawn around 50,000 visitors in person, which is why its loss lands so hard.
