Outsiders – Urban Subcultures in Germany and Pakistan
2018
Amin Gulgee Gallery – Karachi
Curated by Amin Gulgee, Zarmeene Shah and Zeerak Ahmed with Mathilde Weh and Leohard Emmerling

When the Goethe-Institut in Karachi asked if the Amin Gulgee Gallery would be interested in hosting Geniale Dilletanten (Brilliant Dilettantes), a traveling exhibition that documented urban subculture in Germany in the 1980s, Amin countered with a proposal of his own: Since the gallery’s primary focus is on contemporary Pakistani art, why not present the German show alongside a Pakistani counterpart? The Pakistani exhibit, co-curated by Amin, Zarmeene Shah and Zeerak Ahmed, was not a response to the specific content of Geniale Dilletanten but rather to its overarching premise: The early 1980s in West and East Germany saw an explosion in creative activity, sparked by the punk movement, that crossed boundaries and led to innovation in music, visual arts, design, fashion, literature and film. Amin, Zarmeene and Zeerak decided not to concentrate on a single decade but to identify what might be considered sub/counterculture in Pakistan from the 1970s to the present day though 17 works. The curators projected a clip from Rangeela’s 1979 Urdu movie Aurat Raj (Women’s Rule) in which the “hero,” played by the leading actress Rani dressed as a man in a military-style unform, made the “heroine,” portrayed by the action star Sultan Rahi, dance in drag for her. They hung photographic documentation of public works created between 2007 and 2009 by Asim Butt (1978-2010), including the image of a stop sign painted graffiti-style upon a car that had been set on fire during the riots that engulfed Karachi after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. On a flat-screen played a 2015 clip posted to the internet by YouTube sensation Qandeel Baloch in which she seductively lies upon a red couch and proposes marriage to cricket legend and future Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan. (In 2016, Qandeel was allegedly murdered by her brother in a so-called honor killing.) Called Outsiders, the German and Pakistani shows were installed as one. Viewers were encouraged to make their own connections between the two.