The post-9/11 global political climate has seen an unprecedented escalation in demand for knowledge and cultural production from Pakistan. This article explores the ways in which this shift has shaped the current academic and cultural landscape in Pakistan, with a focus on the institutional space of the art school. The recent growth in these spheres has taken place alongside a simultaneous intensification in the policing and militarisation of spaces of knowledge and cultural production. We consider the possibilities of formulating a dissident art/academic practice in a sphere shaped and disciplined by the dual forces of militarisation and imperialist agendas. To this end, we explore the work of three non-institutional pedagogical/cultural/community spaces in Karachi as engaged, immersive and participatory forms of knowledge production. We find in these spaces a heightened visibility of how much is at stake in conflicts and contestations over knowledge and culture in contemporary Pakistan, as well as a realisation of the possibilities of disrupting institutionalised colonial modes of knowledge production, dissemination and circulation.
Figure 3. A 2016 mural by German graffiti artist Sebastian Schmidt at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport This mural was produced as a collaborative ‘Meet the Culture’ project by Goethe Institut, Vasl Artist’s Collective and On the Run. Image courtesy of Julia Tieke.