Iftikhar Dadi and Nalini Malini, Bloodlines, Detail.

The Third Line
Al Quoz 3
+9714 341 1367
Dubai
Lines of Control
January 15-February 8, 2009

The Lines of Control project that was initiated by Green Cardamom in 2007, in observance of the 60th anniversary of the partition of the subcontinent. The exhibitions considers the partition of India and its impact on the visual culture of the subcontinent. The programme includes exhibitions, talks, films and a publication that explore both the chaos and the productive capacity of partitions, through the practice of visual artists from the Middle East and South Asia.

The last two years — 2007 and 2008 — mark the 60th anniversaries of two groups of nations that were "made" through partitions: firstly, the independence of India and the creation of Pakistan (itself partitioned 24 years later to form another new nation — Bangladesh), and secondly, the creation of Israel from British-controlled Palestine. Both partitions have cast long shadows in world history and had an unprecedented impact. The 1947 fracture of India led to over 15 million people being displaced, and an estimated one million deaths over a few brutal weeks. The aftermath of Israel’s creation remains arguably the leading cause for global geo-political instability.

Art can be a means to explore areas of life where words fail us, and partitions and their aftermath are ripe for such exploration. Lines of Control is not only about commemorating the past, but about current lives in partitioned times: South Ossetia, Baghdad’s Green Zone / Red Zone, Israel’s "security barrier," Kosovo, the Kurdish population in Iraq and Turkey, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Pakistan’s tribal areas, India’s minority provinces — are all testimony to the seductive simplicity of drawing lines as a substitute for learning how to live with each other. Living these lines is a messy, bloody business but also offers a productive space where new nations, identities, languages and relationships are forged.

This programme is not geared towards finding an "answer," but more towards interrogating the different paths the "question" opens up and establishing a platform for their further exploration.

Artists include Bani Abidi, Roohi Ahmed, Farida Batool, Rana Begum, Iftikhar Dadi and Nalini Malini, Sophie Ernst, Ahsan Jamal, Amar Kanwar, Tariq Khalil, Ahmed Ali Manganhar, Naeem Mohaiemen, Raqs Media Collective, Gargi Raina, Rashid Rana, Seher Shah, Abdullah Syed, Hajra Waheed and Muhammad Zeeshan

A second series of exhibitions are planned for January and February 2010 at The Third Line and Green Cardamom. These will look at the partitions in the Middle East and how artists from the region have responded to them. In conjunction with these shows, a film programme No Man’s Land (curated by Nicole Wolf from Goldsmiths College) is being developed, and a publication that draws on and complements both exhibitions, is due to be published in 2010.

Green Cardamom is an arts organisation that develops and runs visual arts projects in collaboration with leading public museums and galleries. The organisation works on a not-for-profit basis and is supported by the Rangoonwala Foundation. Green Cardamom runs a regular gallery programme in its London space, where it also develops new curatorial projects. The organisation’s primary focus is international contemporary art viewed from an Indian Ocean perspective. Green Cardamom's programme is informed by artistic practice in Pakistan, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East.

Over the last three years, Green Cardamom's collaborations have included projects with organisations in the UK, US and Pakistan: Asia House, Cartwright Hall, Gasworks, Goldsmiths College, Manchester Art Gallery, The Royal Geographical Society, Tate Britain, V&A Museum, and the Whitechapel Art Gallery in the UK; the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and The Asian Art Museum in the US; Vasl (Triangle Arts Trust) and VM gallery in Pakistan; and the Third Line in Dubai.

Roohi Ahmed, No Mans Land.

Anita Dube, for Lines of Control, detail.