Media Art in Pakistan - Not just another "in your face" advertisement campaign!

Abstract

In the last few years Pakistani city dwellers have witnessed a series of audio visual explosions. Along with towering billboards obstructing the city skyline and distracting mobile phones that ring in public spaces, a sudden surge in the number of television and radio channels has resulted in an information overload for those stopping to get a grip on reality. If we add illiteracy, piracy and technical experts with little or no artistic backgrounds to this picture, it becomes difficult to predict how media art will evolve in Pakistan. Fresh industry professionals are producing a lot of experimental work to cater to the fast expanding media presence in this country. Can they be called artists? Will media art be sidelined by critics as just another form of non-traditional art since it is not produced as part of living culture? As Pakistani society comes of age in this technological era, how can media artists ensure that their representations of local culture will not just make it to the "exotic" category of global media art archives but play a role in preserving national traditions? These concerns will be addressed in my paper, helped by identification of successful media art projects by Pakistani artists.