'Nukta' - an art publication

'Nukta' is the endeavour of three writers and a designer who have been linked with the arts of Pakistan for some time. This art publication with a global perspective also finds itself firmly rooted in the creative terrain of Pakistan. As the country's art comes of age, it not only needs a voice in print to discuss and inform but also to look at it critically and view it in a global context. This publication will place Art at its core and offer an opportunity to art critics, art historians and artists to examine, debate and contextualize the many dimensions of this field. Related disciplines like archaeology, architecture, design, performing arts and film have also been included in the discourse.
Working without any specific model in mind Nukta is guided by vital issues of the time. From biennials to gallery news, publication and events, the Art@Nukta section will keep the reader abreast with art happenings at home and around the world. One of Nukta's priorities is to discuss the shared art history of the region. We have invited writers from Nepal and Bangladesh to spotlight new facets of the life and work of Chughtai and Zain-ul-Abedin, the two significant South Asian masters.
The creative dynamics of the city have been explored in four separate articles 'The Iconography of a City Under Siege' investigates Karachi's visual schizophrenia, and Street Theatre is examined as a tool of social change in 'Awareness and Dissent-Performance in the By-lanes'. Intervention in the urban space by artists like Christo and eminent architects around the world add to the exploration of this theme.
An inclusion of voices from outside the dominant art discourse, come from Brazil and Lithuania. Eminent art critics from these countries, bring to the Nukta reader their struggle to overcome the challenges presented by history and geographical locations.
With insightful interviews, essays and book reviews, Nukta will draw its readers into a stimulating dialogue around art. This engagement will hopefully be a modest step in the direction of a positive change in the way art is viewed, recognised and documented in Pakistan and provide a wider view of art from Pakistan to its international readers.
The name 'Nukta' has been carefully selected. In Urdu it means 'the point' or the rhombus-shaped basic unit of the Arabic script used to calibrate the proportions of the entire alphabet. Nukta not only has this ability to expand from the elemental to the universal but it also resonates with the intellectual traditions of South Asia.