CHARISMATIC FUTURISM AT COLABS

21 architects from all over Pakistan participated in the XY Art Show held at the nouveau prestigious Colabs. Their design pieces ranged from neon green goo elements to steampunk lanterns – colour us impressed (and avaricious! We want!).

The words to describe this show are ‘charismatic futurism’. If you had any interest in these words, you’d have gone to take a look at the XY Art Show hosted by the nouveau prestigious Colabs. The team composed of curators Sameera Effindi and Saad A. Kureshi, advised by renowned Lahore-based artist R.M. Naeem. It was quite a big show for a space that small, but it was curated beautifully.

The words to describe this show are ‘charismatic futurism’

If you don’t have any past history with product design, this show was sure to provide you with a great spirit for enquiry. Art, design and furniture all merged – I was loitering around in awe and admiration. I went back to the great mirror sculpture by Omar Hassan, not minding my own sneaky reflection in it. It was a huge structure with shapes meandering in every direction you could think of, twisting and turning. The structure reflected back at you as a complete circle in the mirror underneath it.

I found myself standing near those ‘Lattoos’ by Salman Jawed, itching to sit on them just to see if they’d spin. They were meant to be little stools, and not to be toyed with.

The second time I walked past the coal black table and chairs (with an actual piece of coal on top), I read the product name, ‘He’ and vowed to buy it from the designer, Salman Basharat, and have him install it in my rainbow room.

I read the product name, ‘He’ and vowed to buy the coal black table and chairs from the designer, Salman Basharat, and have him install it in my rainbow room

I was reminded of a lot of movies while I was there; there was ‘The Waste Land Series’ by Sameera Effindi which reminded me of the fossilised amber in Jurassic Park, and there was a table by Saad A. Kureshi with this green material on it that looked like the Flubber from that movie with Robin Williams.

There were quite a lot of works with cubes in all shapes and sizes that had me make a mental note to google ‘architecture’, ‘cubes’, and ‘what’s that about’ in the same search bar

I saw people sitting on a very cosmopolitan looking bench with steampunk lanterns on it. Lanterns! I really wanted that bench (it’s by architect Rashid Rasheed). There were quite a lot of works with cubes in all shapes and sizes that had me make a mental note to google ‘architecture’, ‘cubes’, and ‘what’s that about’ in the same search bar.

Suffice to say, I would’ve bought half of the show if I could have. I didn’t even know who the artists were before I saw their works and I’ve come to the conclusion that these people are going to make it big. Keep a look out, folks! The next IKEA is closer than you think.