A production agreement has been announced between the Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía (C3A) and the AAN Foundation in Pakistan. Through this agreement, Pakistani creators will have the opportunity to have a residency in the Andalusian cultural institution. It will begin this autumn with the presence of the artist Adeel Uz Zafa, and the works produced along his one-month stay will be exposed at the headquarters of the AAN Foundation in Karachi (Pakistan). This agreement is framed within the strategies of internationalization of the residency and production programs carried out by the Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía.

Amna Naqvi, co-founder of the AAN Foundation, states that "we are very pleased for this collaboration between the AAN Foundation and the C3A". She adds that ¿under this collaboration, the AAN Foundation will be supporting the residency of artists, curators and writers for a year in Cordoba, Spain. The selected creators will have the opportunity to work with other artists from Europe as well as engaging with the rich cultural heritage of Spain. For the year 2018, we are pleased to be selecting Adeel Uz Zafar. We believe that [he] will be a great fit for this residency as his practice, though centred on a narrative, is always able to disrupt the status quo"

The imaginary that dominates Adeel Uz Zafar's stems from early childhood memories. These early etchings of nostalgia were further manifested in his work after his Arts degree from The National College of Arts, Lahore, the premier Art Institution in Pakistan. His works have been shown in various solo and group exhibitions in Pakistan as well as Singapore, Hong Kong, United States, Dubai and Australia. The artist has declared that "since time, immemorial cultures, when integrated, be it dialogue, visual artistry, theatre, dance or other art forms, evolves into a deeper cultural exchange and understanding. I would like to thank to the AAN Foundation and the Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía for selecting me as a resident artist for the year 2018.  It will be a unique opportunity for me to meet artists of other disciplines".

The AAN Foundation provides support to a wide range of art forms and encourages discourse on visual arts in particular. This includes offering platforms and support for exhibitions, private as well as public art projects, publications and art related initiatives. From a geographic perspective, the Foundation is focussed on enabling and encouraging the arts in Pakistan as well as considering the broader Asian region including Asia Pacific and South Asia. Projects supported by the Foundation include "Authority as Approximation" by Shahzia Sikander and  "Ai WeiWei" by Vito Acconci, both exhibited at Para-Site; "Rising Tide", a sample of Pakistani Contemporary Art at the Mohatta Palace Museum Karachi; "Lines of Control" at the Johnson Museum, Cornell University; and "Princes and Painters" at the Asia Society Museum New York; among others. The Foundation is also providing support as the Central Sponsor for the inaugural Lahore Biennale 2018, which was held in March 2018 in the historic city of Lahore.

Photo credit: Portrait of the artist by Jamal