KARACHI: The third exhibition at the ongoing World Culture Festival (WCF 2026) titled Shared Horizons opened at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi’s Ahmed Pervez Art Gallery on Thursday evening. The show, at which works of 11 international and 20 Pakistani artists are on view, was inaugurated by Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Sindh Minister for Local Government, Housing and Town Planning.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister welcomed the artists who have come from all across the world to exhibit their art. He also mentioned the ‘great artist from my country’.
He lauded the council’s President Ahmed Shah for bringing creative people from around the globe on one platform. ‘Artists form more than 150 countries have come here. The Pakistan Peoples Party, my chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and the honourable Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah welcome you all to Karachi. Ahmed Shah andhis team have projected the name of our province and the country all over the world.
Events such as the festival must take place.
The Arts Council [as an institution] has no comparison, not just in Pakistan but in the entire world.
Ahmed Shah said the aim of the event is to bring the world together. He said the tagline for the festival is ‘Bridging the world together.
‘Every five days, we hold a new exhibition at WCF. We have around 60 artists and 16 muralists. We also have more than 200 Pakistani painters and sculptors, both young and seasoned, to showcase their artworks.
He said: ‘Culture is a bonding. Other things divide people. Culture always unites them ... we are getting a tremendous response from the audiences. Not just on Sundays, but even on weekdays people turn up in big numbers to witness programmes on a daily basis. We have no fewer than six programmes every day at the festival.Earlier, a music workshop conducted by Morocco’s music producer Joouad Elkaoukabi was attended by students of the council’s music department. He said the kind of music that he’s going to talk about is mostly located in South of Morocco and is called Rwaissa. For that type of music, the leader of the band needs to be proficient in three things: poetry, performance and s/he should be able to play an instrument. ‘The way this art form started in my country was that it was meant to relay the news from one village to another. Over a period of time, it developed into an art from through which poems and stories were taken from one place to another.
On Thursday morning, a children’s play Globotolo staged by the Spanish theatre group, Barafunda Teatro, was seen by schoolchildren with a great deal of interest.
Later in the evening, a play God of Carnage written by the celebrated French playwright, Yasmina Reza, and directed by Zeeshan Nulwala was also lined up.