Note from co-founders:
At ProperGaanda, our mission has been to constantly innovate when it comes to content, and the rule applies not only to the digital content we churn out but to our events as well. Our latest event, the Gaanda Gallery, was truly a WTF moment.
The Gaanda Gallery, a pretentious gallery in every right, opened its doors at the launch event of CoLabs, a new co-working space in Gulberg, Lahore.
As groups of people trickled in, our team gave them a tour of the curated space which had one purpose: to make people laugh and experience something a little outside their comfort zone. The audience was briefed that the curators and artists used zero brainpower behind the installations and asked the guests to do the same while interpreting the pieces. As the audience entered, they were greeted by these lines, “Welcome to the Gaanda Gallery, the idea behind this installation is to leave our brains at home and give you something totally WTF and pretentious! Because how would it classify as an art installation otherwise!”
The first poster which greeted the audience as soon as they walked in stated “Sab ProperGaanda Hai, Boss!”
Turning towards the right, the audience got to see ProperGaanda’s very first performance art piece “Haraam”. The letters, written in bold black font on pristine white paper formed the backdrop for a waiter standing tall with a tray and glass of champagne.
The next two art pieces were equally pretentious if not more: number one featured a female version of our mascot (the Gaanda) superimposed on a copyright infringed image of the legendary Mona Lisa. Which PG clearly stated in the caption!! Team ProperGaanda, in character as art connoisseurs shared insider information that copy right infringement really drives up the cost of art! The team stated they have always felt that the Mona Lisa was missing that special something, and it turns out an enlarged head of the Gaanda is exactly what it needed. This marvellous piece was followed by a modern take on Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch’s The Scream, with an emoji carefully and expertly added onto the original. The intent? No one knows.
Next up, PG had the second performance art piece, described aptly as “A human on top of a table”.
While matching the excellence of the above masterpiece seems impossible, PG tried it’s very best to pick pieces that would evoke a different emotional response from the audience. An original A. Wattoo seemed the prefect answer to that. In this unique piece, Watto who is an avid Andy Warhol fan, beautifully captured how Khadim Rizvi represents the essence of pop culture in modern day Pakistan.
The third performance art piece featured “Just a Millennial”
The last piece in the collection represented the juxtaposition of the vastness of the universe and the insignificant lives human beings lead as portrayed by a white plate and three almonds of course.
The finale was the artist Shayan, who insisted the audience call him Shay to maintain his elite status. Shay had been flown in from France especially for the event and continued to speak in french throughout the event despite having good command over the Urdu language.