UPCOMING FESTIVAL:
Concept Note
In the wake of the 2025 AI Action Summit hosted in France, the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence in shaping our societies, cultures, and creative futures has taken centre stage. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in our daily lives, from predictive algorithms to creative collaboration, its implications for justice, equity, and sustainability demand critical artistic inquiry. In parallel, the world is grappling with the escalating climate crisis-particularly in countries like Pakistan, where urban centres are suffocating under the weight of environmental neglect. 1 As the world marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement this November, conversations around climate justice, ethical technologies, and cross-cultural collaboration are more urgent than ever. In Lahore, a city choked by recurring smog and environmental degradation, global themes have intensely local resonances. The city’s worsening air quality is a public health crisis and a mirror reflecting structural inequalities, ecological apathy, and gendered vulnerabilities. It is also a call to action: to imagine new futures where technology, art, and ethics converge for sustainable and inclusive change. The convergence of technology, AI, and climate change presents profound implications for cultural heritage, particularly in vulnerable cities like Lahore.
As artificial intelligence reshapes how societies produce, preserve, and interpret culture, it also raises urgent questions about equity, justice, and sustainability. Simultaneously, the climate crisis threatens both tangible and intangible heritage—pollution, displacement, and ecological degradation erode not only physical spaces but also communal memory and traditional knowledge. In this context, cultural heritage becomes both a casualty and a site of resistance, where artists, technologists, and communities can harness AI not only to document loss but also to reimagine futures rooted in care, inclusion, and environmental justice.
The Lahore Digital Arts Festival (LDF), in collaboration with Novembre Numérique, the Institut Français, the French Embassy in Pakistan, and the Alliance Française de Lahore, proposed a timely program that brings together French and Pakistani artists, thinkers, and technologists to explore the intersection of Gendered AI, environmental justice, and digital art. Through a curated exhibition, residency exchange, and public programs, the initiative seeks to raise critical questions such as:
1. How can artists use AI as a tool and a medium to critique environmental collapse and imagine ecological futures?
2. What new visual languages emerge when gender, climate, and AI intersect in digital storytelling?
3. Can AI be programmed to care? What would feminist, climate-conscious algorithms look like?
4. How are women and marginalized communities in cities like Lahore differently affected by climate change and technological transformation?
5. What is the role of cross-cultural collaboration in building ethical and locally resonant digital futures?
6. How might speculative art help us confront smog, displacement, and planetary precarity- not with despair, but with imagination?
7. In what ways can digital art function as a form of climate resistance and technological activism?
8. What does climate-resilient cultural preservation look like in the age of algorithmic decision-making?
These questions will serve as the program’s thematic backbone, guiding the creation of new works and opening space for public reflection. By engaging with the promises and perils of AI in a rapidly warming world, Breathing Algorithms offers more than commentary; it aims to prototype poetic, political, and planetary alternatives.
BREATHING ALGORITHMS Showcase 2025
The fourth edition of the Lahore Digital Arts Festival, under the banner of BREATHING ALGORITHMS, was held at Alliance Française de Lahore, Beaconhouse National University, Aangun Cultural Center, and R Space from November 6-9, 2025.
Participating Artists: The participating artsits include Aamina Hashmi (Poday Wali), Areesha Khuwaja, Bahman Fakouri, Fajr Faisal, Hamza Bajwa, Haris Hidayat Ullah, Huzaifa Ahmad, Isabelle Arvers, John Desnoyers-Stewart, M4HK, Megan Smith, Mikhail Margolis, Miraal Habib, Mishaim Gardezi, Muhammad Bux, Samina Kausar Ansari, Ujala Khan & Zuha Farooq.
Presenting Team: Co-curated by Najam Ul Assar & Sarah Rajper. Assistant curators: Mishaim Gardezi & Zainab Amir.
Last Updated On 19 August 2026
Concept Note
Exploring technology through a gendered perspective
The promise of the digital world is that it is democratic and open to all; however, its reality is much different. Increasing automation and reliance on AI tools and technology suggest they can ease the burden of tasks on human workers and make life safer and more convenient, freeing up time for humans to do human things. Yet the benefits often fall heavily on a certain demographic, and the costs disproportionately affect women and minorities. Questions of access and presence impact who gets to create online spaces and who is safe within them. Despite the promise of the safety of anonymity, cyber harassment and cyberbullying are particular concerns for women. In addition to the unequal power dynamics inherent in interactions within the digital realm itself, the burden of care work – primarily unpaid – remains squarely on the shoulders of women, supporting the physical existence of life, while men are free to pursue their metaverse dreams.
In its third edition of programming, Lahore Digital Arts Festival takes on the theme of “Women Vs Machines” and aims to address the challenges – both obvious and subtle – that women face in the technology sector. LDF encourages artists to seek out innovative and creative responses to problems that respect complexity while inspiring, encouraging, and activating a gender-inclusive digital future.
This concept is designed to consider the future of digital spaces as seen from a gender perspective. This can mean the digital spaces themselves – inviting questions of access, interaction, and safety – as well as the infrastructure and systems needed to support them. For example, in AI and robotics, ‘female’ gendered robots or avatars feature heavily, yet women themselves are rarely accepted or welcome in spaces where these models are built or coded.
Long seen as helpless or unable to use or contribute to technology, women in tech spaces are still a rare sight, and their contributions to early and ongoing technological advancements are ignored and erased from history. Companies and industries dedicated to the future of digital spaces, such as Web3 or the metaverse, are generally dominated by men.
LDF’s “Women vs Machines” programming and open calls will approach the topic from a variety of angles, from the presence and representation of gender within online spaces, including gaming, avatars, AI, and more, to the systems and structures created to support these spaces. It may touch on safety, access, or imagery, ranging from cybercrime and photo manipulation to gender-sensitive representation across the board.
Some questions on this topic that will inspire LDF’s 2024-2025 programming and open calls are:
- What would a gender-transformative approach to women and technology look like?
- What can AI learn from the underrepresented groups?
- How can the lessons of gender mainstreaming and feminist leadership help us build the technological future?
- What might AI and machines bring positively to the unequal burden of care work?
- How and why does gender factor into the personality or presentation of AIs or robotics, and how can we reimagine this?
- What would it take to make online spaces inclusive and safe for women and underrepresented groups?
By approaching the concept of “Women vs Machines” from an artistic angle, LDF hopes to make thought-provoking contributions to the global discussion on the future of inclusive digital spaces.
WOMEN VS MACHINES Showcase 2025
The third edition of Lahore Digital Arts Festival under the banner of WOMEN VS MACHINES was organized at Beaconhouse National University from April 11th until April 16th, 2025.
Participating Artists: The participating artsits include Amna Yaseen, Anusha Khalid, Audrey Richard-Laurent, Emil Hasnain, Justine Emard, Mahnoor Ali Shah, Tehreem Zafar, Vania Mazhar, Zainab Hussain, Jehanara Nabi, Karishma Ali, Noorena Shams, Samar Khan, and Zenith Irfan.
Presenting Team: The partners include: French Embassy in Pakistan, Beaconhouse National University, Novembre Numerique, Alliance Française Lahore, UNESCO Chair on Inclusion through Art, with Chair Holder: Prof. Rashid Rana. Produced by Najam Ul Assar, and co-curated by Sarah Rajper, Rohma Khan and Fatima Butt.
Co-curated by: Najam-Ul Assar, Sarah Rajper, Rohma Khan and Fatima Butt.
Last Updated On 19 August 2026
Concept Note
What is our embodied experience of reality?
The further we move into the digital age, the more we seek to immerse ourselves. From the static experience of reading a webpage to now tricking our minds with augmented reality, we are full of science fiction visions of fully customizable simulated realities in which we live out our dreams and fantasies. The COVID-19 pandemic created a need to explore more practical virtual realities for work and socializing, while the success of NFT avatars and virtual real estate generated financial interest among companies in the field. Many companies, including Meta/Facebook, announced plans for the development of their own metaverses; fully-formed digital universes in which people live, work, and interact, entirely from their own spaces.
The technology required for a fully functional metaverse has not yet been developed, but it already raises fascinating questions about existence, identity, and reality – not the least of which is how we, as embodied beings, will integrate into a world that largely requires only our minds. This gives rise to questions such as:
- What will it mean to embody the metaverse?
- How might our further immersion into virtual realities affect our physical selves, and how might our physical reality shift or respond to more virtual environments?
- Will this development prompt further integration between physical and virtual realities, or will they remain parallel worlds?
- How do we as embodied beings with physical needs and awareness adjust to a non-physical existence? What is a healthy balance of physical and digital interaction?
- How will some of the issues of embodied prejudice such as racism or body shaming manifest or evolve in the metaverse?
- Where do we draw a boundary between a physical and a digital presence?
- Should we embrace the metaverse or not?
There are multiple implications for the contradictions and opportunities that occur at the meeting point of metaverse bodies. For example, the ability to change our bodies through customizable avatars leads to many new questions. This particular feature could create more inclusive spaces wherein people from minority groups can ‘blend in’ or even offer people with disabilities the opportunity to interact in society in a way they are unable to or barred from in physical reality. But on the same token, it might further entrench hierarchies and majority rule, increasing cyberbullying and ableism.
This concept also calls into question how our physical bodies will be shaped by digital reality, and vice versa. It touches on notions of isolation and the lack of physical touch that many experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and postulates if digital interaction can ever be as meaningful as physical interaction, even in an immersive virtual environment. It leads to interesting notions of materiality, how digital creations might manifest in physical reality, and what infrastructure might be created to support a more digital existence.
For our second edition of Lahore Digital Arts Festival in 2023, we invite artists to explore this idea of “Metaverse Bodies.” From the creation of avatars and its implications for minority/majority power dynamics to isolation and the loss of physical touch and interaction, we are curating an array of cutting-edge digital works that explore the embodied experience of the metaverse from new and interesting perspectives. We especially encourage artists to consider the theme in the context of four subthemes: climate change, gender, privacy, and heritage. Artists might consider the legal, ethical, commercial, philosophical, and existential implications of the metaverse, as well as the aesthetics and opportunities provided by an immersive digital reality. All digital mediums are acceptable. Submissions that offer innovative and complex ideas are preferred. Lahore Digital Arts Festival aims to curate high-quality, provocative art for display in a digital medium in keeping with the theme and this new reality. We hope to educate and inspire Pakistani audiences to think about art and art exhibitions/festivals in a new way, and to put Pakistan on the map of digital arts festivals.
METAVERSE BODIES Showcase 2023
The second showcase of the Lahore Digital Arts Festival under the banner of METAVERSE BODIES featured 61 artists from 12 countries. The festival took place from the 12th of October to the 15th of October 2023 took place at Aangun, Numaish Ghar, NCA Lahore, Haam Gallery, Lahore Museum, The Colony, BNU, IAC, and Daftarkhwan.
Participating Artists and Collectives: Abdul Hadi, Abdur Rehman, Adnan Mirza, Affan Mir, Agha Ali, Agnes Michalczyk, Aisha Bashir, Aleena Akbar, Alzbeta Jungrova, Anton Sahler, Anusha Khalid, Areesha Khuwaja, Asjad Faraz, Ayesha Mubarack Ali, Christa Sommerer, Daniyal Alam, Fatiha Hamid, Fazaiel Shah, Hafsa Ashfaq, Hamza Baig, Hamza Majeed Khan, Hamza Mir, Haris Hidayat Ullah, Hira Asim, Huma Gul, Irfan Mahmood, Iza Ahmad, Justine Emard, Kashif Rafique, Laurent Mignonneau, M4HK, Maaz Ahmad, Mahnoor Ali Shah, Marwah Waqar, Mazhar Hussain, Muhammad Atique, Naima Muzzafar, Nivetha Balasubramaniam, Omair Faizullah, Omar Gilani, Poday Wali, RAbeeha Adnan, Rahema Zaheer, Rida Amjad, Rinoshan, Saaed Ghani, Sarjeel Ahmed, Shajia Fatima, Shuja Ul Haq, Sofia Hardt, Somana Riaz, Stefano Fake, Touqeer Hilbi, Ujala Khan, Umair Abbasi, Umer Javed, Yuman Sadiq, Zafar Iqbal, Zahra Hussain, Zainab Hussain, Zakira Noor Hussain.
Co-curated by: Najam-Ul Assar and Sarah Rajper
Last Updated On 19 August 2026
Concept Note
Over recent decades, our use of digital spaces has steadily increased. As their sophistication has developed, so has our dependency on them. Our communication, memories, and information – all of it now exists in the digital sphere. Because so much of our lives have shifted online, our understanding of what is real has also shifted. Before, we understood reality as objective observations and facts; now, it is much more nebulous and undefined. The digital world exists but cannot be seen, touched, or smelled. It can be invented or augmented from standard reality and edited and manipulated by multiple users. It is no longer straightforward to know what ‘real’ really is.
It is a question that goes beyond just the world we experience around us. We also have to question our own identities. We can create and re-create multiple, malleable digital presences and avatars through games and social media. These avatars interact with us and might express our inner feelings better than we can in the traditional “reality” due to context and culture. But with these multiple versions and representations of ourselves, how do we know who we are, and who anyone else is?
Even before 2020, people interacted increasingly in the digital world and less in person. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, that trend accelerated faster than anyone could have imagined. Our work, education, and social lives suddenly became entirely online. Indeed, this year, our digital selves are often the only way we interact, and the digital sphere is the only one we inhabit. As we enter 2021, we are caught between the desire to return to “normal” and the pandemic's regressive waves. No doubt, the digital reality is here to stay, but we are also experiencing the fatigue of a purely online world. The overlaps between the two realities shift and evolve in constant dynamic tension.
POST REALITY Showcase 2021
The first showcase of the Lahore Digital Arts Festival under the banner of POST REALITY featured 80+ artists from 15+ countries. The festival took place from the 5th of March till the 23rd of March 2021.
Participating Artists and Collectives: 1947 Archive, Aamina Hashmi, Aasil Malik, Abdal Mufti, Addictive TV, Adnan Mirza, Akifa Mian, Amna Hashmi, Amna Shahzad, Anna Fabricius, Ayesha Sohail, Balint Budai, Botond Kelemen, Bushra Saleem, Cosmos Discos, Dania Farooque, DhakaYeah, Dua Rabay, Duaa Khan Kundi, Emil Hasnain, Farah Khandaker, Farhanaz Rupaidha, Fatima Butt, Fruzsina Takáts, Gina Luke, Gulraiz Khan, Hafsa Ashfaque, Hamza Bin Tahir, Haris Hidayat Ullah, Herman Rahman, Hira Sadiq, Humayun Memon, Ibrahim Sheikh, Inside | Out, Jiya Tariq, Kaalo 101, King Marium, Kinga Tóth, László FeLugossy, Lilla Váczi, Louise Deininger, Ludovic Falédam, Maheen Sohail, Mahenoor Raphick, Mahnoor Malik, Mahoor Jamal, Maro Pebo, Marria Khan, Máté Lukács, Máté Rudi, Metadiapason, Mihir Moshiur, Mohsin Shafi, Mominah Aslam, MuaazUllah, Muhammad Khan, Munib Aziz, Nabeel Anwar, Nadia Rahat, Omair Faizullah, Omar Gilani, Puffball Studios, Rohama Malik, Romaisa Fawad, Saad Khurshid, Sahar Khalid, Sakshi Kumar, Sana Akram, Saria Saeed, Sarmad Hashmi, Tibor w. Horváth, Tooba Shahbaz, Tuba Abrar, Ureba Batra, Voice Yard, Webtaura, Zainab Saghir Barlas.
Co-curated by: Najam-Ul Assar and Azeem Hamid
POST REALITY Showcase with National College of Arts
The first collaboration with the National College of Arts (NCA) under the banner of POST Reality took place in 2021 from 11- 21 September 2021.
Participating Artists: Ayesha Naeem, Durrie Baloch, Haroon Zaidi, Khuldoon Ahmad Khan, Maryam Umar, Rabeeha Adnan, Salman Qamar, Sana Hussain, Sarah Haider, Shaheer Hassan, Sundas Shaukat, Zafar Ali.
Co-curated By: Najam Ul Assar, Rabeya Jalil and Rabeeha Adnan.
Last Updated On 19 August 2026