La Nuit Des Idées (The Night of Ideas) is an evening of intellectual debate, performances, interactive activities and fun, conceived two years ago in France and since then a recurring yearly event. The Alliance Française de Karachi is going to host the first ever Night of Ideas in Pakistan and we have planned a dynamic program from 6:30-10 pm on Thursday, the 31st of January 2019.

With a theme of “Face au Présent” (Facing the Present), the key event of Night of Ideas: Facing the Present will be a friendly public debate on Karachi's challenges today and tomorrow, with a twist: we'll pit a team of intellectuals versus artists and ask them to present their case on why intellectuals/artists are best suited to deal with and find solutions for these challenges. Each speaker will have 7 minutes to present their case. The purpose of the debate is to stimulate a vigorous discussion on not just the challenges but various approaches to our problems and the possibilities of collaboration among many disciplines, both artistic and intellectual, to solve them together.

Moderator: Saad Shafqat

INTELLECTUALS

> Marvi Mazhar (Urban Planning) Architect & Heritage Consultant

> Arieb Azhar (Culture) Director at T2F, Musician & Writer

> Niilofur Farrukh (Art) CEO & Managing Trustee, Karachi Biennale Trust

ARTISTS

> Saima Zaidi (Communication Design) Professor of Communication & Design, Habib University

> Sabiha Sumar (Filmmaking) Director & Producer, Vidhi Films

> Mohammad Zeeshan (Art) Curator, Karachi Biennale 2019

We are also thrilled to announce an exciting collaboration with The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) and Peeru's Cafe, Lahore to bring you a unique story sharing experience at the Alliance Française de Karachi as part of the evening. CAP will set up Shared Studios portals in Lahore and Karachi. Portals are gold spaces equipped with immersive audiovisual technology. When you enter the portal you come face-to-face with someone in a distant portal live and full-body as if in the same room.

For the Night of Ideas, CAP will be setting up one portal at Alliance Francaise Karachi on the 31st of January, and the other at Peeru's Cafe in Lahore. The portals will enable impromptu conversations, interactions and dialogue between visitors of these two locations in line with the theme of the night, Facing the Present. Come join the exchange.

The night will also feature short film screenings by CAP, a live graffiti project by 3D muralist Obaid ur Rehman and a concert by the Tarz Group playing a fusion of eastern and western music with vioin, sitar, tabla and dholak.

The Night of Ideas will be free and open to all. Save the date and learn more here.

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