Terry Smith Lecture Series: Iftikar Dadi

Co-presented with University of Pittsburgh Department of the History of Art and Architecture

Join us for an evening with artist and  art historian Iftikhar Dadi. Drawing from his forthcoming book, Art in Lahore and Karachi: Between Modernism and Contemporaneity, Dadi will share perspectives on the people, ideas, and histories that have shaped modern and contemporary art in South Asia. His work invites consideration of how artists engage with rapidly changing cities, cultural traditions, and contemporary life. 

Dadi is the author of Lahore Cinema Between Realism and Fable (2022) and Modernism and the Art of Muslim South Asia (2010), and editor of The Lahore Biennale 01 Reader (2022). In addition to his scholarship, he collaborates with artist Elizabeth Dadi on projects that explore identity, borders, migration, and the creative possibilities of urban life in the Global South. 

Whether you are a student, educator, artist, or simply interested in contemporary art and global perspectives, this lecture offers an opportunity to engage with new ideas and conversations shaping the field today. 

The Annual Terry Smith Lecture in Contemporary Art honors Terry Smith, emeritus professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of History of Art and Architecture and a member of Carnegie Museum of Art’s advisory board. The lecture series brings leading scholars, artists, and thinkers into conversation with the questions and ideas shaping contemporary art and its histories. 

About the Speaker

Iftikhar Dadi is the John H. Burris Professor and Chair of Cornell University’s Department of History of Art. He has authored Lahore Cinema: Between Realism and Fable (2022) and Modernism and the Art of Muslim South Asia (2010), and edited The Lahore Biennale 01 Reader (2022) and Anwar Jalal Shemza (2015). He co-edited the Lahore Biennale 02 Reader (2024), Art and Architecture of Migration and Discrimination: Turkey, Pakistan, and Their European Diasporas (2023), Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space (2012), and Unpacking Europe: Towards a Critical Reading (2001). Co-curated exhibitions include Pop South Asia: Artistic Explorations in the Popular (2022–23) and Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space (2012–13). As an artist, Dadi collaborates with Elizabeth Dadi to make work that explores questions of identity and borders, and the capacities of the informal urban realm in the Global South.

Registration

Registration coming soon