What is the most urgent need you have?
To clarify misunderstandings that abound in the West about my country, religion and culture and identify points where dialogue can be initiated on both sides.
What is the best/interesting case or project on new media arts that you have just recently experienced?
A daily, talk and reality tv show called “Kiran and George” is one of my current favourites. I would call this new media because the concept of a morning show is new to Pakistan, it is complemented by an interactive, archived, web presence and their team is experimenting with new concepts almost everyday. George is actually an Englishman who became very popular a couple of years ago when he appeared in the reality show “George ka Pakistan”. The show ended by him getting a Pakistani passport. Now in “Kiran and George” he appears with his real life wife and they do some amazing things to make people smile. Some of the activities they broadcast include taking children born in jails to a picnic outside, showing scenarios which instruct how to operate dvd remotes and mobile phones to those who have no idea how to and giving a Rs 5000 shopping spree in 5 minutes to a family struggling to keep their heads above the water in these crazy times of inflation. The show takes individual strands from the community and binds them in unnatural ways in order to create positive energy, and it works!
In your opinion is there a potential for change on and change through a policy level, i.e. has the status of policy as an accelerator/ a meaningful factor for practice changed?
Policies when implemented over a long period of time affect practice, but not always in a beneficial way. On the other hand, policies can act as watchdogs over those who want to find loopholes and take advantage of systems. At this time when developing countries are witnessing multinationals from developed countries assisting in large scale expansion of media related services, consumer products and pharmaceuticals countries need to look beyond their own boundaries and into the areas where their corporations extend in order to make sure they are as sensitive to the environment as they would be at home. If a cartoon in one country can lead to the loss of lives in another, then policies should also be created to address issues that cross borders. All stakeholders should be considered, inside and outside the country, before policies are created to influence practice.
