Assessment of the History and Cultural Inclusion of Public Art in Pakistan

The significance of arts incorporated with culture inclusion makes the arts a matter of pressing interest. The arts are vital elements of a healthy society that benefits the nations even in difficult social and economic times. Based on the previous studies this research was conducted for the first time in Pakistan to explore the historical background of public art correlated with cultural and religious ethics. Though, Pakistan has a rich cultural history yet the role of modern public art is new and often used unintentionally. Our findings of different surveys conducted in Pakistan including oldest cities such as Lahore, Peshawar and newly developed, the capital city, Islamabad concluded that Public art has a rich cultural and historical background and the local community are enthusiastically connected to it. Different community groups prefer different types of public art in their surroundings depends on the city’s profile, cultural background, and religious mindset of the local community. Overall, the sculptures and depiction of animated beings are not considering right and debatable among the Pakistani societies. On the other hand, the cultural and historical monuments are highly appreciated and welcomed by the local community of Pakistan. This study may create scope for future estimation and development of public art in Pakistan in association with Islamic laws and cultural norms of the local society.


Introduction
Public Art exists since long in various shapes in different societies, (Omar et al. 2016) that are being exposed to the emerging and submerging of different civilizations with the passage of time in association with the interactive phases of civilization clashes.Some of the art Pieces do available in some distinctive form with unique identities such as Egyptian pyramids, the Italian and the Mexican sculptures, the Chinses Paintings, etc.The recent trends of public art started from the U.S.A. which have played a leading role in modern Public Art during late 19th and earlier 20th century with initiating Art in Architecture (A-i-A) programs (Knight 2011) which further developed into percent for art programs (Weethalle 1993).The modern Public Art existing in the world as informal rules of thumb rather than acting in a codified standards irrespective of what it constitutes of (Hunting 2005).While talking with modifications, innovations, and rapidity in the pace of development among different societies, ethnic groups or to educate a broad range of audiences of Public art, a fixed definition is very difficult (Hein 1996;Selwood 1995;Hunting 2005).The word (Hein 1996).Public art is often freely accessible to all the public at any point with no distinctive enclosure or boundaries (Selwood 1995).In a common opinion, Public art is often understood as sculptures and monuments.Generally, public art is both 2-and 3-dimension objects such as sculptures, monuments, murals, paintings and street furniture, (Zheng 2017, Bak andSaid 2014;Sharp et al. 2005;Selwood 1995) that are located in free access sites of public space including streets, square, plaza, subways, and parks, (Chang 2008;Hunting 2005;Kwon 2004) that attract people to involve actively or passively (Bak and Said 2014;Zebracki 2013;Wang 2009;Bach 2001).Public Art is not just a piece of art; rather it has a deep relationship between the content and its audiences in term of enhancing opportunities, value economizing, qualities development and later on encourage a profound impact on a location (Zebracki 2013;Jasmi and Mohammad 2016;Knight 2011;Mustafa et al. 2009;Pycroft 2009).Public art is now a prominent part of our evolving culture and public history through giving uniqueness special meaning and importance to our cities (Zheng, 2017, McCarthy 2006;Hall and Smith 2005;Baker 1998) with more sites for public involvements and an interactive source for past, present, and future (Seixas 2013;Becker 2004;Norman, and Norman 2000) among different disciplines and thoughts.Any object or performance that can trigger something which is meaningful, something that can be a kind of self-realization, attachment or a confrontation may be included as public art (Patheja 2016;Landi 2012).Public art is part of the system by which a city gains a sense of definition which could show that what kind of city it is and what features of its history are to be preserved, (Hall & Robertson 2001).Public art creates a community, and a community point of view (McCarthy 2006), the purpose of public art has now been progressed from just aesthetic appraisal to addressing more structural variations (Landi 2012;Hall & Smith 2005;Philips 2003;Hein 1996).Ulrik Neumann stated in an interview with Hollywood patch that we usually identify cities or places that have their specific icons that have created their unique identity for which they are acknowledged.The Los Angeles city is swiftly recognized by Hollywood sign, the Eifel tower is the definition of Paris and San Francisco is known by the Golden Gate Bridge.All of these monuments or public art icons were created by very creative people who captured the spirit and atmosphere of their hometowns (Neumann 2014).
Scientists like (Chang 2008;Hunting 2005;Becker 2011), reported that Public Art is gaining momentum in developed countries.However, it is emerging and still debatable discipline in developing or low-income countries.Public art in the countries like Pakistan, whose ideology based on the Islam (97%), has some controversy in the form of sculptures and paintings of living beings among different groups of societies depends on the extent of education, cultural and religious values of the society.According to one thought, Islam prohibits the depiction of animate being in the form of paintings, drawings, and sculpture to avoid the risk of idol worship.However, others argue that this depiction of animated beings is permissible if the art is not meant to be worshiped.No doubt this controversy may reduce the utilization of all possible options for Public Art in the country.
However, public opinion will progress and change around permanent artworks as technological advancement happens in social norms, education, and politics (Trinier 2007).However, the personal tolerance level for art that depicts violence, nudity, or outrageous visuals are just because of individual response (Trinier 2007).The under-developed countries instead of rich cultural history either ignored or not fully explored their public art to the desired extent because of financial, cultural, ethnic or any other obstacles (Chang 2008) while the developed one has explored its potential using technological edges (Muhammad et al. 2012;Mustafa 2009).Public art could play a role in low-income countries where basic life needs are substandard, fewer job opportunities, fragile peace and security with lesser recreational activities (Chang 2008).In this study, we develop our understanding to evaluate the role of Public art historically, its know-how among different community groups, and their level of appreciative, predictions, cultural preferences, and issues concerning conflicts with the Islamic domain law and low-income countries particularly, Pakistan.

Mode of Research
The research study was a mixed-method approach in which both qualitative and quantitative sort of data was collected by involving site observations, interviews, group discussions, questionnaires, site photography, and some secondary data from relevant authorities (Creswell and Creswell 2017)

Site selection for study
Preceding to the study three cities were considered best for data collection and filling out questionnaire accordingly.Out of the longitude map of Pakistan two historically ancient cities and one capital territory (Islamabad), where a composite representative of the whole country has now settled.Brief information on the individual cities is provided in their respective explanation.Among the cities, the study area was further divided into small spots according to the need and demand of questionnaire.The areas which were selected for data collection (surveys and questionnaire) were a provincial capital, it has a combination of old and new well-protected infrastructure as compared to other cities.Similarly, Peshawar is located in the west of Pakistan, an ancient route of silk traders.
Peshawar with a population around 3 million (2014 estimate), is located on the eastern border of Pakistan and adjacent to Afghanistan, has not protected well and millions of refugees were migrated and being settled during Afghan-Russia war.Most of the people belonged to Pashto on tribe and considered as conservative as compared with Lahore and Islamabad.Islamabad is the newly developed, the capital city of Pakistan with a population of 1.9 million (2014 estimate).Islamabad is well planned urbanized city of the country with several national parks.The majorities of the inhabitants are educated and belong to all part of the country.Most of the population belongs to middle and upper middle class.Both Liberal and religious mind people can be found here.

Sample Size Selection
A sample size of 450 respondents was selected with random sampling technique (Shah et al. 2017) with 200 from Lahore, 150 from Islamabad, and 100 from Peshawar.An utmost effort was made to approach as randomize population section of the sample as possible (Seixas 2013).The questionnaire was designed accordingly with research questions and objectives of the study correlated with types of public art in society, social and cultural preferences of public art in the local community, the understanding and misunderstanding of public art in a cultural and religious context, and the scope of public art in future perspectives.The number of participants who rejected taking the survey was additionally observed and were kept in the survey log for further tracking.
Most of the surveys was collected directly by the facilitators by asking the participants questions and recording their answer with the help of a questionnaire and tape recorder where needed (Seixas 2013).

Data analysis
For statistical analysis, the data were collected, coded and imported into Microsoft Excel 2013.
Labeling of each variable and value was performed, and missing data was also noted for elimination (Creswell and Creswell 2017).The qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed individually, while the survey data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with graphical representations of descriptive statistics.

Results and Discussion
Geographically the Urban landscape of Pakistan is composed of big and small cities and towns.
Each of these cities and towns comprises of distinctive characteristics depending on its cultural and   introduced from outside (mainly the West), the idea of modern public art is also gaining popularity in our art world.However, besides all these limitations there are some calligraphic work and the culturally supportive work that have been keenly done in the religious buildings, government-owned areas, military relevant art pieces using as symbols for the traditional nature of the people and the majority of them oriented towards public art in the recent years.In an interview with an artist and lecturer at the National College of Arts it was said that "If the field of public art is to grow up and to be mature in the country, it will need to define better practices of public art field with the same standards as practiced in developed countries… with the full cooperation of government and public support… which could boost up the public art field in the country."

Cultural preferences of Public art in Pakistan
Pakistan is a country with diverse culture and identities.It consists of four provinces and some autonomous regions which have their unique culture and local identity and differ from each other to some extent.The main thing which combines all these cultures and brings them together with each other is religion and religious activities which are shared and similar throughout the country.The Figure 7 shows the results of our survey revealing that majority of the respondents (85%) preferred to see and appreciate the historical and cultural monuments.They were in a significant association of the cultural and historical backgrounds of the artworks such as Minar-e-Pakistan, Pakistan Monument, Bab-e-Khyber, etc. which have profoundly depicted in the hearts of the local inhabitants of Pakistan.In this case, Lahore stood number first with (90%) of the respondents have a positive attitude towards the cultural and historical monuments followed by Islamabad (84%) and then Peshawar (80%).In contrast, fewer respondents (26%) preferred the Sculptures of living beings to be freely located in the local environment while the remaining were in a state of disagreement due to the sole reason that Islam has prohibited the depiction of animated being in the form of paintings and sculptures.The others argued that these sculptures and portraits of the human being and other animals can be permissible if the art is not meant to be worshiped, most of them clarified it should be the sculptures or statues of the leadership and martyrs who have prominently sacrificed for the independence and integrity of the country.Majority of these respondents belonged to Islamabad (39%), where the society is more liberal and educated as compared to Lahore and Peshawar which has more conservative people.
The case is different with the sculptures of non-living things, where (68%) of the total respondents was in favor of these sculptures with various modern and architectural shapes.Several respondents argued that these types of structures can be used with some particular themes to broadly educate a number of audience from societal and intellectual issues.(64%) of the respondents were interested in street art and street furniture with distinctive design and thematic background that can swiftly attract the visitors and pedestrians to engage with it actively or passively.(57%) of the respondents showed their interest in graffiti and murals which could be used to present the culture and history of the society and locality and could also address the social issues with particular images or signs and specific thematic display.The second largest group (80%) of the respondents agreed to appreciate the Islamic contemporary art in the public domain, while some of the contenders did not

Conclusion and recommendations
It is evident from the detailed provided in the findings section of this study, where Pakistan heritage is rich enough in ancient and modern public art.Though the cultural variation and spiritual impulsion may restrict, it's grooming yet the potential for the different ideology cater so many other

Figure 1
Figure 1 Sample Study Area in Map of Pakistan (Source: Google Maps edited by Author) City and the capital of Pakistan.Lahore, being the second largest city in the country with a population of 10.35 Million (2014 estimate) and culturally vibrant part of the Punjab province being Figure 2 (a) The sculpture of Queen Victoria which were removed from the front of current Punjab assembly building in 1974 and placed in Lahore Museum (picture source Lahore360.com).(b) The sculpture of Alfred Woolner in front of Punjab University old campus, still existing in its original place since British colonial time (source: author field survey 2015-16).(c) The Monument of clock tower constructed in British Raj in 1904 in Faisalabad city that is still existing in good format.(source: Usman Nadeem; Wikipedia.org) a) Minar-e-Pakistan the monumental tower of Pakistan, the first commissioned Public art installation in the country constructed in 1968.(b) The Gate of Khyber locally call Bab-e-Khyber constructed in 1964 located in Peshawar on the Khyber Pass one of the ancient Silk rout (c) The Pakistan Monument constructed in 2007 located in the capital city Islamabad (source: author field survey 2015) Preprints (www.preprints.org)| NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 18 February 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201802.0117.v1The term "public art" got into usage and replaced earlier titles like sculptures, murals, monuments and outdoor arts when Malik Riaz Husain a Pakistani real estate tycoon commissioned and constructed tremendous amount of public art in Bahria Towns since 2000.Bahria Town is a group of residential privately owned real-estate development projects which own, develops and manages properties across Pakistan.The main attraction of Bahria town is the Public Art installations which makes it unique and most attractive in comparison with housing societies of Pakistan.There are considerable amount of public art structures located in each and every corner of Bahria towns both in Islamabad and Lahore (Fig 5).In Bahria town, one can found all sorts of public art such as murals, monuments, historical sculptures, street art with special artistic appeals, and modern and ancient types of artworks, which are the unique characteristics of these urban landscape.

Figure 5
Figure 5 represents different types of Public art and sculptures in Bahria Town Islamabad and Lahore.(Source: Author field Survey 2015-16 local culture and Islamic thoughts have a significant influence on the events and structures of public art in the local societies.Human sculptures and Nudity in sculptures are not considering good in Pakistani communities.Therefore there are very less human statues existing with no nudity and no female sculpture in public places.Most of the Human sculptures which are present is either some ancient sculptures from British colonial time or of those leaders or activists who took part in Pakistan Independent movement dominantly of the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the national poet of Pakistan Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal.During the field survey, we asked the local community of Lahore, Islamabad, and Peshawar about the cultural preferences regarding public art type that has been widely preferred and acknowledged in their surroundings and neighborhoods.A sample size of 450 respondents was given the option to choose more than one of the types of public art they would prefer in their regions and was supposed to be connected with the local culture and the history of the area.

Figure 7
Figure 7 illustrations the attitude of the survey respondents towards the type of public art in the study area of Pakistan.
options for public art such as the historical background of Pakistan, different languages and different regions comparisons and color of lifestyle.Former sections of this study highlighted the detailed information in this regard.The issues concerning public art created during the British era were either protected in government offices, cultural heritage, Art colleges or museum instead of public places.On the other hand, public art pieces that reflect Pakistan independence, people hospitality, agricultural and other landscapes have been still prominent.Art and public art were not the cups of tea of the government since the day of independence.However, government decision may not be wrong because of the crises faced by the country especially during the war on terrorism in the near past.As public art gaining momentum in advanced countries and considered as an authentic source of income, people interaction, communication, and development enhancement.During this digital life, public art is the particular recreational activity, and people want to save their sweet memories which have been gradually reduced due to speedy lifestyle.Interestingly, the core research questions being addressed was, what is the history of public art in Pakistan, what types of public art existing in the community, what are the local people Preprints (www.preprints.org)| NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 18 February 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201802.0117.v1understanding and perceptions about public art, what sort of public art are acceptable and being welcomed and which kinds are not considering good in religious and cultural context.None of the citizens have shown any aggression regarding the public art.However, variation exists among these communities, their education, and priorities with respect to art pieces.Yet, the statues and sculptures were disliked by the individual, but on the eve of their installation in any public place, no rigid behavior has been seen in the country such as Bacha Khan Sculpture at Peshawar city.This has been achieved through integrated approach includes; site observations, field survey, interaction and interviews with local community and cooperation from local authorities and local artists of the study area.The fundamental research objective of this study was to explain public art field in the local context, to highlight its importance in the local community and to establish a background of the Pakistani public art at regional and global level.By researching the aims, process, and objectives, the outcome of this study was not only constructive instead appreciated.The history of public art in Pakistan has been explained from pre-independence to post-independence with examples and symbolic representations where needed.The lack of awareness about public art in Pakistani communities is due to some factors involving; 1. Less importance has been given to the Public art and related fields by government authorities, 2. Lack of fund availability, 3. Cultural and religious miss-understanding of artworks by local communities, 4. Lack of art schools and colleges in the country, 5.No proper organizations on city or province level which could deal with the public art and its commission and installation in their local areas.All these factors are affecting public art and its practices in the country.Last but not the least, if a little focus is given to this creative work, it will change the status of the people with prosperity.However, to avoid controversy among the public first step art pieces should concern to the art pieces that reflect the norms of the local culture, the ethics of local society, the bravery of the local people, peace loving nature of Muslims, natural and cultural landscape models.Once getting start people will orient and motivate PA pieces and thereafter such art help to boost their awareness, importance, and role towards public prosperity.This research will fill the gap in studies on public art and its role in Pakistani context.It will also fill the gap in the literature on Pakistan urban landscape, in which, Public Art has not yet been fully explored.
during September 2015 to July 2016.To explore the history of public art in Pakistan a