A Gallery Guide to Spasial Program by Khajistan at SculptureCenter, NYC
by Khajistan Cultural Desk
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Watch Khajistan director Saad Khan’s short gallery guide reel for DAZED MENA here.
Download Spasial Program by Khajistan Gallery Guide
Jun 19–Jul 28, 2025
Spasial Program by Khajistan* is an exhibition of banned, overlooked, censored, and/or propagandistic audio-visual and print media from the Persianate world—primarily Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan—that also incorporates significant artifacts from the larger Arab world.
Their work addresses gaps or losses of distinct local cultural expression within mainstream “global” media settings while considering how changing Western technologies (and a lopsided internet) risk intensifying the cultural disappearance of marginalized communities.
The variety of material gathered and presented by Khajistan underscores the fallacy—and the impossibility, despite the widespread tendency—of imposing a singular narrative to capture the beliefs and identities of diverse and heterogeneous populations, whether in this region or beyond.
Today, Khajistan’s growing digital archive has over 85,000 community-contributed photos and videos, while Toshakhana, Khajistan's physical archive, contains the world's largest collection of Pakistani film memorabilia, rare gems like Islamicate Judaica, censored and discontinued Urdu, Farsi, and Arabic magazines, and American and local war propaganda.
All objects on display represent fractions of the larger Khajistan archive. Descriptions of each object or set of objects on view can be found here.
All original items, reproductions, and merchandise are available for sale via Khajistan. Sales support Khajistan’s ongoing archival and publishing initiatives. Visitors may place orders during the exhibition and arrange for pickup on Sun, Jul 27 or Mon, Jul 28. Delivery for batch-purchased items is also available upon request.
Inquiries/shipping coordination: info@khajistan.com
*Spasial Program (a misspelling of both special and spatial) refers to a hashtag attached to content that has compelled Instagram to ban Khajistan’s social media accounts six times. In Khawaja Sira (Pakistan’s third-gender community) slang, it also means “special event.”
Audio throughout
Lost soundtracks ripped from Lollywood VCDs and VHS (Pakistani film industry – a portmanteau of Lahore and Hollywood) and compiled by Khajistan
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Gallery
Khajistan Gallery (various sources, c. 1960s–present)
Two walls filled with reproduced prints, paintings, and framed ephemera from Khajistan’s archive exploring censorship, desire, overlooked narratives, and the afterlives of media across the Greater Middle East. Sourced from street walls, burned books, family collections, black markets, and digital platforms, these materials reflect Khajistan’s mission to preserve media silenced by states, erased by elites, or simply too strange to survive the official record.
Print Culture and Propaganda
Zhvandūn (Afghanistan, 1960s–1980s) and Shabab (Egypt, c. 1980s), Cold War–era magazines showing print modernism
Rubi (Pakistan, c. 1970s), a softcore Urdu magazine later banned under former president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq Zia’s Islamic “purification”
Dari–Pashto Alphabet of Jehaad (Jalalabad, 1986–1992), a US-funded literacy primer embedding wartime propaganda and advocating armed resistance against the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan, designed by University of Nebraska and University of Wisconsin teams
Cinema and Censorship
- Behind-the-scene Filmfarsi stills (Iran, c. 1970s), capturing erotic melodrama
- Mohallel (Iran, 1972), Nosrat Karimi’s satire on religious hypocrisy and nikah halala, banned after 1979. Nikah halala is a practice in some Islamic traditions where a woman, after an irrevocable divorce, must marry and consummate a new marriage before she can remarry her first husband. Intended to prevent rash divorces, it is widely criticized as coercive and exploitative.
- Zinda Laash (Pakistan, 1967), the country’s first X-rated horror film (also on view in the Screening Room)
- Pink Force Commando (Hong Kong, 1980s; dubbed in Urdu), circulated as underground action erotica
- Lovers of James Bond (Pakistan, early 2000s), a fake poster used to lure men into bootleg porn screenings
- Posters for Hashu Khan (Pakistan, 1974); Khatarnak (Pakistan, 1974); Dil Nasheen (Pakistan, 1975); Chandni (Pakistan, 1990s); Baji (Pakistan, 1963); Dar Emtedad-e Shab [Along the Night] (Iran, 1978), spanning decades of action, melodrama, and musicals
- Poster featuring Afreen Khan, a prominent West Punjabi stage dancer
- Lobby cards, promotional art, and bootleg VCD/VHS covers from Punjabi and Pashto cinema
Digital Fragments and Erotica
Metal panels display real Grindr messages and erotic memes pulled from WhatsApp, Instagram, Hornet, Telegram, and Bigo Live—laying bare how intimate imagery migrates into the digital archive. Framed scans of doves, horses, and pigeons from old books echo themes of love and longing across this visual landscape.
These installations embody Khajistan’s manifesto vision: to save fragmented, marginalized media and insert it into public discourse, challenging mainstream narratives and asserting that every culture, no matter how unconventional or censored, deserves to be seen and remembered.
Street ephemera (Pakistan, c. 2023-24)
Panaflex banners salvaged from the streets of Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta representing local political, social, and religious propaganda; vendor signage; and public service announcements. The ephemera on display represents a small selection of the over 800 pieces of street signage that Khajistan has collected; over 700 items were recently acquired by the Princeton University Library as part of its South Asian Ephemera Collection.
Narrow Corridor
Erotic photography and video (various sources and dates)
A selection reflecting erotic behind-the-scenes photographs from films acquired from a private collector in Quetta, Balochistan: a still from the Iranian film Resurrection of Love (Houshang Hessami, 1973).
A compilation of Pashto and Punjabi erotic videos from Pakistan and Afghanistan (c. late 1990s–2000s). These are often ripped from music VCDs, where they are hidden between tracks.
Political Cartoons, State Propaganda, and Agit-prop related to war (various sources, c. 1960s–2020s)
Reproductions from Khajistan’s archives:
A propaganda poster by the Indian Independence League in East Asia, c. 1943, featuring anti-British resistance fighters alongside Japanese support slogans in English, Urdu, Hindi, and Bengali. Produced during World War II with backing from Imperial Japan, the poster urges Indian soldiers to join Subhas Chandra Bose’s INA and seize a “last opportunity” for independence through militant revolution.
A Soviet cartoon on Pakistan’s role in arming militants against India, Afghanistan, and Iran (c. 1981) published in Krokodil magazine.
Afghan anti-communist propaganda published by the Ittehad-e Islami (Islamic Union of Afghanistan) and funded by the US during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s showing a Soviet hand setting Afghan wheat fields ablaze.
Cartoons (Iran, c. 1960s–70s): Anti-Shah, Anti-Soviet, and Anti-American cartoons from pre-revolution Iran published in Karikator and Behlol magazines. Karikator was a satirical periodical that critiqued Iran’s post-revolutionary social and political tensions. Despite its popularity, the magazine faced repeated state censorship for mocking clerical authority and government policies and was permanently shuttered in 1992. Its editors were detained and its archives were confiscated.
Khajistan holds a range of materials related to war, some of which were published in American War Propaganda Leaflets (1990–2022) (Khajistan Press, 2024), which includes a collection of propaganda leaflets distributed by American military forces and the CIA in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.
Other holdings include materials against US military interventions in the region, including a poster by anti-war collective No Business As Usual from the late 1980s (reproduction on view here).
Also on display is a cartoon centering former US President Jimmy Carter originally published in the satirical Behlol magazine in the 1970s, at the height of post-revolution tensions between Iran and the United States. This cartoon reflects Iran’s broader propaganda effort to lampoon US foreign policy: Carter’s flying cowboy hat symbolizes Western meddling, and the exploding map warns of catastrophic consequences should the US escalate military intervention.
Lūtis
Kharabat Vol. 1 (Khajistan Press, 2025), by Tehran-based artist Farhad Qashqai, is a found-photo book documenting the all-male world of Iran’s Kharabatis, or Lutis—a working-class subculture rooted in brotherhood, street rituals, and ancestral defiance. Sourced from digital relics, personal albums, and online ephemera, the book (and the accompanying short video here) moves through prisons, gyms, living rooms, and city streets, revealing a world where loyalty is scripture, masculinity is sacred, and life itself is seen as Kharabat: ruins.
Throughout the exhibition, materials documenting regional and diasporic male intimacy appear between and around other thematic areas, including a reproduced cover of Andisheh-ye Azad [Free Thought] and three paintings of homosocial subjects produced by Khajistan.
Andisheh-ye Azad was a Persian-language journal established by Iranian intellectuals in exile and published between 1977 and 1979. The publication served as a critical platform for leftist and opposition voices, especially against the Shah's regime, and was instrumental in promoting revolutionary discourse among the Iranian diaspora during the prelude to the 1979 revolution.
Islamicate Judaica Collections
Selections from Khajistan’s Islamicate Judaica collections, including reproductions of two French colonial postcards from Morocco and Tunisia depicting Jewish life (c. early 1900s) and a letter from an Iraqi Jewish man in Basrah to his wife in Baghdad (1960) — another example of the region’s multicultural heritage.
Singing video by Bireshwar Gautam
Bireshwar Gautam was a Hindustani classical artist known for performing songs from a woman’s perspective with rare emotion. He was murdered in Mumbai in 2009.
Archive Palestine Online, a project by Amad Ansari
A curated digital selection of geolocated websites documenting Palestinian histories often omitted from mainstream discourse. Presented on one computer station, this beta interface preserves early 2000s personal and community webpages, forums, and online memorials.
Three animations by Nosrat Karimi (Iran, c. 1960s)
Three hand-drawn shorts: Hoshang Shah, Zendagi [Life], and Malek Jamshed. Karimi, an iconic Iranian filmmaker and animator, was arrested and threatened with having his hands cut off under the Shah’s regime. These rare animations stand as emblematic testaments to pre-revolutionary Iranian artists’ struggles against state suppression.
- Hoshang Shah (1968) – 13:00 minutes
- Zendagi [Life] (1966) – 16:22 minutes
- Malek Jamshid (1965) – 10 minutes
All films courtesy Babak Karimi
Arched Corridor
Poster for Showgirls of Pakistan (Saad Khan, 2020)
This feature-length documentary provides an unflinching look at Pakistan’s commercial mujra industry. Directed by Khajistan founder Saad Khan, it follows three performers—Afreen Khan, Uzma Khan, and Reema Jaan—who navigate the underworld of Punjab’s dance halls, where they face harassment, extortion, and violence. Set primarily in Lahore’s public theaters and rural private events, the film foregrounds how mujra, a dance form dating to the Mughal era, has evolved into a clandestine economy marked by patriarchal exploitation. Its use of archival Lollywood melodies from the 1960s and ’70s further roots the documentary in Pakistan’s cinematic past while revealing contemporary struggles.
Lollywood Film Posters (c. 2000-2010s)
A selection of Khajistan’s posters from the early 2000s Lollywood film industry, mostly based on real films, alongside four Frankenstein-style “fake” posters. These deceptive pieces were assembled from cut-and-paste celebrity likenesses and recycled artwork, using the language and style of commercial cinema to lure men into Pakistani cinemas that played bootleg pornographic clips under the guise of film screenings.
Two recent books from Khajistan Press document the visual and cultural history of Lollywood, capturing both its mainstream allure and its underground adaptations:
Loose Cannons and Dangerous Curves: An Unholy Bible of Pakistani Popular Cinema (Khajistan Press, 2024): Omar Ali Khan, a sage of Lollywood's labyrinthine world, delivers a laugh-out-loud anthology of over 160 Pakistani film reviews. Offering a fresh perspective on Pakistani cinema from 1947 to 2022, this anthology is a gutsy report on films that have struck a chord with the public psyche, including under-appreciated and overlooked titles. A must-read for anyone interested in the often-overlooked links between Pakistani politics, popular culture, and society, as reflected through the nation's most fervently loved yet underrated artistic medium: movies.
True Colors of Filmic Fairies (Khajistan Press, 2023): Khurshid Alam dives into Lahore’s film-entertainment scene in a book that escorts readers through the scandalous corridors of Urdu dailies and showbiz periodicals. Alam guides readers into the shadowy recesses of Pakistan’s esteemed film heroines, unveiling their covert love affairs, closely guarded secrets, and silent struggles. Far from being just sensational gossip, Alam’s analysis skillfully intertwines these actresses’ fluctuating personal and professional journeys with their socio-economic and cultural backdrop, shedding light on Lollywood’s leading ladies’ often enigmatic personal histories.
Screening Room
Zinda Laash (Khwaja Sarfaz, 1967)
Pakistan
1h44m
Often cited as Pakistan’s first X-rated horror film, Zinda Laash [The Living Corpse] was directed by Khwaja Sarfraz and loosely inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Shot on a modest budget, it tells the story of a resurrected vampire who haunts rural Punjab. Its erotic undertones and graphic violence led to its X-rating and swift ban upon release, securing its place as a cult classic in Pakistan’s underground film history. Rediscovered decades later by horror aficionados—thanks in part to Omar Ali Khan and the cult label Mondo Macabro—it was restored and released on DVD, with screenings at festivals like Sitges Film Festival and Neuchâtel Film Festival.
The film’s original X-rated censor certificate, held in Khajistan’s collections, is on display in the screening room.
Bazaar
Khajistan publications, materials, and merchandise are available for purchase here on Sundays, 12-6pm, or online anytime.
On the Computer
Installed in the Bazaar, the computer stations offer direct access to Khajistan’s evolving digital platforms, bringing the archive’s circulation between physical and digital formats (like scans of rare materials, memes, and audiovisual fragments) into public view.
Khajistan Reader
Early access to the Khajistan Reader, a platform offering full scans of rare magazines and printed ephemera. Designed for deep engagement with print cultures often dismissed as marginal or ephemeral, the Reader includes banned publications, obscure periodicals, and declassified censor certificates. It invites users to browse at their own pace and build new contexts from old print.
Khajistan Digital Archive
A beta version of the Khajistan Digital Archive, containing over 85,000 photographs and media fragments from the collection. Visitors can browse memes, videos, and images, and use an interactive canvas to curate and remix material—blurring the lines between research, play, and memory. This participatory interface reflects the archive’s broader mission: to reframe suppressed or discarded media through shared, open-ended encounters.
Living Room
On the television set
- Clips from Rangarang (Iran, c. 1970s): Variety show reflecting Iran’s pre-revolution pop culture
- Pakistani TV Ads (c. 1980s): Commercials from PTV’s golden era
- Pakistani News Bulletins (c. 1990s): Archival broadcasts from PTV’s state-controlled era
- Saudi News Bulletin (c. 1980s): Clip from state-run Channel 1, formal delivery style
- Dance Videos (Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, c. 1980s–90s): Archival clips showcasing suppressed and hybrid dance cultures from across the region
- Pashto Film Songs (Pakistan, c. early 1990s): VHS rips of provocative musical sequences from Pashto films
- Filmfarsi Trailers (Iran, c. 1960s–70s): Campy, pre-revolution trailers full of song, violence, and melodrama
- Clips from World Ka Center (Faisal Rehman & Bilal Minto, 2002), Pakistan: Satirical tele-film. Set in Lahore on September 11, 2001, this film depicts the daily routines of lower-middle–class men who dream of moving to the United States. Through their last day of carefree camaraderie, it reveals how global events resonated within ordinary Pakistani life.
- Clips from The Blood of Hussain (Jamil Dehlavi, 1980), Pakistan: Political allegory banned in Pakistan for its critique of dictatorship. Courtesy Jamil Dehlavi
- Clips from Immaculate Conception (Jamil Dehlavi, 1992), UK–Pakistan: a Jewish-American senator’s daughter and her British partner Alistair journey to a famed eunuch shrine near Karachi seeking a cure for infertility. When Hannah miraculously conceives, their joy collides with cultural and religious tensions in a story of faith, love and the unforeseen costs of a miracle. Courtesy Jamil Dehlavi
- Clips Towers of Silence (Jamil Dehlavi, 1975), Pakistan: Surrealist feature film exploring ritual, death, and obsession. Courtesy Jamil Dehlavi
- Punjabi Stage Show Recordings (Pakistan, c. 1990s): VHS recordings of bawdy, improvisational theater once widely distributed on CD
- Rushk, Behti Naar (Saqib Malik, 2000), Pakistan: A music video blends evocative Urdu poetry on a one-night stand and erotic longing. Shot in Karachi, the video was pulled from TV nine months after release for “dark and sinister” themes, including BDSM, wedding-night anxiety and homoerotic imagery. Courtesy Saqib Malik
- Clips from Najam Sheraz’s Pal Do Pal (Jami, 1999), Pakistan: Sung by Sheraz and starring Iraj Manzoor, Pal Do Pal was shot in Gwadar, Balochistan. Its Pepsi-funded visuals (later self-censored by the corporation) weave poetic Urdu verses on fleeting passion and intimate desire. Courtesy Jami
Also on display:
Two Egyptian film posters:
Al-Nazara Al-Sawdaʾ [The Black Sunglasses] (Hossam El-Din Mostafa, 1963): A classic Egyptian melodrama based on a story by renowned writer Ihsan Abdel Quddous, The Black Sunglasses follows the emotional unraveling of a woman caught in a web of romantic and moral disillusionment.
Zaʾir al-Fajr [Visitor of the Dawn] (Ali Abdel Khaliq, 1973): A bold political film banned upon release, Visitor of the Dawn explores themes of state violence, political repression, and psychological trauma during the Nasserist era.
Selections from Khajistan Archive inn a Display Case
A display case containing assorted archival materials, including: Pakistani, Iranian, Iraqi, Turkish and Egyptian periodicals; surplus American war propaganda leaflets; a Jewish prayer book in Farsi from the 1970s; Turkish erotica from the 1920s. See Events and Programs for display case presentations.
Khajistan Press
Homosexual Desires in Madrassas (2023)
Dickiran (2023)
Mashallah Bohot Zabardast Vol. 1 (2023)
A US war propaganda leaflet from Afghanistan, produced as a rug by Khajistan.
Two Shia tapestries from Tehran (2023)
Punjabi movie "Dharti Sheran Di" (Land of Lions, 1973) wall tapestry
Original hand-painted framed canvases by the late Lollywood billboard artist Mohsin Maseeh
EVENTS AND PROGRAMS
Khajistan Bazaar: Sundays, 12 – 6 pm
Khajistan Showcase: Sundays at various times (schedule TBD). The Khajistan team presents original materials and screens films from the archive.
