My curatorial work focuses on history, technology, and public access, with a particular focus on how collections can be reinterpreted for contemporary audiences.
Digitisation of Lahore and Taxila Museums
As Project Manager with the Citizens Archive of Pakistan, I led the digitisation of the Lahore Museum and the Taxila Museum, a landmark initiative supported by the Government of Punjab’s Punjab Tourism for Economic Growth Project.
This work involved overseeing the digitisation of more than 35,000 artefacts across both institutions, making it the largest single museum digitisation project in Pakistan’s history. Beyond scale, the project required building systems: establishing digitisation protocols, managing multidisciplinary teams, and ensuring that each object was documented in a way that preserved both its material detail and historical context.
Alongside the digitisation, I curated the design and installation of over 25 digital displays across the two museums. These interactive interfaces which combined maps, object narratives, and video, were developed to transform how visitors engage with collections. Rather than static viewing, the aim was to create a layered experience in which visitors could explore objects, trace their histories, and situate them within broader cultural and geographical frameworks. This work has contributed to making the Lahore Museum one of the most interactive museum spaces in Pakistan.
Both institutions hold exceptional collections. Established in 1894, the Lahore Museum houses a wide range of material, including Gandharan sculpture, Pahari miniature painting, and important numismatic holdings. The Taxila Museum, opened in 1928, preserves artefacts from the Gandharan civilisation excavated in the Taxila region, with objects dating as far back as 600 BC. Working across these collections required not only technical coordination, but also a curatorial approach attuned to the historical depth and diversity of the material.
Across these projects, my work was guided by a central question: how can museums move beyond preservation toward meaningful public engagement? Digitisation is only the first step of the process. The objective must always remain about expanding access, rethinking interpretation, and enabling new ways of thinking about the past.
Team
Noor Ahmed – Project Director/Lead Curator
Awais Malik – Assistant Project Director
Saeed Husain – Project Manager
Sirat Daudpota – Manager Taxila Museum
Ayesha Iftikhar & Salman Tahir – Manager Lahore Museum
Eman Ruhail – Visual Designer
Veera Rustomji – Senior Researcher
Sophia Balagamwala & Marvi Mazhar – Key Experts
Zainab Sabri & Kainat Bashir – Researchers
Bisma Mohsin and Khadija Sohail – Graphic Design and Animation
Maan Sheraz and Hammad Umar – Video and Animation
