During the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the communities that were affected very badly was the artists. The whole world stood still for years and public spaces were shut down. The art festivals were postponed and even art galleries were closed for an unprecedented time. A similar situation was happening in Pakistan. To overcome this challenge, Atiq worked with a team of artists and curators to co-curate the first digital arts festival in Pakistan. The idea was to establish an online platform for the artists where they could showcase their artworks when physical spaces were not available. Lahore Digital Arts festival was appreciated and participated by a large community of artists not only from Pakistan but many other countries as well. 

One of the highlights of the festival was a 3D virtual space that Atiq designed primarily for LDF-I and curated artworks from renowned artists like Louise Deininger, Omar Gilani, and Muaaz Ullah. The links to these 3D virtual spaces are given below.

Atiq moderated the keynote talks from the renowned media artist Prof. Maurice Benayoun (France) and art historian Prof. Eveline Wandl Vogt (Austria) as well during the festival who shared their insights about the history of media art in general and how the pandemic is revealing the invisible shifting of values, at the social and aesthetic level.