Kochi-Muziris Biennale
As one of only two biennials in South Asia, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is inevitably discussed in terms of its lack of government funding, although a printed guide — distributed in a timely fashion for the first time — lists its international patrons: Singapore’s National Arts Council, Hong Kong’s Burger Collection, the UAE’s Barjeel Art Foundation, Office for Contemporary Art Norway, and the Kerala government, among others. Given how problematic it is for Indian artists to locate any funding at all, why feature nearly one hundred artists in the first two editions of the Biennale? Why not have a more tightly curated exhibition with just fifty artists and fewer venues? As one participating artist puts it, founders Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu have heart. Instead of taking small steps towards establishing a biennial for local audiences new to contemporary art, they have admirably persisted in putting on events of astounding scale and breadth. As per this year’s curator, Indian artist Jitish Kallat, the strength of the Biennale is its fragility: ‘It’s about creatively befriending uncertainty and doing what we can with what we have’. That the biennale goes up at all, elicits awe. Responses, thus, are by and large sympathetic, while apparently discussions on the quality of artworks on offer take little precedence in an as yet maturing scene.
The selection of Kallat as curator, reinforced the position of India’s Biennale as an artist-led initiative that emphatically engages with the public outside of static spaces of speculation and transaction. Labelled as ‘Whorled Explorations’, Kallat took his cues from the history of Kochi as a maritime hub since the fifteenth century. However, through invoking an age of discovery, he also raised its
Benthia Perciyal, The Fires of Faith, 2014. Installation view, Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Courtesy of the artist and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
Francesco Clemente, Pepper Tent, 2014. Mixed media. Courtesy of the artist and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
