As the Kochi Muziris Biennale turns 10 this December, Bose Krishnamachari, president of the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF), says that it is at once a time to celebrate as also for deep reflection.
“As every institution must, we are also constantly thinking about building a more agile, accommodative structure that is able to host a diversity of people and practices across various formats. We have always wanted to extend ourselves beyond the exhibition format to be a space of thought, sharing, mediation, and knowledge production. We remain grateful to the Government of Kerala and all our patrons and supporters for their unwavering, unconditional support and look forward to welcoming you to Fort Kochi from December, until April 2023,” he was quoted as saying in a press communication.
Led by Director of Programmes, Mario D’Souza, the discursive and programmes mandate of the foundation will also evolve into a fluid, open framework that encourages slow, considered production and invests in co-building ecologies of care.
The biennale programme will host contributions from diverse voices and practices including Homi Bhabha with Jitish Kallat; Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Pallavi Paul and Shaunak Sen with Jeebesh Bagchi initiated by ICAS-MP and its media module Media and the Constitution of the Political; Ali Cherri; Ala Younis; The White Review with Dayanita Singh, Vikram Aditya Sahai, and Shripad Sinnakar; Manu S Pillai; and Decolonizing Architecture Art Research. A full list of contributors and a schedule will be announced in the second half of October. In addition to the talks and seminar programmes, the foundation will also host book launches, film, theatre, dance, and music programmes including the folk traditions of Kerala.
Alongside ‘In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire’, the main exhibition curated by Shubigi Rao, will be Tangled Hierarchy curated by Jitish Kallat (John Hansard Gallery in partnership with the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art); an exhibition around independent publishing curated by Kayfa ta (Ala Younis and Maha Mammoun); Bhumi by the Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts and the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation; and Communities of Choice curated by the Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation and Ffotogallery Wales (supported by the British Council) amongst others. The Durbar Hall in Ernakulam will see a survey of contemporary art practices from Kerala curated by Gigi Scaria, P.S. Jalaja and Radha Gomathy commissioned by the Kochi Biennale Foundation in association with the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi.
The Kochi-Biennale Foundation will also enter into a long-term collaboration with HH Art Spaces in Goa, who have been invited to curate the performance programme during the KMB-2022 and will feature contributions from Amol K Patil, Joydeb Roaja, Sarah Naqvi, Hilal Ahmed amongst other artists. This edition also marks a culmination of its partnerships with UNESCO and the Muziris Heritage Project into a range of programmes along the river Periyar and in Fort Kochi.
The DBF-KMB Award is a new, multi-year exhibition and lecture programme that brings together the Hayward Gallery, the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF) and the KBF. The award will grant an emerging South Asian artist participating in the biennale the opportunity to present their first institutional solo show in the UK at Hayward Gallery’s HENI Project Space.
The fifth edition of the Students Biennale will evolve through the duration of its exhibition and continue beyond its timeline. The International Residency programme at the KBF will also evolve to focus on artistic research and thematic frameworks. These will include two long-term multi-partner, collaborative projects that contemplate and challenge imaginations of both the Indian Ocean world and the idea of Asia.
The Art by Children (ABC) programme designed for communities, children, art educators, and teachers will also mark a new phase in the ongoing ABC programme led by Blaise Joseph as there will be two new art rooms in Kozhikode supported by the Faizal & Shabana Foundation, according to the communication.
