The blanket of silence that enveloped the VKL warehouse in Mattancherry was made more palpable on Friday afternoon by the loud banging of heaps of clay that were crammed into a corner by young artists for sculpture-making.
One venue of the students’ biennial, being held as part of the 2022 edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, had no more than a handful of visitors. A family of art enthusiasts was enthralled by eight photographs captured by Aastha Dutta, a visual artist from Assam who is pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at Shiv Nadar University in Noida.
“I am participating in the Biennial for the first time, and the experience has been unique since the Biennial began three days ago for the students. The visitors mostly include people from outside Kerala and foreign tourists,” she said.
The postponement of the main show from the opening day of December 12 to December 23 seems to have taken a toll on the initial enthusiasm for the four-month-long event. Yunus, 45, of Mattancherry, who has been riding his autorickshaw since 1997, pointed out that the buzz seen in the first week of the previous edition was not visible this time.
“We are hoping that the organizers will invite us for a meeting and provide us with the program brochure and stickers. This will help us guide visitors to various places,” he said.
Economic activity in Fort Kochi, which is expected to peak with the Biennale as well as Christmas and New Year celebrations, still remains sluggish as tourist inflow is yet to pick up. Anoop, who runs a roadside eatery on Tower Road, expressed hope that foreign tourist arrivals could pick up for the biennial run up to Christmas and New Year. “Currently, we are mainly catering to domestic tourists, especially from northern states,” he said.
Visavan, an autorickshaw driver near the Fort Kochi jetty, is not impressed with the pace of work at the nearby Aspinwall House, the main venue of the main show. “We are ready to extend full cooperation to the organisers,” he said.
Preparations are in full swing at Aspinwall House. In the Bungalow building where works of 10 artists will be displayed, the walls are being painted afresh. Some art works are kept in one corner.
Shamsudheen, Majeed and Koya, headload workers coming out of Aspinwall House, recalled that they had unloaded many of the artworks that arrived in containers before the start of previous editions of the biennial. “But such a steady flow has not been seen this time and may not happen as the inauguration has already happened,” he added.
On the delay in the start of the main exhibition, Majeed said the shooting of a Tamil film at Aspinwall House has affected preparations for the biennial. The change in schedule has also affected homestays as owners faced cancellations at the last minute. “This included both domestic and foreign tourists. In view of the postponement of the main exhibition, a batch of visitors from Germany left for Bengaluru. We are hopeful that the situation may improve soon,” said Santosh Tom, owner of a heritage homestay in Fort Kochi.