“Mark your calendars: December 12, 2022 to April 10, 2023”. This post on the Instagram handle of the Kochi Biennale Foundation on June 8 ended months of uncertainty. The fifth edition of the Kochi Muziris Biennale was supposed to take place in 2020-2021 but was postponed twice and finally canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its inception in 2012, the mega art show has built an international reputation for innovation, innovation and eclectic art over its past editions. Now in its 10th year, this edition is significant in more ways than one.
By the time KMB-5 was first postponed in November 2020, and later cancelled, a lot had already been done. Curator Shubigi Rao, an India-born, Singaporean artist, had traveled to studios around the world and “at busy and noisy airports” to zero in on the 90 artists, with curatorial notes on her phone.
Several artistes had started working and Fort Kochi, which is playing host, started gearing up to welcome the hordes of tourists. Ultimately, when the festival was cancelled, discussions were held regarding a scaled-down festival with COVID-19 protocols in place. In April 2021, ‘Lokme Tharavadu’ opened in the old port city of Alappuzha and showcased contemporary visual artists from Kerala. Later the foundation also considered holding the event in a hybrid form: a physical show for Southeast Asia and a digital show for Europe and the Americas. But all this was not to be.
The countdown is on for the four-month exhibition. ‘In our veins, ink and fire flow’ is the curatorial title, which was decided before the hardships of the worldwide pandemic. Paradoxically, it speaks to the resilience born of thought and action that kept us afloat in the darkest of days. “How do we get our power back? Only through the spirit that flows through us: thought and action; Ink and fire,” Ms. Rao explains, adding that the title is also about “the offensive power of ink (words, poetry, art, music) and the corrective power of action (fire).”
Talking about the challenges of curation, she explains that with the pandemic affecting everyone globally, artists have been particularly hard hit, “as we live more uncertainly. Many artists could not produce during the pandemic so their source of income stopped. Many arts councils cut funding for the arts and education. So, we’re dealing with a lot of fatigue. No one can live in such conditions and I am humbled by how the artistes have remained.
If the artists were impressed, so were the artisans and craftsmen who form the backbone of producing an event of this stature. Several manufacturing units and workshops across the globe and locally have shut down, leaving the art fraternity with less options. Shipping fees increased and artists had fewer environmental options. “Every large-scale exhibition like this has its own set of challenges, but I would say the pandemic has exacerbated it,” says Ms. Rao.
Shubhigi Rao, curator of KMB-5, with Bose Krishnamachari, co-founder and president, Kochi Muziris Foundation. , Photo Credit: Kochi Biennale Foundation
Riding out the storm, so to speak, are 45 new commissions “created especially for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale” that celebrate the various strategies artists employ to survive. “One of the distinct changes is that there is a significant amount of video work because people have gone digital,” explains Ms. Rao. She gives the example of South American artist Claudia Martinez Garay, who sent a video work instead of a planned installation, as her studio was closed during the health crisis. She is showing a video work. Similarly, a group of female photographers from Myanmar could not produce due to the coup in the country.
“The artists were responding to the most difficult conditions around the world and in their contexts,” says Mario D’Souza, program director and member of the curatorial team. While 40% of the works are digital, he says there are also paintings, sculptures, installations and performances. “There are also a lot of songs, recitals and concerts at the Biennale.”
Goan artist Sahil Naik Everything is water, and to water we must return, which will be screened in the Hangar at Aspinwall House, presents a musical narrative with folklore set in a life-size landscape of Kurdi, a village in Goa that disappeared with the construction of the Salaulim Dam. The Mumbai collective, Camp, presents a film on Mumbai using a protest song. up, down, sidewaysA film made by Uramili Project on a community of rice farmers from the Northeast has a catchy rendition of his songs. “There is great joy, hope and celebration,” says Mr D’Souza.
Baroda-based Malayalam artist Vasudevan Akkitham presents an almanac of a lost year (2020-21), reflecting the anxiety and hope of each single day during the pandemic, at the coir warehouse at Aspinwall House. Film essay by Delhi based filmmaker Priya Sen no strangers at allAlso touches on the lockdown and protests in New Delhi.
Mr D’Souza says the 10th year of the event was a historic moment that required reflection, repair and re-evaluation. “We are the biennial of the people. This year the program opens itself in multiple formats across the region, working in a wide variety of contexts and situations. Continuing with its flagship events such as the Student’s Biennial and Art by Children (ABC), the organizers changed the collateral with ‘invited exhibitions’ bringing exhibition formats from Asia and Africa to share the primary sites of the KMB in Fort Kochi. Started new initiative. These include the Kathmandu Triennale, the Chennai Photo Biennale and Savvy Contemporary as well as a special presentation, Tangled Hierarchy, curated by Jitish Kalat for the John Hansard Gallery and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. A new work by acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge is also an inviting exhibition.
“This is the first time there is a space dedicated to artistes from Kerala,” says KMF trustee Boney Thomas. Durbar Hall, a central venue in mainland Kochi, will be the venue Idam: Where the tongue sprouts, A curated show of contemporary art practices from Kerala by visual artists Gigi Scaria, PS Jalaja and Radha Gomathi. Buoyed by the “long-awaited” move, Ms. Gomathi says artistes from Kerala have the potential, recognition and potential to break into the international platform. The show will showcase around 30 works, offering a survey of the contemporary moment in art across Kerala. With the Biennale Foundation we were thinking a lot about inclusivity, equity and diversity of ideas and approaches.
Pepper House, Fort Kochi is one of the venues of the Kochi Muziris Biennale. , Photo Credit: H. Vibhu
Another interesting collaboration is the collaboration with the Muziris Heritage Project. title Ghosts and the Sea: Notes from Muziris and the Indian OceanExhibitions at the Dutch Warehouse and Kashi Art Cafe will showcase historical materials, research and artefacts from a bygone era that reflect the past of Muziris and the historic port of the Indian Ocean.
In 2018, KMB happened right after the devastating floods. But the event turned out to be a record six lakh people and touched a large gathering of hoteliers, hoteliers, tour operators, guides, autorickshaw owners, homestays, hawkers, food joints, ferry operators and fish vendors. “The exhibition has grown since its launch in 2019. Despite the challenges, something very special has happened. In many ways it celebrates the resilience of artists, their courage in overcoming challenges,” says Mr. D’Souza.