What to expect at Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025-26?
Titled 'For the Time Being' the curators note that the Biennale 'is an invitation to embrace process as methodology, and to place the friendship economies that have long nurtured artist-led initiatives as the very scaffolding of the exhibition'.
Alluding to Kochi's past as a historic port city and centre for trade, the note states, 'we begin with our site and region to engage in dialogue with emerging global perspectives. This rootedness allows us to resist the pressures of the conventional biennale model as a finished spectacle, and instead shape something that is evolving, responsive, and alive.'
It adds: 'This edition of the biennale is also an invitation to think through embodied histories, of those that came before us and continue to live within us in the form of cells, stories and techniques… We invite artists to seek resonances across geography and time, to trace shared memories, mirrored struggles, and new affinities rooted in empathy and deep listening.'
One of India's biggest art events that also draws significant global attention, the biennale that had its inaugural edition in December 2012 has been grappling with challenges in recent years. Postponed a day before it was to open its fifth edition in 2022, the sixth edition of the biennale was initially scheduled to be held in December 2024.
While Chopra and HH Art Spaces were announced curators for the forthcoming edition in November 2024, a release issued had also noted that the event will feature 60 artists and artistic practices from across India and the world.
Last year also saw several organisational changes in the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF). While former Chief Secretary to the Government of Kerala Venu Vasudevan is now the chairperson of the KBF, former United Nations official Thomas Varghese is CEO of the foundation.
Conceived in 2010 at the behest of the then culture minister for Kerala, MA Baby, and with Kerala-born Mumbai-based artists Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu at the helm, the first edition of the biennale was curated by the duo. In the subsequent years, the biennale has seen artist-curators such as Jitish Kallat (2014-15), Sudarshan Shetty (2016-17), Anita Dube (2018-19) and Shubigi Rao (2022-23).
The list of participants for this year is expected to be announced in October. The curatorial vision further states, 'Many forms of liveness — performances, actions and conversations — will bring alive the 110 days of the Biennale. Durational works that blur process and presentation will invite audiences into embodied, participatory moments, challenging a static exhibition. We believe this is what a Biennale can be: a space of aliveness, presence, and communion. A place where people come together, not just to see art, but to be with it, and with each other.'
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