This edition, according to curator Shubigi Rao, exhibits the tenacity of artistic traditions that have withstood the pandemic’s fury. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale in Kerala will finally hold its fifth edition next week after a two-year delay caused by Covid-19. The content has changed, while the 60-strong artist lineup generally has withstood the long wait.
“Previously, the show was more tactile, now there are more video and audio works—things that can be transferred online and succeed in the digital realm,” says the curator, Singaporean-Indian artist Shubigi Rao.
Given that the biennial is renowned for having many site-specific commissions, this raises some questions about the show’s identity. Artists are frequently invited to respond to Fort Kochi’s history as a port along important trade routes, as well as the history of the long-lost seaport of Muziris. But since 2020, many of the biennial’s commissioned works have had their world premieres elsewhere due to persistent delays and uncertainty. Before traveling to India, large installations by the Vietnamese artist Thao Nguyen Phan and the Lebanese artist Ali Cherri were displayed initially at the 59th Venice Biennale earlier this year.
Even so, many of the lineup’s artists—mainly from South and Southeast Asia—will present brand-new pieces specially commissioned for the biennial. These artists include Amol K. Patil for sculptures, Vasudevan Akkitham for paintings, and Priya Sen for a film essay documenting Delhi’s lockdowns before and after. The massive work will be presented by Goa-based Sahil Naik, All is water, and we must return to the water. This story details the history of a village that was submerged under a reservoir yet periodically reappears.
Centered around a theme of “optimism even in the darkest absurdity,” Rao believes that her show will reflect the endurance of art practices that have weathered the pandemic’s storm and will stand as a testament to the loyalty and resilience of the biennial’s exhibitors and workers.
“The artists and collectives in the show have in some cases changed their practices, broken apart, lost their studios and gone through great loss—and still they stuck with us,” she says. “Talk about care and community in the art world is often just that—talk. This to me feels like a rare instance of it being put into practice.”
The biennial, which staged its debut edition in December 2012, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month. And while Kochi-Muziris keeps growing throughout the subcontinent, Krishnamachari insists that it will always treat Keralans—approximately 500,000 of whom attend the performance annually—as the show’s major audience. “We didn’t get our name of ‘the people’s biennial’ for nothing,” he says.
However, Krishnamachari calls it “a major victory” that the government now prioritizes creating a year-round modern art venue for the foundation.
“Before we came, no one understood art speak—installations and wall texts were totally foreign. Now local films in Malayalam will throw around the term ‘biennial’. I consider that as good a mark as any.” says Krishnamachari, and that justifies the role played by this gathering.