A modern cosmopolitan metropolis seeking to invoke the ancient legacy of its predecessor, the port of Muziris, is the spirit the Kochi-Muziris Biennale embodies.
The first edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB 2012) was an unprecedented and unheralded success, with even Tate Modern director Chris Dercon singing its praises and excited by the talent that it represented. It broke all the rules and entered into people’s lives and imaginations.
Weekend Review caught up with Bose Krishnamachari, founder-president of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, and Riyas Komu, director of programmes, KMB, when they visited Dubai earlier this month.
The duo exude a quiet optimism and predict that the second edition of the event will “quite easily” attract more than one million people.
This year too, the KMB has attracted an impeccable array of artists — over 90 from 30 countries — K.G. Subramanyan, Francesco Clemente, Gulam Mohammad Shaikh, Sudhir Patwardhan, Mona Hotoum, Anish Kapoor, Yoko Ono, Surendran Nair, Ryoto Kwakuko, Bharti Kher, Julian Charriere, Kwan Sheung Chi, K.M. Vasudevan Namboodiri, Patrick Blanc, Bijoy Jain, and Gigi Scaria, among others.
Interestingly, the youngest artist is from Kerala, C. Unnikrishnan, who recently graduated from the Government College of Fine Arts, Thrissur.
The artworks at Kochi Biennale will range from the minute to the larger scale. Some of it will be very conceptual. “You don’t see too many visuals in conceptual art. For us scale, technology, science, everything is involved in this year’s project,” Bose says.
But while the arts community across India and major global centres are looking forward to the monumental spectacle unfolding in Kochi and wondering whether its principal organisers can recreate the magic of the first edition, Bose and Riyas are battling insurmountable odds, this time again for lack of funding.
Vociferous critics who almost sabotaged the first edition have disappeared into the woodwork, as it were.
The irony is that while the political support for KMB now cuts across political lines, the Kerala government, the main sponsors of the mega event, is facing a financial crunch. The state has allocated Rs20 million (Dh1.18 million) in its budget for KMB, of which they have only released Rs10 million.
This year the projected cost is Rs260 million. The rest of the money has to come in soon as artists from India and abroad are already at work on the site.
As prominent Indian art critic and an ardent supporter of KMB Ranjit Haskote had said during the first edition two years ago, “ ... Kochi-Muziris has turned the ‘Biennale under construction’ into an existential condition.”
There is much to be done in the run-up to the grand opening with the cultural spectacle of Kerala’s traditional melam, this time with a record 300-strong percussion ensemble under maestro Peruvanam Kuttan Marar. But there is a glimmer of hope.
Across India and art centres abroad, there is a rising groundswell of support and goodwill building up that is being slowly turned to financial support and sponsorships for this path-breaking endeavour.
There is positive recognition that KMB is now becoming a reality as the largest independent liberal arts project in a country which has had a legacy of failed art projects since independence.
“I think now there has been an awareness that this project has a revolutionary capacity. This project is not just about painting on a canvas. It is looking at a larger spectrum, social space. And it is a socially driven project. Slowly it will become a catalyst for change,” Riyas says.
A crowdfunding drive was launched mid-November with the aim of raising Rs150 million in 90 days, providing an opportunity for every arts enthusiast to participate and take ownership of KMB.
The organisers have also structured the biennale in a way that there are many entry points for potential supporters, starting with a biennale pass of Rs5,000 — which gives a family of four unlimited entry to KMB 2014 — to project support, individual patronage and corporate sponsorship.
“Ours is the cheapest biennale in the world, but much more talked about and much more seen by the people. KMB 2012 held over three months drew around 400,000 visitors, and the money spent was only Rs160 million over a three-year period from May 2010. Compare this to the Venice Biennale, with a much larger budget and held over six months, which had 460,000 visitors,” Bose says. “The social wealth it has brought to the city cannot be valued against money. And Kochites feel proud of it. This year there are quite a lot of people who want to be part of the biennale with around 18 collaterals and parallel projects.”
And the Programmes Department has set up many projects, such as 100 days of Artists Cinema (a curated section), Arts and Medicine which takes musicians to perform live at public hospitals, and a cultural programme curated by renowned performing arts expert Keli Ramachandran showcasing Kerala’s traditional performing arts.
There are many other programmes even after the biennale ends. The Let’s Talk series which is under way already will continue, while the residency programme comprising select international and Indian artists is an ongoing one. “So it’s not that after three months everything is done and we leave. We are always there ... against all the odds,” Bose says.
Below are excerpts from the interview:
The theme for this year’s biennial is Whorled Explorations, right?
Bose and Riyas: This year’s curator, Mumbai-based Jitish Kallat, had visited Kochi during the first biennale. His theme — Whorled Explorations — is a cosmological vision; he sees KMB 2014 as a ‘temporary observation deck hoisted at Kochi’. It is rooted in the place, but the difference is that he is looking out from there.
He sees it as zooming out extremely and at the same time, zooming into the project. There are many aspects to this... in the 14th century there were significant scientific movements in Mathematics and Astronomy in Kerala and in the 17th century colonialism and cosmopolitanism arrived through the trade routes and set in motion the early process of globalisation.
When we talk about this it is pertinent to talk about the ancient port of Muziris as well. Muziris not only brought trade but the trade route also brought culture and religion. The state government’s Muziris Heritage Project and the biennale happening simultaneously was a coincidence, but had an inevitability about it — of rediscovering truths archaeologically. The rest, as they say, is history.
Tell us about your collaboration for the biennale.
It’s a coming together of two streams of thinking, maybe at one point. And Kochi historically is also known as a city of adventures. In the Indian contemporary context, if you have to survive and make things happen, you have to take some risk. That has always been the case, where we don’t have the proper infrastructure to sustain artistic activity. If you take the biennale as an example, which is right now attempting to change the way people look at contemporary art practices, how a project can change the perceptions that people had about art as an elitist exercise ... how collective thinking can bring about change by introducing art to ordinary people — these questions always remained in a larger sphere of thinkers, artists and curators. But because of the system’s failure they could not attain something like this, even though several attempts were made before.
Then the argument comes back to our mind; the first question is who was going to lead it? As we have seen, there was lot of intelligence available, but who was going to do the physical labour, of creating a project like this with some sense of commitment and passion, and you know, like leaving your work aside and getting into it? We had that approach to art and that is one reason the collaboration happened.
What is the relevance of Kerala as an arena for art?
Kerala historically has a greater relevance in the area of art, where we have created art with a kind of argumentative spirit. This biennale has taken a lot of energy from that, from the social activism Kerala is famous for. This biennale has taken a lot of energy from the political awareness this region has, the way we accommodated religions, ideologies, conversed with the world, the way we even migrated without having any kind of conflict .... This community has got a different kind of flavour in understanding the world.
How did it all happen? Then you trace back to a history and a society which was globalised maybe 3,000 years ago. With the kind of imagination and flourish, and understanding of myth, space ... we were a community of magical realists.
Do you feel the critics of the biennale project have been silenced?
You cannot defeat an artist in the social context. Even a country such as China is unable to stop an artist such as Ai Weiwei from fighting against criminalities or protesting against the political system. We don’t think the critics who came to oppose this biennale project had a relevant argument. They went for petty things which might work with people when you talk about money. It was also an imagined criticism. They should have observed, researched and then criticised. You could say the critics tried to destroy the project. A lot of credit goes to the artists. KMB established that you cannot defeat an artist easily.
Has KMB succeeded in creating awareness about art?
Now there is an awareness that this project has a revolutionary capacity. It is looking at a larger spectrum of social space. Slowly it will become a catalyst for change.
The ripple effect from the biennale is evident here in Dubai. Art*ry, the Al Quoz-based art collective, kind of originated from the idea of the Kochi Biennale. And there are many such places we can name in Kochi or in Bangalore.
So it’s not that after three months everything is done and we leave. We are always there once we started ... against all odds.
What is the scope of the Students’ Biennale?
The Students’ Biennale will cover almost 45 institutions from all across the country and we have 15 young curators working on it. Three to four of the best works from each art institution will make up a parallel biennale!
What it does is to connect the biennale with art institutions. Because the biennale is also one of the largest non-commercial art projects in the country right now, students get exposure in the right space. They are not pulled in or into thinking about their future only in terms of commercial success.
The focus will be a survey of the state of art education in the country — infrastructure issues, students’ concerns and teachers’ problems. This project will culminate — because there is a seminar planned — in a memorandum being submitted to the Government of India to change or make art institutions multidisciplinary.
What is the focus of the Children’s Biennale?
The Children’s Biennale project is going to be workshop-oriented. There will also be workshops in all media and in other socially engaging activities. The inaugural event will be a show in tribute to Kerala’s late child maestro Clint, at one of the city’s oldest craft shops in Mattancherry, where a new gallery space is opening. This will run throughout the biennale and will be a major draw.
What about the talks and seminars?
We have this series of talks and seminars called History Now — this year’s focused curated series of talks and seminars. It starts with a two-day seminar conceptualised by art historian Geeta Kapur titled Terra Treme. It will continue, with Let’s Talk and weekly seminars, one-day seminars, lots of scheduled conversations with 40 per cent of the seminars and talks in the Malayalam language.
The seminars are on different topics that are pertinent to the times — it will be about conflict, politics, sociology, art in general, and a one-day seminar on journalism called Journalism Now. There is going to be a seminar series on the maritime history of the region.
Isn’t the financial aspect of the biennale a cause for concern?
Biennales cannot become self-sufficient, because there is no commercial exchange happening. It always has to be supported by the system though public-private partnerships, because it is a project that reflects your social responsibility. It also supports and sustains the other models of art business.
We would like to be autonomous. But the first edition was hugely supported by the state. The success of the biennale was recognised with various awards including the prestigious national award for Most Innovative and Unique Tourism Project for the state from the Government of India. The state believes in the project but this year the financial situation is really bad.
We have very good long-term relationship with corporate sponsors such as BMW and DLF, with the latter giving their heritage structure Aspinwall House as a venue.
Our main patron is from Dubai, T.V. Narayanan Kutty of IAL Ltd. He is someone who believes in this biennale being something that could bring the communities closer, that is celebrating the idea of cosmopolitanism, the legacy of people living in harmony and also addressing some of the most pertinent issues. He is giving Rs10 million every year (that means Rs20 million for a biennale).
A major fund-raising event has been initiated by KMB’s seven-member artist Advisory Board. It has sent letters collectively asking all the prominent artists to come on board to create a sustainable fund and support the biennale. We are now heading for an auction by 55 to 70 top artists scheduled for mid-February in Mumbai. The Mumbai Art District comprising seven to eight galleries is behind this. The proceeds of the auction will go into building a corpus for the biennale for the long-term. Any artist supporting this becomes a Patron of the Biennale.
A major source of support comes from the big names of Indian art — Geeta Kapur, Vivan Sundaram, Subodh Gupta; Keralite businessman George Muthoot recently organised a fundraiser; and filmmaker Aashiq Abu and actress Rima Kallingal — two young, bright minds from Kerala who are also very influential — who came out to speak for us, supported us financially last year. This year too they are on board.
It is also interesting to see that the many venues we got are in kind. One after the other everybody felt that this is an important project and wanted to be part of it.
Now we have this 20-strong group of young practising architects in Kerala who are part of the Indian Institute of Architects’ Young Architects Forum. They realised that this is one of the best projects to have ever happened in the state and they are bringing about 200 architect students to do voluntary/participatory work and help put up the exhibition. This collaboration with architect-volunteers, artists and curators will send a strong message across to Kerala, and also nationally, on the need for modern art infrastructure.
Do you have a message for the visitors coming to attend the biennale?
One needs to spend a long time to see art. It will take three to four days to see everything and take in the biennale. The speed in the digital world doesn’t really allow us to observe. The chip is absorbing it, so we don’t really care about it. That should not be the case. Everything should be experienced through your eyes and your mind. One should spend time, whoever is coming to see an artwork.
- N.P. Krishna Kumar is a freelance writer based in Dubai.
Art*ry Quoz Art festivities
Art*ry, a Dubai-based artists’ collective, hosted an awareness drive on Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), initiated by the Ambassador of India to the UAE, T.P. Seetharam, earlier this month. A pilot presentation made at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi on November 7 was followed by a second one at Art*ry Space on November 8.
The presentation was a fitting finale to Out of [a] Box, Art*ry’s project for QUOZ Art Festival organised by Al Serkal Avenue, Dubai. The project, comprising two separate elements, was based on the theme of migration.
Using cartons as a medium, the installation incorporated the individual creative output of more than 40 artists from the region and spanned the 3,000 square feet of gallery space, in addition to which visitors were invited to participate in creating a conceptual art titled Re.Mapping.
Artists Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, the founders of KMB, made a presentation on Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India’s flagship international exhibition on contemporary art. Present during the occasion were other distinguished guests including P.M. Sirajuddin, the COO of KMB, TVN Kutty, chairman of the IAL Group and the Biennale’s main patron, and Ashiq Abu, eminent Malayalam film director.
Elaborating on why the Indian Embassy has initiated such a campaign, Seetharam said: “Any endeavour that seeks to connect India to the outside world is worthy of the embassy’s support. Art is multifaceted, reaching out to the society and fulfilling its diverse needs in unique ways. An art movement such as the KMB needs to be given all the support it needs as it forms a cultural bridge across nations, which is particularly relevant in the context of UAE’s growing art and cultural awareness.”
T.V.N Kutty, the main patron of KMB, said: “Supporting the biennale was a conscious choice, a choice that has implications at a deeply personal level. It has offered me a chance to do something that will help me on my path to self actualisation. I believe that through supporting the biennale, I will be making a real difference to the society.”
