KMB co-founder delivered inaugural address at two-day
international symposium
on the political and economic pressures on art production and art curation
on the political and economic pressures on art production and art curation
Kochi, Feb 08: Providing an overview of
the past half-century of art infrastructure-building in India, renowned artist
and Koch-Muziris Biennale (KMB) co-founder Riyas Komu described the Biennale as
the inheritor of a pan-Indian tradition of artist-led activism.
“Despite
the absence of proper institutional structures and lack of support from the
central government, Indian art has evolved through the efforts and leadership
of strong practising artists and movements. Over successive political
administrations and national budgets, art has continued to be neglected. The
Biennale is a challenge to this system,” Komu said here today.
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| KMB co-founder Riyas Komu speaking during the 'Curating Under Pressure' conference session with Leonhard Emmerling (left), Programme Director South Asia at Goethe-Institut, and Aaron Kreisler, from Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury. |
Komu
was delivering the inaugural address at a two-day international symposium that
seeks to address a range of concepts and contexts and ask what they mean for the
ethics of curating. Titled ‘Curating Under Pressure’, the conference – co-hosted
by the Kochi Biennale Foundation and Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan – runs
till Wednesday at the Pavilion in Cabral Yard.
Over
that time, it will explore questions around political and economic pressures on
a biennale, censorship and how the contemporary arts respond to these and
similar constraints. Among the questions discussed will be the role of art in
times and circumstances of pressure and whether biennials – currently the most
successful model of international art exhibitions – have the power to instigate
change.
“The
KMB is a project with many layers of pressure. Despite these, it has become a
forum for different kinds of resources and agencies – previously functioning in
niches – to come together and put pressure on the system,” Komu said, noting
that the Biennale had successfully sustained its artistic spirit over three
editions.
“In the
2016-17 Budget, the Union government had allocated Rs 2,500 crores to culture,
which was about 0.13 per cent of the total allocation – to be split between the
country’s libraries, museums, ASI, Kala Sanskriti Vikas Yojana, cultural
institutions, among other beneficiaries. The Biennale is challenging this
system by generating an ecosystem of creativity by art-making, curatorial
exercises and artist practitioners,” he said.
 |
| KMB 2016 Bose
Krishnmachari during a panel discussion at the 'Curating Under
Pressure' conference with (from left) Leonhard Emmerling (left),
Programme Director South Asia at Goethe-Institut, Alisa Prudnikova, Azar
Mahmoudian and Shuddhabrata Sengupta |
This
was a sentiment echoed and remarked upon throughout the first day, which saw
participation from Leonhard Emmerling, Programme Director South Asia at
Goethe-Institut, Aaron Kreisler, from Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of
Canterbury, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, of the Raqs Media Collective, which curated
the 11th Shanghai Biennale, Berlin Biennale Director Gabriele Horn and Reem
Fadda, Curator of the sixth Marrakech Biennale.
In a
session titled ‘Censorship and State Interference’, KMB co-founder Bose
Krishnamachari noted that the KMB was unique because it prioritised artistic
freedom despite budgetary pressures. The discussion also examined the role of
art in the face of political pressure and explored ways to respond to
censorship and state-attempts to co-opt events like biennales.
