KMB 2025 Features 12 new venues; Preparations in full swing

 Kochi, Nov 25: The sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) will feature 12 new venues, in addition to the nine existing ones and seven collateral venues, extending from West Kochi to Willingdon Island and Ernakulam. Artists from India and abroad will display their creative brilliance in contemporary art across these venues.

Aligning with the KMB theme, for the time being, each venue is steeped in collective memories of history and culture of a bygone era, oscillating between past and present. The organiser, Kochi Biennale Foundation, has been repurposing quaint, empty former warehouses and historic structures into exhibition venues from its inception in 2012. 

“We have selected the venues in such a way that it resonates with the theme, wherein art is a process, dynamic and shape-shifting. From Durbar Hall in Ernakulam to those in Fort Kochi, Mattancherry and Willingdon Island, each venue is an exploration of space, time and life,” said Dr Venu V, KBF Chairperson.

The venues will showcase the main exhibition (KMB) curated by Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces, Goa, featuring the works of 66 artists/collectives, and parallel shows such as the Invitation programme, Edam –a curated exhibition showcasing 36 artists/ collectives with roots in Kerala, Students’ Biennale (SB) which is curated by student artists from seven regions across the country, Art By Children (ABC), a key initiative of KBF that aims to provide democratic access to high-quality art education among children and communities; and the Residency, a project that aims to strengthen international collaboration by building partnerships among organisations, collectives, and networks.

Preparations are in full swing in all the venues to host the 110-day Asia’s biggest art festival, which  opens to the public on December 12.  

The new venues in Fort Kochi are St. Andrew’s Parish Hall (SB, Invitations); Arthshila, Kochi (SB); Jail of Freedom Struggle (Invitations); and Water Metro (ABC).

The others are a few metres apart on Bazaar Road in Mattancherry-- BMS Warehouse (SB); 111 Markaz and Cafe (KMB); SMS Hall (KMB); Devassy Jose and Sons (Invitations, Residency); Simi Warehouse (Invitations); Cube Art Spaces (Edam) and Space, Indian Chamber of Commerce (KMB, Invitations, SB). Island Warehouse (KMB) is next to the Water Metro station in placid Willingdon, the country’s largest artificial island surrounded by water.

The venues are connected by the Water Metro. The ripples around the murmur of migrations that made Fort Kochi a melting-pot for millennia. The pocket bears traces of trade links with Romans, Phoenicians, Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks, as well as influences from the Chinese, Jewish, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch, and British cultures, and the diverse cultures across India.

Durbar Hall (KMB) in Ernakulam is connected by Water Metro and other boat services to Fort Kochi. A 220-m deviation from River Road to Princess Street and Tower Road will open onto Jail of Freedom Struggle, where freedom fighters from across India were incarcerated.

A 300-m walk on River Road will lead to David Hall (Invitations), a Dutch architectural marvel, opposite the Parade Ground. Just 170 metres away on Parade Road is Arthshila Kochi, once a British food retailer and now part of Takshila Educational Society. Another 250 metres away on K J Hershel Road is St. Andrews Parish Hall.

A walk of 450 metres to the left along the River Road and Bellar Road leads to Aspinwall House, where artworks will be exhibited in the Coir Godown and the Director’s Bungalow.

Pepper House is another heritage structure with its imposing view of the sea. The four-century-old building is a half-kilometre walk down Calvathy Road near Bellar Road.

The landscape shifts from the spacious colonial structures in Fort Kochi to the historic sites and vast warehouses in the once-thriving international trading hub of Mattancherry, across the Calvathy Canal. The smell of spices wafts through the air of this place, with new and old venues lining the Bazaar Road.

A 600-m walk from Pepper House is Armaan Collective and Cafe (Edam), embedded with traces of Kochi’s maritime and mercantile past. Around 500 metres off is Anand Warehouse, with many new venues being a stone’s throw away. A 150-m stroll will lead to the Garden Convention Centre (Edam). In its vicinity is VKL Warehouse.

Half a kilometre away from VKL is Oottupura (Invitations) on Jew Town Road, the vintage dining hall of the Pazhayannur Bhagavathi Temple. Mattancherry Palace was once the seat of the Kochi Maharaja, who shifted from Kodungallur (Muziris) after the 1341 floods in the river Periyar. Much later, he moved to Durbar Hall in Ernakulam.

KBF announces the lineup of ‘Edam’ exhibition featuring Kerala artists

 Kochi, Nov 17: The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) has announced the participating artists in

‘Edam’, featuring the diverse art of Kerala. Commencing from December 13, it will run parallel to

Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), starting on December 12. Curated by artists Aishwarya Suresh and

K M Madhusudhanan, ‘Edam’ will showcase 36 artists/collectives in Cube Art Spaces, Armaan

Collective & Cafe, and Garden Convention Centre in Bazaar Road, Mattancherry.

“Edam will be a spectrum of ideas and thoughts as perceived by the artists of Kerala, throwing light

on the depth of their roots embedded in traditions, heritage and culture of the land, inspired by

other cultures across the world,” said Bose Krishnamachari, President, Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

According to Kochi Biennale Foundation Director of Programmes Mario D’souza, “’Edam’ was

conceived in 2022 when we reimagined the Biennale, to extend the platform for artist from Kerala.

We wanted to present a survey of contemporary art and ideas from across the state and its diaspora

and spur conceptual thought and writing around it. This exercise led us across the districts, to

villages, schools; to artists’ studios in kitchens and farms, and practices that had survived and

thrived building its own ecosystems and on its own terms. ‘Edam’ honours this resilience and

resolve. With Madhusudhanan and Aishwarya, we want to approach the exhibition as an inter-

generational dialogue that thrives in dialogue across time and medium, and productive dissonance

as well.”

The participating artists are: Abhimanue Govindan; Abin Sreedharan K P; Abul Kalam Azad; Anu

John David; Arun B; Ashitha P H; Asna M A and Thasni M A; Devika Sundar; Devu Nenmara; Dibin

Thilakan; Greeshma C; Dr Indu Antony; Josh P S; Keerthana Kunnath; Keerthy R; Latheesh

Lakshman; Madhu Kapparath; Madhuraj; Mehja V S; Murali Cheeroth, Sudheesh Yezhuvath, P. N.

Gopikrishnan, and Jayaraj Sundaresan; Nikhil Vettukattil; Nithya A S; Priti Vadakkath; Radha

Gomaty; Rahul Buski; Rajivan Ayyappan; Ramu Aravindan; Ranjith Raman; Sebastian Varghese;

Shadiya C K; Sibi Merlyn Abhimanue; Sonia Jose; Sreeju Radhakrishnan; Tom J Vattakuzhy; Umesh P

K; and Visakh Menon.

“’Edam’ is a very young platform, a platform that selects and introduces new artists of Kerala.

Therefore, new ideas, thoughts and experiences and latest methods of art practice of Kerala will be

reflected in the artworks of the participants,” said artist-curator K M Madhusudhanan. An

internationally acclaimed film-maker and interdisciplinary artist, he is fascinated with images,

especially the advent of the moving image and its place in human history, seen in a series of films,

paintings, drawings, video art, and sculptural installations. “The artworks will definitely be a joyful

and thoughtful experience of the sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale,” he stated.

“This edition of ‘Edam’ highlights the vibrant range of practices of artists who trace their roots to

Kerala yet work across the world. Through the Biennale’s inclusive platform, we hope to nurture

curiosity and expand access to art education for all — from young learners to lifelong admirers,”

said artist-curator Aishwarya Suresh, a Kochi-based textile-based artist and art educator who

works at the intersection of traditional weaving, experimental materiality, and contemporary art.

Marxism and Buddhism influences are reflected in Madhusudhanan’s art. His works have been

exhibited at KMB 2014 and the Venice Biennale, 2015. His films have been screened at film

festivals, art galleries, and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. His

feature film, Bioscope (2008), based on the journey of the then-new art form of cinema during

colonial India, won multiple state and national awards.

A graduate of the Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology, Bengaluru, Aishwarya Suresh has

held significant roles in major art initiatives such as Keraleeyam and the upcoming One Kochi

project. She has supported KBF, a 2010 non-profit charitable trust, in administrative and creative

processes and coordinated large-scale art production, transformed spaces into functional galleries,

and overseen installation and documentation of artwork.

KBF announces Kochi-Muziris Biennale programmes and exhibitions

     The upcoming sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) will feature an array of conversations, films, food, music, theatre, workshops, and choreographies alongside the exhibitions.

With Mario D’Souza as the Director of Programmes, the Kochi Biennale Foundation announced 109 days of engagements that conceive the biennale as “a shared ecosystem where people coexist without a nucleus”. The team, led by D’Souza, includes Ananthan Suresh, Mashoor Ali, and Rebecca Martin. They have charted out programmes that will unfold along with the artworks curated by Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces, Goa. KMB is set to open on December 12 and run through March 31, 2026.

D’Souza, while sharing the guiding principle, said thinking with people in today’s “fractured, polarised” world was a gift. “It is important to find joy, share a meal, grieve, and come to terms with loss. Resilience, in the face of adversity and forms of systemic erasure, is one of humanity’s greatest strengths,” he noted. “We honour caregivers and those that keep hope alive in our broken world.”

The Biennale Pavilion, which will host the events, will be built by architect Senthil Kumar Doss. The selection for his 2025-26 structure, named Primordial, was done by a jury comprising Aric Chen, Bose Krishnamachari, Radhika Desai, Shimul Javeri Kadri and Tony Joseph. The Pavilion “is the beating heart of the biennale, activated by gatherings, events, and happenings”,according to KBF, which is organising the KMB.

Madhurjya Dey, From the Eastern Mirror—II (Migratory Birds), 2024. Oil on paper

The pavilion programmes include “Nothing will remain other than the thorn lodged in the throat of this world,” a lecture-performance by Noor Abed and Haig Aivazian; a presentation of Somnath Waghmare’s documentary practice; “Imagining Zomia,” a conversation with practitioners, film makers, historians and artists to re-examine the highlands of Central, South, and Southeast Asia beyond their framing as peripheral or stateless zones; “Statues Must Die” by Naeem Mohaiemen; “(Towards) Crip Aesthetics: Disability as Method” by Resting Museum engages with crip aesthetics as a mode of resistance to able-bodied and able-minded norms, foregrounding lived experience as a site of theory and art-making; “Eelam Dialogues” with Meena Kandasamy and Nimmi Gowrinathan, and presentations of films by the Dharamshala International Film Festival, and the Palestine Film Institute; “History of Long Durational Performances and MAI,” a performance by Marina Abramović; and South by South which brings together artists, curators, and institutions to explore the intertwined histories of trade, migration, violence and cultural hybridities across the Indian Ocean. A full list of contributors and a schedule will be announced in the second half of November. 

A section, titled ‘Invitations’ and initiated in 2022 in the post-pandemic landscape, will continue with its aim: “think with and learn from independent, artist-run initiatives, and public exhibitions from the Southern, majoritarian world.” This year’s contributions will be from Alice Yard (Trinidad and Tobago), Alkazi Theatre Archives, in collaboration with Alkazi Collection of Photography (India), Bienal das Amazônias (Brazil), Conflictorium (India), Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research (Palestine), Ghetto Biennale (Haiti), Khoj International Artists’ Association (India), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá (Panama), Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (Kenya), Packet (Sri Lanka) and ruangrupa/Gudskul (Jakarta), among others. 

Realised as part of KBF, ‘Edam’ foregrounds artistic practices and processes from Kerala. It is curated by Aishwarya Suresh and K.M. Madhusudhan. Set across three venues, it weaves 36 projects by local artists as essay projects.

The sixth edition of the ‘Students Biennale’ (SB) brings together 70 artist projects across four venues, mapping a record 150 art schools across the country. The SB is curated by Khursheed Ahmed and Salman Bashir Baba; Savyasachi Anju Prabir and Sukanya Deb; Secular Art Collective represented by Bhushan Bhombhale, Khan Shamim Akhtar, Salik Ansari, and Shamooda Amrelia; GABAA; Anga Art Collective; Ashok Vish and Chinar Shah; and Seethal CP and Sudheesh Kottembram. 

‘The Thinking Lab’, an extended shape-shifting site, will host workshops, seminars, performances and programming.

The ‘Art by Children’ (ABC) programme, led by Blaise Joseph with Neethu K.S., creates non- competitive, fearless and creative art spaces for young minds. Through workshops led by artists and cultural practitioners, it inculcates learning beyond the curriculum, engaging the perceptive minds of children, educators, parents, and communities.

The KBF has relaunched the ‘Residency Programme’with Oraayiram Kadal/A Thousand Seas, a long-term research and development project extending from the Foundation’s interest in trans-oceanic, trans-regional worldings that challenge western, colonial and post-colonial forms of identification and classification.  The KBF is interested in speculative and/or embodied histories that approach lands and seas through the experiences of the people who traversed them. KBF hosts the first batch of artists, including Daniel Godínez Nivón (Netherlands/Mexico) and Shivay La Multiple (France), who will be joined by returning artists Flo Maak and Juliane Tübke(Germany) to showcase works from their times in Kochi. 

KBF, as a 2010-registered non-profit charitable trust, “extends gratitude to collaborators and supporters who helped sustain the Kochi-Muziris Biennale over the last 10 years”.