Kochi Muziris Biennale: where a city turns into a canvas

For Kollam-based visual and theatre artist Smitha Babu, getting to show her work, Project Paakkalam, at the Kochi Muziris Biennale (KMB) is huge. The KMB, which kicks off on December 12 at Fort Kochi, is her first big international show. That her work will be seen by artists from across the world, that she will get to experience the works of international artists she admires excites her. “If not for the Biennale, I don’t think I would have had this opportunity,” says Ms. Babu. She is also excited that she will get to see her favourite performance artist Marina Abramovic from Serbia.

Likewise for Sister Malu Joy of the CMC Mary Matha Province, Angamaly. “Getting to be a part of the Biennale is an honour. Not only will my works be shown, I get to see the works of others who I have only read about or have seen on the Net,” she says. A graduate of the RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, her works were selected by the curatorial team after a visit to the college.     

As the sixth edition of the KMB rolls up, like every time, discussions in favour of it or against it roil around it. Love it or hate it, the overall optimism that springs up around the event is hard to ignore. There is something for the artist, the gallerist, the business owner, the tourist, the visitor and, of course, the autorickshaw driver, and the teashop owner.

Work seems to be on schedule, with the production team working in tandem with the curatorial team and preparing the 22 venues which will showcase the works of 66 artists from India and abroad. 

“With barely 10 days to go, work is hectic. We have to be done and get out of the venues two days before the curtains go up. As the show nears, we are working round the clock,” says Amu Josephine Mohan, the production manager on the Biennale production team led by Shyam Patel. The team comprises 14 core members from varied disciplines such as architects, art conservators, artists, and curators, who are assisted by volunteers from across the country.

If the venues of the earlier editions of the Biennale were confined to Fort Kochi, this time around it has ‘grown’ outwards, towards Willingdon Island and the heart of Ernakulam. Among the main venues this time are Coir Godown and the Director’s Bungalow (both part of Aspinwall House), Pepper House, KVJ Warehouse, Anand Warehouse, SMS Hall in Mattancherry, Sagara Warehouse on Willingdon Island, and Durbar Hall (DH) Art Centre. DH Art Centre has been part of the earlier Biennales but as a venue for collateral shows.

Aspinwall House

Up until the fourth edition, Aspinwall House was the centrepiece of the Biennale, straddling the past and the present in a way only art can. A reminder of Fort Kochi’s mercantile past, the 180-odd-year-old Aspinwall House, a trading space for spices and coir in another life, embraced a second life as a space for art and became the throbbing heart of the first edition. Unfortunately, it is no longer the main venue; a slim wall slices the property into two. The State government and DLF, which owns Aspinwall House and the nearby Cabral Yard, also a Biennale venue, have been in discussions about the government acquiring both as permanent Biennale venues.

“Aspinwall House is incredible; the physicality of it is fantastic. A heritage space, it has given an aesthetic to the Biennale. Talks are on. We are also waiting. If not for this Biennale, hopefully we will have it for the next one,” says Bose Krishnamachari, president of the Kochi Muziris Biennale, and one of the co-founders of the KMB. 

When asked about the absence of a considerable portion of Aspinwall House as a venue, curator Nikhil Chopra says, half in jest, “The part with the Coir Godown and Director’s Bungalow is the most beautiful part of Aspinwall House for me.” 

Both are, however, excited about the new venue on Willingdon Island — Sagara Warehouse. “The expansion of the show is interesting. We have moved to a larger space, Sagar Warehouse, on Willingdon Island, where the Water Metro is operational. It is fantastic that we can activate a city,” Mr. Krishnamachari says.

For Mr. Chopra, finding the space across the waters is their way of responding to a crack in the matrix. “So, along with the old spaces of Fort Kochi, we are occupying a brand-new aeroplane hangar-like warehouse where we don’t have old laterite walls. It is in a way how we are thinking of paving the way for the future for the Biennale, and not restricting ourselves to Fort Kochi but to allow us to invite other parts of Kochi to the project. And the coming of the Water Metro gives us an advantage because it will allow people to travel on to the other side, this land-water space sets a very different tone from the other Biennales.”

‘Emphasis on transparency’

The mood is upbeat, and, understandably, there is hesitation to delve into the issues that plagued the Biennale in the past, especially the last edition (December 2022-March 2023) which was fraught with complications including a delayed opening, pushed back in the eleventh hour, construction issues and delayed access to Aspinwall House, apart from climatic conditions and allegations of delayed payment to volunteers. This time, the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) is course correcting with an emphasis on transparency. It has a Board of Trustees, apart from Thomas Varghese, CEO of the KBF and former Chief Secretary Dr. V. Venu, the chairperson, to ensure smooth functioning.

Of the funding, Mr. Krishnamachari says that it has not become any easier for the KBF despite benefactors and trustees. “We have benefactors who have committed ₹1 crore annually for five years, others who will give ₹50 lakh, ₹25 lakh and varying amounts. There are young patrons, one-time donors, of smaller amounts. Though we have Malayali donors from other parts of the country and abroad, people from Kerala who are in a position to, did not.” 

This Biennale is especially important, the “pressure”, according to Mr. Chopra, is “immense”. 

“This is India’s premier international, non-commercial art exhibition. A lot rides on the success of this Biennale because the world is watching, and we have the attention of the world. The pressure is high because we are working against a lot of odds. We are working together to do something in the derelict spaces that we have to bring to working conditions—weather systems, changing climate patterns, and financial constraints, as we don’t have the funding that large international exhibitions of this nature do.”  

Mr. Chopra speaks of the Biennale team coming together with a “renewed sense of determination”. “There is an awareness about how you make a biennale and why you make a biennale. Also the fact that this is the sixth edition, that there is some sense of an understanding of what the pressures are, the extent of work and the dedication to make this work. To make something like this happen you stop looking at the watch, the day of the week, the hour of the day and you focus on what is at hand.” The organisers are expecting around one million people to visit the Biennale. 

“Mounting a sixth edition is no easy task,” says Murali Cheeroth, Chairperson of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi, “A sixth edition is important not only for Kerala, but from an overall Indian context. The country has other biennials and triennales, but KMB is India’s first major biennial, much like the Havana or Sao Paulo or Venice biennials, which are several editions old. No other art movement, say like the Madras School or the Radical Group or Kerala Radicals (in Kerala) has been able to exert an influence on a socio-political-cultural-economic level as the KMB.” 

Cultural landscape

Mr. Cheeroth talks of how KMB has enhanced the cultural landscape of the State, offering a 360-degree engagement with art and also the exposure it provides to younger artists who get to experience the works of international artists. “Besides, it gives young artists a platform, like Edam, a showcase of the works of young artists from Kerala, which runs parallel to the Biennale or the Students’ Biennale for emerging student artists. The cultural economy also gets a boost as it gets travellers here — businesses benefit,” he says. A positive fallout of the Biennale, in Fort Kochi, is the number of art galleries that have cropped up over the years.    

“We are booked till January 20, 2026. During the Biennale years, there is an uptick in travellers to Fort Kochi,” says Maneesha Panicker, who runs Kara, an art hotel in Fort Kochi and Silk Route Escapes, an experiential travel company in Kochi. Kara also has a contemporary art gallery, which will host three shows as part of a collaboration with Aazhi Archives. “Kara is relatively new, but I have heard that businesses in Fort Kochi took a hit during the pandemic and did not bounce back. This year it looks different, when art comes into the game it adds another layer to the city which is interesting,” she adds. 

At the end of the day, the Biennale pivots Fort Kochi. With its historic significance, as a major port on the ancient sea routes, as home to numerous communities and, for what Ashis Nandy calls Fort Kochi’s ‘another cosmopolitanism’, which makes it an attractive ‘space’ for the art extravaganza. The people and the neighbourhoods figure prominently in the People’s Biennale discourse.  

Then there are the dissenting voices from Fort Kochi, who prefer anonymity in the face of the “positivity” and wonder what is there in it for them. They question the conditions of some of the roads, especially those on the Biennale route in Bazaar Road, Mattancherry. They ask if the KMB would make a qualitative or material difference to their lives. They raise a pertinent question. Are the local bodies prepared for the amount of waste that the event is bound to generate?