Art En Masse

Kochi Muziris Biennale: Art For All And Art In All.

- Sangheeta Bhattacharya and Anish Shankar

If you thought art was just something that sits poignantly on a wall, then you're in for a pleasant surprise. A labyrinth with a myriad of art and installation just waiting to be chanced upon; to be seen and felt and taken in. Here, Art is everywhere. In the water, in the videos playing softly, in a maze of rooms, in wooden benches that reverberate with sound, in writings on the wall the lightbulbs hanging in the halls; in the form of puzzles and photos and even in images of corpses dressed up in designer clothes. Welcome to the third edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale.

Six years ago, when it was first conceived by artists Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, few imagined that it would attain the popularity and reach it has today. Kochi Muziris Biennale has now come to be known as one of the biggest contemporary art festivals not just in the country, but also in the whole of South East Asia. There’s a huge amount of time, effort and money that goes into making this biannual art extravaganza a reality and bring together 97 artists from 31 countries displaying their artwork. All the more impressive is that most of the artworks are made on-site. The amount of coordination required is massive and the entire project is run by 120 volunteers who are brimming with confidence and passion for the cause they espouse. To see what drives this amazing team, we spoke to the chief organizers Bose Krishnamchari, Riyas Komu and this edition’s curator, Sudarshan Shetty.

What is it you are trying to do differently with this Biennale?

The idea was not to make it different. I took cues from the first edition of the Biennale. There was a kind of openness to it. I was hoping to recreate that setting where people could participate in a more meaningful way.