The second edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale has started in the historical Fort Kochi. Curated by Jitish Kallat, the edition explores multifarious topics but is deeply entwined in the host city’s legendary history as a trading hub, says Kushan Mitra
As work frantically continued with 24 hours remaining to the inauguration of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale; Jitish Kallat, the Indian contemporary artist and the main curator of the art festival, exuded confidence that the second edition of India’s leading art show would be ready in time for the inauguration. And indeed, after spending all night at the various sites across the historical Fort Kochi area, much of the exhibition was indeed ready by the time a song and dance show at the Parade Grounds opposite Cochin Club marked the start of this four-month show.
Spread out over multiple sites across Fort Kochi, the show does centre around the historical Aspinwall House, where the collection of a hundred art installations begins. In addition to Aspinwall House, exhibits continue in Pepper House, David Hall, Durbar Hall among others. There are also several collateral projects, where young curators, a couple of years out of art school, are curating projects by final year art school students. Most of the show centres are a short walk from each other but some like the Students’ Biennale are closer to the historical Jewtown area, a 10-minute car or auto ride away.
The 100 main exhibits comprise works by 94 artists from 30 countries, Kallat informs us, and he draws upon the major themes of the exhibition which try and deal with time and integrate Kochi’s history into the artworks. The fact that the Roman name of the trading port of Muziris is used in the festival demonstrates the role history plays throughout this exhibition. Muziris was a trading port where Roman traders, mainly from the Eastern Roman empire, modern day Egypt and Turkey came to trade. It was a major trading hub, if not one of the world’s most important trading hubs. Thus, the name of the festival itself draws upon Kochi’s long history and the theme of the Biennale is ‘Whorled Explorations’.
The sense of space and time becomes apparent when you see the very first exhibit at Aspinwall by Charles and Ray Eames. As Kallat explains, the exhibits layer into one another and build into a composite show. That may or may not be the case as you walk through the halls, but some exhibits do stand out like David Horvitz’s ‘The Distance of a Day’, an exhibit that shows two videos shot simultaneously from opposite ends of the world from Mauritius and California — one depicting a sunrise and the other a sunset on two iPhones.
There are surprises though. Michael Stevens, the video blogger famous for his series of informative videos called “Vsauce” on YouTube, also has several of his videos featured in the exhibition. While the videos themselves are informative and address a whole host of fascinating questions, one does wonder at the role they play in the exhibition as such. That said, the live performance piece ‘la Perle Noire: le Marais’ by Nikhil Chopra on the ground floor of the Aspinwall Bungalow is on the other hand a superlative performance if one can catch it.
But other than a few exceptions, much of the art on display is fascinating, in fact all the displays at the quaint venue Pepper House are absolutely stunning. This venue, a short walk down the road from Aspinwall House, is an old waterfront heritage building that has been given a new lease of life lately. The owners of the property run a lovely café and library/bookshop and before one goes to explore the exhibits, one should definitely try either a coffee or the fabulous Narunandi sherbet. The latter is possibly a better bet, given Kochi’s hot and humid conditions.
On the lawns you see Mysuru-based artist NS Harsha’s ‘Matter’, a monkey ostensibly holding the world in her arms pointing at the sky. Chennai-based artist Benitha Perciyal’s sculptures ‘The Fires of Faith’, which hark back to the arrival of St Thomas to Muziris two millennia ago and are infused with the spices of Kerala; the room her installation is in exudes the smells of this sliver of land on India’s south-western coast.
New Delhi based Gigi Scaria’s installation, ‘Chronicles of a Shore Foretold’ brings in Kerala’s maritime history and the spread of religion in the State (Kerala was where Christianity and Islam first came to India). The installation is made all the more powerful by the fact that across the bay is Kochi’s huge container terminal with massive container ships loading and unloading every day. Sarnath Banerjee’s and Sumakshi Singh’s work on the first floor are also impressive and you leave Pepper House amazed.
But the show does not end there; from Pepper House, you walk past Gulammohammed Sheikh’s ‘Balancing Act’ at Vasco Da Gama Square, right opposite which are several great restaurants to grab a quick Malabar-style lunch. You could also walk down to David Hall, another one of the venues opposite the Parade Grounds, next to which is a fabulous restaurant at Malabar House, where you can try Kerala food in modern presentation styles.
At David House you walk into Mexican artist Rafael lozano-Hemmer’s ‘Pan Anthem’, an arrangement of speakers playing the national anthems of virtually every nation in the world arranged according to their national military spending; the cacophony the sound makes is symbolic of the military aggression shown by nations. There are further displays, particularly the installation by the New Delhi based Raqs Media Collective at the Kashi Art gallery and also at the CSI Bungalow. To write individually about every one would expand this piece massively.
Will the Kochi-Muziris Biennale become a regular fixture in the global art circuitIJ Thomas Grist, head of BMW group’s cultural engagement programme, does indeed believe that it can. “This is just a start and just the second edition, it is clear that there are still some teething troubles but as Indian curators acquire some experience I believe future editions will be smoother and even bigger, possibly the biggest in Asia, given India’s cultural and artistic heritage.”
Kallat, who acknowledged that things could have been better, said: “We only got access to one of the venues (the CSI Bungalow) five days before we were about to start. Visas of some artists did not come through because of late applications.”
However, in the first few days of the exhibition, the entire set-up could have been smoother. Although children were encouraged to come to the event, little attempt was made to stop them from damaging some exhibits. Horovitz’s ‘Distance of Day’, which was shown on two iPhones, became an object of children’s attention as they tried to fiddle around with the phones, not understanding that they were part of the artwork.
There is no reason for an excuse to visit Kochi; the city, its food and its people are all brilliant. But the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is an excellent excuse if you needed one to travel to the beautiful and bountiful Malabar coast. Do be sure to pick up some of the local produce — cinnamon bark and peppercorns — from the various spice shops all over town if you do visit. A boat ride on the backwaters to the entrance of the port can be fascinating, particularly if the Indian navy’s sailing ships the INS Tarangini and INS Sudarshini are putting out to sea.