The 2020 edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which was postponed in the wake of the pandemic, will now be held from December 12 this year to April 10 next, according to a communication issued by the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF).
Curated by Singaporean artist Shubigi Rao and titled ‘In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire’, the exhibition is slated to showcase 80 artists and collectives with over 45 new commissions. Like the previous editions, the event will be held across venues in West Kochi and Ernakulam.
“A biennale can be so much more than a mere accumulation of coincidental collisions. As a bulwark against despair, the biennale as commons may seem an impossible idea. But we remember the ability of our species, our communities, to flourish artistically even in fraught and dire situations, with a refusal in the face of disillusionment to disavow our poetry, our languages, our art and music, our optimism and humour. To envision this biennale as a persistent yet unpredictable murmuration in the face of capriciousness and volatility comes from my unshakeable conviction in the power of storytelling as strategy, of the transgressive potency of ink, and transformative fire of satire and humour,” Ms. Rao has noted in her curatorial note.
The edition, which marks 10 years of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, will also see the KBF implement reforms and unveil new programme structures. The foundation’s new trustees include Aarti Lohia, Amrita Jhaveri, Jitish Kallat, Mariam Ram, and Shabana Faisal.
Mario D’Souza will be Director of Programmes and will conceive a four-month-long discursive programme comprising artist presentations and workshops, performance, video and cinema alongside education-led verticals, including Students’ Biennale and Art by Children (ABC).
