An Artistic Rendezvous – Day 2 as visitor at the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2018

We were in Fort Kochi by 10AM on our second day there. The various galleries were open by then. It was a sultry day, and although we started by walking from one venue to the next, there were autorikshaws plying at minimum fare between them and we opted to take those. In fact some venues are located next to eachother, so you can literally walk from one into the next.

We started our tour at David Hall which is an old restored Dutch Bungalow which comprises an art gallery, a cute cafe as well as a space meant for performing arts.

One of two artists showcased at David Hall was Vanessa Baird whose works were weirdly funny and disturbing at the same time;

 

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Zanele Muholi’s Faces and Phases were also on display at David Hall. These stunning faces on black and white photographs of people from the South African queer community stared back at you even as you entered the gallery.

Fallen sunshine

Kashi Townhouse is just a short walk away from there.  This art gallery housed works by Mochu, Mochu and Suvani Suri, Sunil Gupta & Charan Singh, Shanta KV and Afra Shafiq. Intimate photographs of members from the LGBQT community by Gupta and Singh were on display showing the subjects sharing intimate moments and going about their daily life along side a plaque that told their stories.

 

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The adjacent Kashi Art Cafe displayed visuals by Kibuuka Mukisa Oscar.

Our next stop was Pepper House Cafe, a cafe cum art gallery. Since our visit there about a month ago, the debate continues if this is the same cafe where the protagonist from ‘Premam’, the hit Malayalam movie of 2015, meets his soul mate. It was also one of my favourite venues. Heri Dono’s Trojan Ships felt like an oxymoron, the cherubic faces on the aeroplane like installation in Flying Angels from the Sky was happy and vibrant;

 

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Meanwhile Lubna Chowdhury’s ceramic pieces looked pretty in their unending display cases but on reflection combined to create a mesmeric vista of hues, Julie Gough’s Distance is a Stage of Mind made your heart ache for a forgotten time and Barthelemy Toguo’s Urban Requiem – New World Climax referred to diverse subjects such as the recent floods and Me Too movement;

 

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Map Project Space was our next venue to visit. Once a warehouse used by the Dutch for trading purpose now it is owned by the Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore. Artists whose works were on display here were Ranna Hamadeh, Ines Dojak, Tania Bruguera, Temsuyanger Longkumer and Aernout Mik.

 

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Ines Doujak and John Barker’s exhibits focus on the downside of globalization and trade.

 

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The Pavillion, a structure in Cabral Yard provides a space for performers, poets and musicians to perform. In an open shed, young visitors were enthusiastically participating in one of many workshops which are held regularly during the course of the Biennale. Also at Cabral Yard are the Edible Archives and a cafe run by local Kudumbashree members.

Ongoing activity at Cabral Yard

The streets bear a festive feel

TKM Warehouse is at a fair distance from the other venues. You see here works by Brook Andrew, Probir Andrew, Jitish Kallat, Domenec, Ajay Desai and Celia-Yunior. Also on display are works from the Srinagar Biennale.

 

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Far away from the small town atmosphere of Fort Kochi and right amidst the hustle and bustle of the busy Ernakulam city is the Durbar Hall. There are three artists on display here- Mrinalini Mukherjee, KP Krishnakumar and Chittaprosad.

Here are some of the works from Mrinalini Mukherjee’s extensive creations on display.

 

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Works of art by KP Krishnakumar and Chittaprosad were displayed on the first floor of Durbar Hall.

 

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Here we concluded an incredible two days of viewing art. Due to shortage of time we missed visiting Anand Warehouse, one of the venues of the Kochi Biennale, as well as Collaterals exhibitions displayed at various venues across the city and the Students Biennale which I was told (and which was further confirmed by a video shared on social media) is outstanding.

But there is always a next time. So until then…!!!

An Artistic Rendezvous – Day One as Visitor at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018-19

As wordy as my blog posts usually are, I decided to limit myself to mostly images accompanied by a basic introduction/description of the works.

It was my first visit to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, in fact my first visit to any art event  of this kind. It was at one time inspiring and overwhelming. The carefully curated art works widens ones perspective and outlook on the world. The first, and the largest venue that we visited was the Aspinwall House. A sprawling courtyard with several structures including a bungalow houses art works from around the world. We started at the ground floor of the Admin Block and worked our way up to the first floor and elsewhere thereafter.

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In no particular order:

Works of art are often meant to shock an indifferent community of people into awareness and possible action. Here are some works from the Biennale which were lighter on the shock factor (if at all) and were easy on the senses:

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Most of the art work and installations were extremely sombre.

Priya Ravish Mehra’s intricate tapestry disintegrated into shreds of fibre alluding to her personal battle with terminal illness;

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Dark and gloomy were these works of art/installations

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There were visuals and installations celebrating the more recent Supreme Court verdict that decriminalised homosexuality.

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This work by Shambaavi reminds one of agriculture and harvest, and maybe some politics as well;

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Chitra Ganesh’s Amar Chitra Katha-like take on modern events was one of my personal favourites. The feminist undertones is not to be missed.

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The Kerala floods of 2018 was a recurring theme;

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Issues of gender bias and inequality was also raised via the medium of art.

Woman power on display by the dauntless Guerilla Girls

Some of the other striking installations and art works were:

Shirin Nishat’s installation with a dual screen depicted gender disparity in the performing arts in Iran;

Temsuyanger Longkumer’s God’s Summit. a structural installation with accompanying audio, was strangely eerie and amusing at one and the same time;

William Kentridge’s stop motion animation installation with multiple screens, More Sweetly Play the Dance, was disturbingly beautiful despite the jaunty brass band score in the background;

BV Suresh’s Canes of Wrath hits you metaphorically with it’s depiction of ‘divisive politics of hate‘;

Especially delightful were Cyrus Kabiru’s C-stunners and the exhilarating story behind it;

While Song Dong’s Touching my Father was soulful, his Water Temple, which was also one of the more popular outdoor installations (So heavy was the footfall that the reflective floor was damaged and the ‘Remove Footwear’ sign was taken off lest visitors hurt themselves) that refers to a time in the artist’s life when he could only afford to paint on rocks with water offered a space for visitors to try their hand at art;

Tejal Shah’s beautiful photographs were a not-to-miss especially the queering of Raja Ravi Varma-isque like portraits;

Shocking in many ways, and defiant for breaking many bigoted perceptions was Sonia Khurana’s Charlie-Chaplin-isque ‘Bird’;

And there were installations that appealed to the masses and drew them in droves:

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Curated by Anita Dube, the varied art works and installations left one with a sense of wonder and excitement that lasts long after you’ve left the venue. For the artist in me, it was a delightful and inspiring experience.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale began on 12th December 2018 and will be on until 29th March 2019.

[A special thanks to Ms. Thayil and Ms. A. Menon for the wonderful experience]