Long life to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale!

Indians love numbers. 12/12/12 is the date of birth of the first Biennale of Contemporary Art in India. An event in many respects. First, it was designed and carried by two artists Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, there is no curator, no concept, dictate, theme, just artists inviting other artists. Then, because it takes place in a magnificient region, Kerala of which is native Bose and Riyas (the dream: to spend a week in Cochin, walk along the cliffs of Varkala, enjoy Ayurvedic massages contemplating the sunset...). Finally, because it takes place in India, the country of all the possible where Contemporary Art is still seeking its place. An improbable Bienniale (due to electoral uncertainties, budget is still not closed) which gives a good place to the improvisation, interpretation and ultimately to the creation and encounters...
Already a success if we consider the record attendance of the first days and the media coverage. Rarely press coverage has been so important in India for a Contemporary Art event that is not linked solely to the art market!
This newsletter is dedicated to this happy event. Long life to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale!

Longue vie à la Kochi-Muziris Biennale !

Les Indiens aiment les chiffres. Le 12/12/12 est la date de naissance de la première biennale d'art contemporain en Inde. Un événement à plus d'un titre. D'abord, elle a été conçue et portée par deux artistes, Bose Krishnamachari et Riyas Komu, là, pas de curator, pas de concept, de dictat, de thème, juste des artistes invitant d'autres artistes. Ensuite, parce qu'elle a lieu dans une région magnifique, le Kerala dont sont originaires Bose et Riyas (le rêve : passer une semaine à Cochin, marcher le long des falaises de Varkala, profiter des massages ayurvédiques en contemplant le coucher de soleil… ). Enfin parce qu'elle a lieu en Inde, le pays de tous les possibles où l'art contemporain cherche encore sa place. Une biennale improbable (suite à des aléas électoraux son budget n'est toujours pas bouclé) laissant une belle part à l'improvisation, à l'interprétation et, au final, à la création et aux rencontres… Une réussite déjà si l'on considère la fréquentation record des premiers jours et les retombées médiatiques.
Rarement une couverture presse aura été si importante en Inde pour un événement d'art contemporain qui ne soit pas lié au seul marché de l'art !
Cette newsletter est dédiée à cet heureux événement. Longue vie à la Kochi-Muziris Biennale !

Vishwanadhan a Parisian in Kerala

Source KochiVibe photo Hervé Perdriolle
“In 1976, I collected sand from India’s coastal areas and made a panel of 17 squares, filling up the sand in each of them, one square for each place from where I gathered the sand,” Vishwanadhan said ahead of the art event’s inauguration. ‘Sand’ went on to become a major work for the 72-year-old artist, who left India when he was 28.“ Celebrated Malayalam filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan shot a film based on Vishwanadhan’s artwork. The 90-minute film, along with other films made by Viswanathan himself, will be screened at the Aspinwall House venue exhibiting the artist’s work.
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Biennale’s here, but will it find takers in crowd?

Source The Hindu
As a raging debate over the Kochi-Muziris Biennale sweeps the State, a chunk of the city’s celebrities is blissfully unaware of the storm kicked up by the latest round of controversy about the use of public funds by the Kochi Biennale Foundation. Worse, a vast majority of them — mostly film personalities — is completely in the dark about the existence of the entity, which is working in the city for over a year now to organise a colossal global visual art event lasting three months from December 12. “Biennale! I’m sorry I’ve not heard that word before,” exclaimed a young high-flying playback singer when The Hindu asked her opinion on the contemporary art show. The response of half a dozen cine stars, a couple of writers, some socialites and a few prominent entrepreneurs to the query was more or less on similar lines. > read more

Première biennale indienne

Source AMA
La Kochi-Muziris Biennale se veut être une plateforme pour l’art contemporain en Inde, où l’on peut découvrir et apprendre. C’est pourquoi les organisateurs de la biennale ont pris le parti de rendre l’événement gratuit et à but non lucratif. Tout est axé sur le partage culturel et la découverte. La manifestation en elle-même se tient à Cochin et sur les îles alentour.
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India's first arts biennale begins in Kochi

Source CNN by Daisy Carrington
"It's most likely due to a combination of a high standard of living, the political climate, tolerance for opposing ideology, and a long history of foreign visitors." Riyas Komu, one of the organisers for the festival, also gives credit to Kerala's political climate. "There's a long tradition of activism here, and there's always been a very vocal dialogue between political parties. For artists, the most important thing is that they have the capacity to be argumentative."
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Kochi Biennale Photos

ROBERT MONTGOMERY'S NEW INSTALLATION, THE STRANGE NEW MUSIC OF THE CRYING SONGS OF THE PEOPLE WE LEFT BEHIND MIXING AS YOUR BOAT TOUCHES STONE HERE AS MY NEW BONES TOUCH YOUR BONES, CREATED FOR THE KOCHI-MUZIRIS BIENNALE

T. VENKANNA INSTALLATION AND PAINTINGS AT THE KOCHI BIENNALE

ERNESTO NETO

BEIJING BASED ARTIST SUN XUN GIVING FINAL TOUCHES TO HIS WORK.

ARTIST AKKITHAM NARAYANAN STANDS NEXT TO AN ART AT THE ASPINWALL

ARTIST SAKSHA JOSEPH GIVES FINAL TOUCHES TO HER PAINTINGS AT THE DURBAR HALL

KERALA CHIEF MINISTER OOMMEN CHANDY LOOKS ON AS CO-FOUNDERS, RIYAS KOMU (3RD R), BOSE KRISHNAMACHARI (3RD L) AND T. TRUSEE V SUNIL (C) LIGHT THE LAMP DURING THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF THE KOCHI-MUZIRIS BIENNALE 2012 AT PRADE GROUND IN KOCHI, KERALA.

AMITABH KUMAR BIENNALE WALL PAINTING

10,000 visitors at Kochi Biennale in first 3 days

Source Business Line
“Thursday alone recorded more than 3,000 footfalls. Going by the initial indication, we should be hitting the originally estimated eight lakh visitors by the end of the Biennale (on March 13 next year),” a key functionary with the Kochi Biennale foundation said.
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India Debuts

Source Newsweek Magazine by Annie Paul
The former minister of culture, M. A. Baby, had indicated support but after elections, with a new party in power, neither the state nor the central government were willing to invest heavily in what seemed to them like an exorbitant venture with no immediate political benefits. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale may have gotten off to a shaky start but with the right backing and the lessons learned this time it promises to transform the landscape of art in India.
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Like any good Indian wedding there is a sense of organised chaos.

Source BBC News by Rajini Vaidyanathan
"This is a bit like a wedding, and a family get together, and it means a lot to us," says artist Atul Dodiya as he runs around his exhibition, greeting people as they arrive, like an expectant groom ushering in guests. December is peak marriage season in India, a fitting time perhaps for the country to hold what is being seen as a life-affirming event for its contemporary art scene.
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A Kochi Canvas

Source Outlook India by Mini Ittype
On Pepper House’s sea-facing wall in Fort Kochi, Kerala, a black and white dragonfish mural beckons seafarers, tourists and fishermen to join the cultural revelry. A glass in one fin and a cigarette dangling from the other, the debonair fish celebrates the arty reincarnation of the ancient cities of Kochi and Muziris. It’s this that the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012 is attempting to do—the eternal return—using the ancient narrative as a premise for contemporary art.
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Kochi-Muziris Biennale hosts young artists

Source India Today by Jayant Sriram
In a quiet corner of a room of Aspinwall House, the major site for the Kochi Muziris Biennale, Delhi-based artist Rohini Devasher is exhibiting a video installation depicting 'imaginary lands' in Ladakh. The installation is an elaborate one, utilizing a number of flat screen TVs all showing videos from the artists visit to Hanle in Ladakh where the Indian institute of Astrophysics is located. The screens are set amongst drawing of constellation patterns and Devasher is currently working on a lighting arrangement. > read more

In Kerala, a Distinctly Indian Art Fair With International Appeal

Source India Ink by Minu Ittyipe
In a dank, musty loft at Moidu’s Heritage, an unused warehouse in Fort Kochi, Kerala, the Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto stood precariously on a stool. He had only a few hours to get his work installed before the Kochi-Muziris Biennale would kick off, and things were not going well. Clad in a white dhoti and T-shirt, he stretched the ends of a piece of cotton fabric and hooked it onto nails on the wooden rafters. His frustration was palpable. The muggy weather and the lack of electricity in the building were hampering his progress. “My work is all about tension. It gets incorporated into my art,” he muttered.
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Kochi gears up for the unique exhibition of contemporary art, Kochi Muziris Biennale

Source India Today by M. G. Radhakrishnan
Enjoying fried Kerala Karimeen (pearl fish) and rice at the YMCA's Spartan restaurant in Fort Kochi , Subodh Gupta looked visibly happy: "It is such a pleasant and simple meal, so typical of Kerala ," said the Bihar-born, Delhi-based Gupta who shook India's art world in 2008 when he became the first Indian contemporary artist to fetch Rs.5.1 crores for one of his untitled paintings. The starry eyed media angered him recently reporting he and his artist wife Bharti Kher bought a bunglow in Delhi's posh Sunder Nagar costing more than Rs.100 crore. > read more

Indian art market is making a strong comeback

Source MutualArt
The Indian art market is making a strong comeback. The inaugural edition of the largest contemporary art event ever to take place in India - the Kochi-Muziris Biennale - opens today, December 12th on the Western coast. Hoping to regenerate the region’s history and culture, this three-month-long art and music fest will exhibit artwork and site-specific installations in heritage buildings and disused structures in the old cities of Kochi and Muziri.
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Beyond the noise and chaos of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale lies great art

Source Business Standard by Kishore Singh
Welcome to Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012, a three-month kick-off of contemporary art practice that many believed would be still-born, but which arrived in its own inimitable style, unique because at the inauguration and a few days later, works were still being installed, technology resuscitated, venues prepared or painted — but with none of the teeth-grinding anguish this might have induced in Delhi or Mumbai. Views ranged from “chaotic” and “unbelievable” to “Wow! nice”, clearly precluding a critical overview; artists oscillated between relief at the quality of work, karmic acceptance when systems failed, and peevishness that outstation visitors would be mostly gone in a day or two.
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Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Source Manoramaonline
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy looks on as Co-Founders, Riyas Komu (3rd R), Bose Krishnamachari (3rd L) and T. Trusee V Sunil (C) light the lamp during the inauguration ceremony of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012 at Prade ground in Kochi, Kerala.
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Christie's at the India Art Fair 2013

Source Christie's
"Each year I am surprised by the quality and variety of the exhibits – and there are always surprises! For those who follow or collect in this market, the fair offers an opportunity to see works by established and emerging artists, with all leading South Asian galleries represented." said Amin Jaffer, Christie's International Director Indian Art.
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Cinquième édition de l’India Art Fair

Source Ama
L’India Art Fair, première foire d’art moderne et contemporain organisée en Inde, organise sa cinquième édition du 1er au 3 février 2013. L’India Art Fair est sans aucun doute une plateforme offrant une forte visibilité aux galeries par la présence de nombreux collectionneurs et actionnaires. De l’Argentine à l’Inde en passant par la Russie, la Turquie, ou encore Israël, la foire sera un lieu de diversité culturelle où l’art du monde entier entrera en contact.
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Art festival to boost Kerala`s economy

Source Zeenews
"The history of recent biennales across the world proves this. A biennale is not only about demystifying contemporary art but also about forging a huge commercial engagement," said Shwetal Patel, executive officer at the Kochi Biennale Foundation, the organiser of the event.
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Indian-Korean artist Tallur LN speaks about Indian art scene

Source India Today
'Witchcraft' and 'space crafts' are respected equally in our culture. Art and craft - both need activation. But they are not being given the importance they deserve. So we prefer borrowing. If we need our own, we need to grow. We have the seeds and only we can cultivate them. We have great artists, however, there are only a handful of galleries to support them. We really need galleries that are professional.
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Indian Artist Looks to Bring Works to the Everyman

Source The New York Times by Gayatri Rangachari Shah
“I wasn’t interested in contemporary art, and I never thought I would become an artist,” said Asim Waqif, whose debut European solo show, “Bordel Monstre” (Monstrous Mess), opens at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris on Friday.
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