Kochi-Muziris Biennale: In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire

The Kochi Biennale Foundation is pleased to announce the 5th edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale scheduled to open on December 12, 2022 until April 10, 2023. Curated by Singaporean artist Shubigi Rao and titled In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire, the exhibition will bring together 80 artists and collectives with over 45 new commissions. Originally scheduled for December 2020 and postponed due to the pandemic, the event will be held across multiple venues in Fort Kochi and Ernakulam, in Kerala, India.

In her curatorial framework, Rao notes, “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”.

Participating artists include Ali Cherri (Beirut/Paris), Alper Aydın (Ordu), Amar Kanwar (New Delhi), Amol K Patil (Mumbai), Ana Hoffner ex-Prvulovic* (Vienna), Anne Samat (Malaysia), Arpita Singh (New Delhi), Asim Waqif (New Delhi), Basma Alsharif (Palestine/Berlin), Biju Ibrahim (Kerala), CAMP (Mumbai), Claudia Martínez Garay (Lima/Amsterdam) Colectivo Ayllu / Migrantes Transgresorxs (Alex Aguirre Sánchez, Leticia/Kimy Rojas, Francisco Godoy Vega, Yos erchxs Piña) (Madrid), DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency) (Palestine), Dáiddadállu (represented by Máret Ánne Sara, Hilde Skancke Pedersen, Elle Márjá Eira) (Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino), Debbie Ding (Singapore) DISNOVATION.ORG (France/Poland/Canada), Amit Mahanti and Ruchika Negi (Delhi), Gabriela Löffel (Switzerland), Gabrielle Goliath (Johannesburg), Iman Issa (Egypt/US), Ishan Tankha (Delhi), Jackie Karuti (Nairobi), Jason Wee (Singapore), Johannes Heldén (Stockholm), Jumana Manna (Jerusalem/Berlin), Khin Kyi Htet (Myanmar), Lawrence Lek (London), Madiha Aijaz (Karachi), Martta Tuomaala (Helsinki), Massinissa Selmani (Tizi-Ouzou/Tours), Mekh Limbu (Kathmandu), Melati Suryodarmo (Surakarta), Mithra Kamalam (Kerala), Neerja Kothari (Kolkata), Nepal Picture Library (Nepal), Philip Rizk (Cairo/Berlin) Pranay Dutta (Kolkata/Delhi), Priya Sen (India) Uriel Orlow (UK/Portugal), Richard Bell (Brisbane), Rita Khin (Myanmar), Sahil Naik (Goa), Samson Young (Hong Kong), Sandip Kuriakose (India/US), Seher Shah (New York/New Delhi), Shwe Wutt Hmon (Myanmar), Tin Htet Paing (Myanmar), Shikh Sabbir Alam (Kushtia), Shreya Shukla (Bhopal/Bengaluru), Slavs and Tatars (Berlin), Susan Schuppli (London), Tenzing Dakpa (Goa), Thakor Patel (Harare), Thao Nguyen Phan (Ho Chi Minh City), Treibor Mawlong (Meghalaya), The u-ra-mi-li project (Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Lalitha) (Pondicherry), Vasudevan Akkitham (Baroda), Vasudha Kapadia (Surat), Vivan Sundaram (New Delhi), Ximena Garrido-Lecca (Mexico City), Yohei Imamura (Kanagawa), Yu Yu Myint Than (Myanmar), Zhanna Kadyrova (Brovary/Ukraine), Zina Saro-Wiwa (UK/Nigeria/US).

A full list of artists will be announced in October 2022.

This edition also marks 10 years of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and the Kochi Biennale Foundation is implementing reforms and unveiling new programme structures. The board of trustees of the Kochi Biennale Foundation are delighted to welcome Aarti Lohia, Amrita Jhaveri, Jitish Kallat, Mariam Ram and Shabana Faisal as trustees to help guide the Foundation over the forthcoming editions. Mario D’Souza has been appointed as the 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). 

A full schedule of programmes will be announced in September 2022.

To plan your visit and for any further information please visit www.kochimuzirisbiennale.org or write to [email protected]

We thank all our partners and supporters for helping us sustain the Kochi-Muziris Biennale over the last ten years. The Kochi Biennale Foundation is a registered charitable trust.