Kochi-Muziris Biennale: Creating friendship economies at the sixth edition
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is seeking redemption after a rough 2022-edition plagued by infrastructural challenges and logistical delays. As ripples of this chaos were palpable in the ensuing months, the team took a brief interlude to reassess, rethink and reimagine the biennale, which is now back with a new spirit.
To be held across 12 new venues, in addition to nine existing ones and seven collateral venues, the 2025 edition is themed, for the time being, drawing from collective memories of history and culture. For the first time, instead of a singular curator, the biennale is led by the collective curation by Nikhil Chopra and HH Arts Spaces, Goa. For Mario D’Souza, director of programmes, the Kochi Biennale Foundation and curatorial member of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, this short hiatus allowed the team to seek ways of building a platform that was honest and true to its context and limitations—both financial and infrastructural in south Asia.
Featuring the works of 66 artists/collectives and several parallel shows, the 2025 edition (12 December-31 March) moves away from the idea of a biennale as a singular central event and looks at elements that engage in conversations. Through the mix of projects and works on showcase, the cultural event seeks to challenge the idea of internationalism itself. “Muziris was significant in ancient times when it engaged in trade and cultural exchange with civilisations across the world.
Internationalism was created here before colonial ships took to sea. We want to get back to that local context," says D’Souza, who is approaching the biennale as an ecosystem with no central nucleus. The various elements of this edition—ranging from the Biennale
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