Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014: Whorled Explorations
December 12, 2014–March 29, 2015
kochimuzirisbiennale.org
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The second edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, titled Whorled Explorations, curated by Jitish Kallat and featuring 94 artists from 30 countries, will open today at noon with the flag-hoisting ceremony at Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi. Citing two historically overlapping episodes from the 14th–17th centuries, the exhibition draws upon a wide glossary of signs from this legendary maritime gateway and metaphorically exaggerates the gestures we make when we try to see or understand something; of either going close or moving away from it in space, or reflecting back and forth in time to understand the present.
Spread across eight venues, Whorled Explorations unfolds through a polyphony of artistic forms as varied as the minimalist poem, sculptural installation, vlog-speech, drawing, painting, video and performance. Starting at the Aspinwall House, a massive sea-facing colonial era warehouse and trading premise in Fort Kochi, the exhibition follows a designated course that ends at the Durbar Hall, a stately gallery space situated across the waters from Fort Kochi in the city of Ernakulam. The exhibition is conceived both as an observation deck to contemplate our world and as a toolbox for self-reflection.
Whorled Explorations plays with the phonetic kinship between world and whorled. Like typographical errors sometimes do, it introduces into the image of the world the motif of the vortex, a pointer to life-forces, a recurrent image in the growth of plants, our thumb-print, the spin in the oceans and galaxies… but equally commemorates the scribble as a form of churning and a mark of erasure, the concealment of an error or change of mind, a recurrent gesture in the creative process. An official introduction to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 will be followed by a dialogue with Artistic Director Jitish Kallat at Aspinwall House on 13 December at 4:30pm.
The opening week will feature a performance-lecture by artist Ho Rui An, on 12 December at 4pm, followed by a 52-hour performance by Nikhil Chopra starting on 13 December at Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi. The Kochi Biennale Foundation will present a series of talks and seminars titled History Now, starting with “Terra Trema,” the inaugural seminar conceptualised by Geeta Kapur. The Biennale has parallel programmes and initiatives conceived by Riyas Komu, Director of Programmes. These include the Student’s Biennale, a pilot project presenting the works of art students from 35 government-run art colleges situated in 19 states in India will open on 13 December. Artists’ Cinema, a 100-day film festival, will be screened at the main pavilion in Aspinwall House. It will be inaugurated by noted actor/director Amol Palekar and Malayalam director John Abraham’s Amma Ariyan will be the first screening on 14 December. Children’s Biennale, comprised of a series of workshops, guided tours and other initiatives meant to engage young learners of different age groups and needs, will open on 16 December.
The Kochi Biennale Foundation extends a warm invitation to Whorled Explorations opening today, and the numerous collateral exhibitions, events and performances that make up a 108-day convergence of art and dialogue in this historic precinct on the Malabar Coast.
For more information on programmes, please visit kochimuzirisbiennale.org/calendar.
Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 is organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation.
Media contact
Abhayan Varghese: T +91 9633216090 / abhayan [at] kochimuzirisbiennale.org
