Field Trip: Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014
By Jyoti Dhar
The second edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale opened to the public on December 12, 2014. This time around, co-founders Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu devolved curatorial responsibilities to fellow artist and curator Jitish Kallat, who worked fervently with the core biennale team over 12 months—exchanging ideas with artists, coordinating multiple site visits and rallying support from the artistic community—to execute his vision for the exhibition “Whorled Explorations.”
While the majority of the 100 projects selected or produced for the occasion were on display across eight venues in Fort Kochi, Mattancherry and Ernakulam South, a number of financial, technical and logistical glitches left a few artworks uninstalled. Meanwhile, alongside the main event, several other collateral programs—including a critical seminar titled "Terra Trema" by art historian Geeta Kapur, as well as the impressive Students Biennale and the Artists’ Cinema, curated by Amar Kanwar, Rasha Salti and Natasha Ginwala, among others—took place during the opening weekend. Here are some of this year’s highlights.
