News Kvartha

170th episode of A&M was second programme under the ‘Kochi Ghazal’ series Kochi, (news.kvartha.com May 10): Soft melodies and lyrical compositions echoed around the Government General Hospital today as singer Jr. Mehboob led the second week of the ‘Kochi Ghazal’ musical series organized as part of the ‘Art and Medicine’ programme of the Kochi Biennale Foundation. Ghazal concerts have always been crowd-pullers at the all-Wednesday weekly show and the 170th episode witnessed a fair crowd of patients, bystanders and medical staffers. Jr. Mehboob, who has been in the music industry for over fifty years and has shared stage with many famous playback singers and music composers, rendered eight soulful Ghazals of legends including Pankaj Udhas, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh. He began with Udhas’ Aaj Wohi Geeton Ki Rani followed by the iconic Mehdi Hassan’s Zindagi Mein to Sabhi Pyar. He concluded the concert with yet another popular and nostalgic number by Udh...

Kochi, Jan 16: Around 45 members of ‘Viewfinders Photography’, a collective of experienced and aspiring shutterbugs, conducted a ‘Photo Walk’ at Aspinwall House – the primary venue for the ongoing third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) – on Sunday. It marked the third time the group – which goes by the motto ‘Grow Photography, Grow Talent’ – took a photo tour of the KMB, having already conducted similar walks in both prior editions. The walk drew participants from as far away as Kozhikode, Kannur, Kollam, even Bengaluru. “Unlike other art exhibitions, the Biennale offers the opportunity to interact with the artist on the spot and clear doubts. We even had the chance to interact with KMB 2016 artist K.R. Sunil who has exhibited his photographic work at Aspinwall House,” said Sreejith K.S., a freelance photographer and co-founder of the group which connects members from all age groups, from students to working professionals to housewives through Facebook and Instagram...

Kochi, Jan 12: Nearly two lakh visitors have walked in through the gates at the third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) since curtains went up on South Asia’s biggest celebration of contemporary art a month ago on 12/12/16. With more than two months to go till the Biennale closes on March 29, the strong turnout far exceeds those witnessed at this juncture in the 2012 and 2014 editions. Further, it suggests total attendance will compare favourably to the numbers from previous editions. Over its runs in 2012 and 2014, the KMB received about four lakh and five lakh visitors respectively. “The ‘People’s Biennale’ is living up to its reputation. Its popularity reflects the positive impact the event has had on not only art and culture in the state, but also the economy and tourism sector. The Biennale has become an important gateway between Kerala and the world,” said Minister for Tourism Shri Kadakampally Surendran. The figure takes into account both ticketed and non-ticketed en...

Kochi, Dec 24: In addition to its successful branding as ‘God’s Own Country’, Kerala will now also be promoted as the ‘Land of the Biennale’, Kerala Tourism Director Mr U.V. Jose said. The new moniker reflects the priority afforded to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) by the Government of Kerala, which allocated Rs 7.5 crore towards operational expenses for the KMB’s ongoing third edition – besides committing to finding India’s only Biennale a permanent venue. “Kerala Tourism has allotted around Rs 6 crore to promote both the Biennale and the state through ad films, national and international road shows and campaigns as well as other initiatives,” Mr Jose said, following a visit to Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi, on Friday. Noting that the theme of the new campaign would be related to art, he said the Tourism Department had sanctioned Rs 60 lakh for a film to promote Kerala as the land of the Biennale. “For the next three months, over the duration of the Biennale, Kerala Touri...

KBF’s ‘Art by Children’ creative learning project to hold three-day workshop  from December 26 to engage kids in arts appreciation Kochi, Dec 22 (www.news.kvartha.com): What is art? Who can be an artist? Art by Children (ABC), an innovative art education and creative learning outreach initiative by the Kochi Biennale Foundation, aims to address these questions via a special offering to introduce school children to art in a fun way. Students in the 12-13 years age group are being invited to participate in a free three-day workshop that will run from December 26-28 at the Pavilion in Cabral Yard, Fort Kochi, which is one of the 12 venues of the third edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale. “Everybody is and can be an artist. Our aim is to acquaint all children with the magic of the visual arts, even to those kids who believe they don't know how to draw,” says Manu Jose, who heads ABC. The initiative aims to reach out to over 5,000 students and teachers in its pilot...

The daily performance provides innovative three-dimensional view of art and its perception Kochi, December 20: Visitors to the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016 are being offered a unique opportunity to participate in a performance – presented as a blindfolded guided tour – created by Swedish artist duo Christer Lundahl and Martina Seitl. Scheduled to run multiple times daily at Aspinwall House till the end of the nearly four-month long Biennale, the ‘Symphony of a Missing Room – The Mnemosyne Revolution’ sees visitors don headphones that play pre-recorded instructions and ambient noise from the Biennale while the trained theatre actors masquerading as guides provide additional effects. After the participants put on a pair of white-out goggles, the ‘blindfold tour’ – as it has come to be known colloquially – begins. Of the experience, Seitl said, “Visitors have their own space to imagine and re-imagine as they hear sounds of many things.” The overall effect is intend...

Festive Sunday wraps up first week of excitement and discovery at third edition of Biennale Kochi, Dec 18: Winding queues and a festive air were defining features at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) today as the public came to its Biennale in strength. Visitors to several venues in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry were greeted by lines stretching into the street to secure entry. With the ‘Opening Week’ programmes drawing to a close on Sunday, the Biennale saw more than 30,000 visitors – the figure tallying ticketed and non-ticketed entries, programmes and events across venues – attend. The individual performances drew crowds that averaged about 300 visitors daily through the week. Much as they did for the final showing of Anamika Haksar’s theatre production ‘Composition on Water’ on Saturday, crowds swelled to catch the Zuleikha Chaudhuri’s play ‘Auditioning the Plaintiff (Kumar Ramendra Narayan Roy); Rehearsing the Witness: The Bhawal Court Case’. Visits to David Hall also had...

Artist’s live painting sessions for his ‘Bad Trip’ series at Aspinwall House a big hit with visitors Kochi, Dec 18: Working under the shade of a cashew tree outside his exhibition space in Aspinwall House, Daniele Galliano is mobbed by crowds daily. The Italian artist is never short of volunteers to model for his live painting series at Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016. For the project titled ‘Bad Trip’, Galliano is on a constant search for new faces. He draws over non-professional paintings done by unknown artists. Galliano will be working on one such artwork everyday until the Biennale ends, expecting to finish 108 paintings in as many days. “People in Kerala are as open-minded as people in Italy. Since the faces here are so different, it makes my work refreshing since I’m constantly on a search for new faces and landscapes,” said Galliano, who sees his series as a travelogue of his stay in Kochi through its people and places. The diversity of dress styles and fashion s...

Kochi, Dec 18: A host of high-profile visitors streamed into the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) over its first weekend and were left amazed and impressed by the versatility of the creative works and the organisational excellence. Renowned poet Ashok Vajpeyi, who was among the visitors to the multiple Biennale venues in Fort Kochi on Saturday, hailed the overall management of India’s biggest contemporary art event and the selection of artworks, in particular. “The sheer plurality and quality of the works exhibited at the Biennale is quite stunning,” said Vajpeyi, who had received a Sahitya Akademi award in 1994 for the poetry collection Kahin Nahin Wahin. “The Biennale venues have allowed the artists to play with their imagination, resulting in creative works that leave a sense of mystery, wonder and magic in viewers mind.” KMB 2016, which opened last Monday, features distinctive artworks: including performances, video installations, works based on sound, visuals and light as w...

Kochi, (news.kvartha.com Dec 16):  For Raúl Zurita, the story of language is both one of magic and one of misunderstandings. The iconic Chilean poet-revolutionary believes that words can both stave off mortaltiy and extinguish life, but is inetxricably linked to suffering and death. He was talking at a riveting conversation, titled 'What Language Means to Me', at the Biennale Pavilion in Cabral Yard, Fort Kochi, on Thursday. The dialogue, held on the sidelines of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016, heard arguments on language's unifying and divisive qualities. 'We are living in a period of the agonising of language. The unequivocal language of capital as represented by marketing where not one word means what it intends. For me, language is what they aret rying to remove from me in favour of the language of profit,' Zurita said. The discussion saw participation from five other poets and writers, including Ouyang Jianghe, Sergio Chejfec, Sharmistha Mohatny, ...

Kochi, Dec 16: Christer Lundahl and Martina Seitl are on a mission to break the barriers of time, distance and space and connect people across the world through their ‘Unknown Cloud’. The Unknown Could is a reflection of projects the Swedish duo have recently developed over smart phones, involving large groups of the public in an interplay between physical and virtual spaces, traditional and social media.​ “I know it is hard to achieve. But we are developing a technology through which people, though from the different continents, can communicate with the help of ‘unknown cloud’ as the medium,” Seitl said at a ‘Let’s Talk’ held on the sidelines of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016. “Though it is connected to science, we are artists first and don’t follow the usual scientific procedures. The project is in an evolving state and it is expected to be achieved in 2057,” she added. The test run of ‘Unknown Cloud’ was conducted at Diphu in Assam. The artists are displaying one of their rece...

Artist, environmentalist speaks on the sidelines of Kochi-Muziris Biennale Kochi, Dec 15: Artists have an important role in creating awareness about the destructive relationship between humans and nature that is triggering ecological disasters and can even lead to civilisational loss if not immediately rectified, says Ravi Agarwal, a photographer, artist and environmentalist who is exhibiting his work in the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale here. Delivering a talk on ‘art activism and ecological crisis’, the New Delhi-based artist stressed on the role artists can assume to break the existing paradigm of art and engage more with issues related to the ecology and environment. “It is no longer enough to just switch off the fan, to compost your own garbage and other such things. There is a role of the art and the artist which has to be more than notional,” he said. The artist’s engagement with a small fishing community off the coast of Puducherry resulted in a video work and an i...

Shaji N. Karun joins ‘guided tour’ performance for an immersive experience at installation ‘Pyramid of Exiled Poets’ in Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi Kochi, December 15: Disembodied voices speak in strange tongues from within the walls of The Pyramid of Exiled Poets as you hopelessly fumble in the dark unsure of the way and wait for your eyes to catch up to your feet. This is what Aleš Šteger imagines life to be for those cast out. Over the first two days of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016, the Slovenian litterateur and participating artist held a series of 10-minute walks through the pyramid installation that dominates the landscape at Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi. Like its title, ‘Fire Walk with Me’, the performance – in the guise of a guided tour – took its cue from the auteur David Lynch. It is fortunate then that the eminent filmmaker Shaji N. Karun is in this particular ‘tour group’. The performance begins with a quick briefing outside the structure on the life of an ex...

Kochi, December 15: The Biennale Pavilion in Cabral Yard, Fort Kochi, reverberated with soulful renditions from legendary Chilean poet Raúl Zurita as he recited his early work ‘Song for His Disappeared Love’, which is both a poignant and subtly trenchant response to Augusto Pinochet’s 1973 brutal military coup in the South American nation. He was among six poets participating in an event, ‘An Evening of Poetry with Biennale Artists’, held on the sidelines of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016. Ouyang Jianghe, Sergio Chejfec, Sharmistha Mohanty, Valerie Mejer Caso and Aleš Šteger were the other artists who recited their poems during the event. Ouyang Jianghe, a celebrated poet from China, started with one of his famous works ‘Taj Mahal Tears’. The rendition amplified the plight of the Ganga and the Taj Mahal, which is a strong and vibrant poetic reaction against modernity. Argentinean poet Chejfec recited ‘Simple Language’. “We all are immigrants to languages. Every writer dreams ...

Kochi, December 14: The evolution of Sudarshan Shetty’s curatorial vision for Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016 and its relationship to his artistic practice formed the basis of an erudite conversation between Shetty and eminent philosopher Sundar Sarukkai here on Tuesday. Terming his curatorial impulse – as also the Biennale – a ‘work in progress’, Shetty noted that the twin processes of ‘gathering’ and ‘erasure’ were the event’s primary agencies and not his instincts as an artist. “It would be a disaster if I was to introduce myself into this mix,” he said. Shetty prefers to see himself as a facilitator instead, going with the flow as KMB 2016 changes organically over its duration and perhaps beyond. “I thought to side-step the image of an artist-curator as a creator or agent of knowledge and culture and become a presenter, bringing about this conversation between different art streams and traditions,” he said. Thus, while he brought the Biennale’s divergent components tog...

(Hon. Chief Minister will declare Biennale’s third edition open at evening function on Monday) Kochi: (www.news.kvartha.com Dec 11, 2016)  The Honourable Chief Minister of Kerala Shri Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) at an evening function here on Monday (12/12/16), launching the largest celebration of contemporary art in South Asia. The opening ceremony, which begins at 6.30 pm at Parade Ground in Fort Kochi, will see in attendance Honourable Minister for Culture Shri A.K. Balan, Honourable Minister for Tourism Shri Kadakampally Surendran and former Minister for Culture Shri M.A. Baby. Kochi Mayor Smt. Soumini Jain will also attend the function as will MLAs Shri Hibi Eden (Ernakulam), Shri K.J. Maxi (Kochi), Shri V.K. Ebrahimkunju (Kalamassery) and Shri V.D. Satheesan (Parur​)​ Also attending are former Kochi Mayor K.J. Sohan, Dr Venu V. Principal Secretary (Tourism), Ernakulam District Collector Shri Mohammed Y. ...

First woman CEO of KBF will oversee Kochi Muziris Biennale and other Foundation activities Kochi: (news.kvartha.com Nov 20, 2016) The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) has named Manju Sara Rajan as its CEO, after the board of trustees, including Foundation President Bose Krishnamachari and Secretary Riyas Komu, approved the appointment last week. Significantly, the top Two KBF administrative posts, that of CEO and CFO, are now held by women at the ground breaking art institution, which hosts the coutnry's largest art exhibition, the Kochi Muziris Biennale (KMB). The new CEO's posting comes ahead of the third edition of the three month-long Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016, scheduled to begin on December 12. "South Asia's largest biennale, the 'People's biennale' will now be run by the young and bright Manju," said Bose. "The board of trustees of the KBF has observed her work at the Foundation over the last few months, and we noticed her commitmen...