KBF announces programmes, exhibitions to run parallel to 6th Kochi-Muziris Biennale

New Delhi | Along with exhibiting 66 artists and collectives from over 20 countries, the 6th edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) will feature an array of conversations, films, music, theatre, workshops, and choreographies, exploring themes of migration, violence, disability, and statelessness.

With Mario D'Souza as the director of programmes, the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) on Saturday announced 109 days of engagements that conceive the biennale as “a shared ecosystem where people coexist without a nucleus”.

The team, led by D'Souza, includes Ananthan Suresh, Mashoor Ali, and Rebecca Martin. They have charted out programmes that will unfold along with the artworks curated by Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces, Goa.

Titled "For the Time Being", the Kochi-Muziris Biennale will open across various location in Kochi on December 12 and run through March 31, 2026.

Talking about the guiding principle for its programming section, D'Souza said thinking with people in today's “fractured, polarised” world was a gift.

“It is important to find joy, share a meal, grieve, and come to terms with loss. Resilience, in the face of adversity and forms of systemic erasure, is one of humanity's greatest strengths. We honour caregivers and those that keep hope alive in our broken world," he said in a statement.

The Biennale Pavilion, which will host the events, will be built by architect Senthil Kumar Doss.

The selection for his 2025-26 structure, named "Primordial", was done by a jury comprising Aric Chen, Bose Krishnamachari, Radhika Desai, Shimul Javeri Kadri and Tony Joseph.

According to KBF, the Pavilion “is the beating heart of the biennale, activated by gatherings, events, and happenings”.

The programmes at the upcoming include “Nothing will remain other than the thorn lodged in the throat of this world”, a lecture-performance by Noor Abed and Haig Aivazian; a presentation of Somnath Waghmare's documentary practice; “Imagining Zomia”, a conversation with practitioners, film makers, historians and artists to re-examine the highlands of Central, South, and Southeast Asia beyond their framing as peripheral or stateless zones; and “Statues Must Die” by Naeem Mohaiemen.

Other programmes include “(Towards) Crip Aesthetics: Disability as Method” by Resting Museum that will engage with crip aesthetics as a mode of resistance to able-bodied and able-minded norms, foregrounding lived experience as a site of theory and art-making; “Eelam Dialogues” with Meena Kandasamy and Nimmi Gowrinathan, and presentations of films by the Dharamshala International Film Festival, and the Palestine Film Institute; and “History of Long Durational Performances and MAI,” a performance by Marina Abramovic.

"South by South" will bring together artists, curators, and institutions to explore the intertwined histories of trade, migration, violence and cultural hybridities across the Indian ocean.

A section, titled ‘Invitations' and initiated in 2022, will continue with its aim of thinking with and learning from independent, artist-run initiatives, and public exhibitions from the Southern, majoritarian world.

This year's contributions will be from Alice Yard (Trinidad and Tobago), Alkazi Theatre Archives, in collaboration with Alkazi Collection of Photography (India), Bienal das Amazônias (Brazil), Conflictorium (India), Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research (Palestine), Ghetto Biennale (Haiti), Khoj International Artists' Association (India), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá (Panama), Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (Kenya), Packet (Sri Lanka) and ruangrupa/Gudskul (Jakarta), among others.

Set across three venues, 'Edam' will feature artistic practices and processes from Kerala and weave together 36 projects by local artists as essay projects. It is curated by Aishwarya Suresh and K M Madhusudhan.

The sixth edition of the Students Biennale will bring together 70 artist projects across four venues, mapping a record 150 art schools across the country.

The Students' Biennale is curated by Khursheed Ahmed and Salman Bashir Baba; Savyasachi Anju Prabir and Sukanya Deb; Secular Art Collective represented by Bhushan Bhombhale, Khan Shamim Akhtar, Salik Ansari, and Shamooda Amrelia; GABAA; Anga Art Collective; Ashok Vish and Chinar Shah; and Seethal CP and Sudheesh Kottembram.

The ‘Art by Children' (ABC) programme, led by Blaise Joseph with Neethu K S, will offer non-competitive, fearless and creative art spaces to young minds. Through workshops led by artists and cultural practitioners, it inculcates learning beyond the curriculum, engaging the perceptive minds of children, educators, parents, and communities.

The KBF has also relaunched the Residency Programme with Oraayiram Kadal/A Thousand Seas, a long-term research and development project extending from the Foundation's interest in trans-oceanic, trans-regional worldings that challenge western, colonial and post-colonial forms of identification and classification.

The foundation will host the first batch of artists, including Daniel Godínez Nivón (Netherlands/Mexico) and Shivay La Multiple (France), who will be joined by returning artists Flo Maak and Juliane Tübke(Germany) to showcase works from their times in Kochi.