ANNUAL REPORT 2015-16 2 KOCHI BIENNALE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15 3 ANNUAL REPORT 2015-16 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016 Gigi Scaria’s Chronicles of the Shores Foretold at Pepper House, Fort Kochi PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE On behalf of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, I have the KMB is a project in appreciation of, and education about, honour to present the annual report of the Foundation for artistic expression and its relationship with society. Whorled the year 2014-2015. The audited balance sheet of the Explorations, the central exhibition, was accompanied by Foundation for the year 2014-15 is an integral part of this a host of innovative programmes under the direction of the report. co-founder and Director of Programmes of KMB, Riyas Komu. These programmes were not only designed to The year under report has been a Biennale year for the explore the operational and intellectual dimensions of the Foundation. Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) was proud art-world, but also to directly engage people through a wide to host the second edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale range of cultural activities. And as we (KMB) under the curatorship of Jitish Kallat. KBF’s mis- look back sion is to draw from the rich tradition of public action and And as we look back and reflect on the journey, we realise and reflect engagement in Kerala, and build a new aesthetic that that we could not have achieved this exhibition without the on the jour- integrates both the past and the present. unyielding support of our sponsors and well-wishers. But most importantly, it is hard to imagine this exhibition open- ney, we We invited Jitish to envisage a Biennale that responds ing on time and running successfully for 108 days without realise that to the environment that hosts it. Thus was born Whorled the support and dedication of a young team who collectively we could Explorations, a non-linear and layered meditation on stood up against all odds and relied on their ingenuity to not have the world we inhabit today. In its second edition, KMB make KMB 2014 the exploration and the exhibition that it achieved this maintained its unique character by choosing an artist as was. exhibition the curator, continuing its tradition as an artist-initiated without the project. Upon the successful completion of the second edition of unyielding the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the Foundation has initiated Getting here has been anything but easy. For the first support of the work for opening the third edition of the Biennale as edition of the Biennale, the Kerala government financed our spon- per schedule at Kochi. The Foundation is confident that the it to the tune of Rs 9 crore. For the second edition, sors and activities of the Biennale Foundation will continue to receive similar substantial support was promised and Rs 3 crore well-wishers. generous support from the government, artists, art lovers, has already been released. The Foundation has been public and private corporations and foundations and the under severe financial stress as further Kerala govern- public in general to make it a people’s Biennale. ment support was delayed. However, we are confident that the promised government support will be received in due course. Projects of the scale and ambition of the Bose Krishnamachari Biennale cannot be sustained without the support of the President, Kochi Biennale Foundation and government. Biennale Director, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 We consider the Biennale as the first step in engaging with people and initiating them into contemporary art. 08 Kochi Biennale Foundation 26 Children’s Biennale 09 Mission Statement 28 Art Workshops for Students 10 Board of Trustees 30 Artists’ Cinema 11 Apex Advisory Council 32 Cultural Programmes 11 Artistic Advisory Committee of KMB 2014 32 Art and Medicine 11 Honourary Advisors 36 Pepper House Residency 11 Goodwill Ambassadors 38 Post-Graduate Residency 11 Senior Management 40 Let’s Talk Series\History Now 12 Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012 42 Partner Projects 12 Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 44 Closing Event of KMB 2014 14 Whorled Explorations 46 CSR Support and KBF 16 Artists - KMB 2014 46 Meeting of Board of Trustees 20 Programmes 47 Internal Complaints Committee 22 Student’s Biennale 48 Audit and Accountability 24 Orientation Programme for Young Curators 50 Audited Financial Results for the Year 2014-15 25 Visits and Residency for College Students 64 Our Supporters Front cover: Julian Charrière’s We Are All Astronauts (2013) at Durbar Hall 8 KOCHI BIENNALE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15 9 MISSION STATEMENT The Kochi-Muziris Biennale seeks to invoke the latent cosmopolitan spirit of the modern metropolis of Kochi and its mythical past, Muziris, and create a platform that will introduce Kochi contemporary international visual art theory and practice to India, showcase and debate new Indian and international aesthetics and art experiences and enable a dialogue among artists, curators, and the public. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale seeks to create a new language of cosmopolitanism and moder- nity that is rooted in the lived and living experience of this old trading port, which, for more Biennale than six centuries, has been a crucible of numerous communal identities. Kochi is among the few cities in India where pre-colonial traditions of cultural pluralism continue to flourish. These traditions pre-date the post-Enlightenment ideas of cultural pluralism, globalisation and mul- ticulturalism. They can be traced to Muziris, the ancient city that was buried under layers of Foundation mud and mythology after a massive flood in the 14 th century. The site was recently identified and is currently under excavation. It is necessary to explore and, when necessary, retrieve The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) is a non-profit charitable trust engaged in promoting memories of this past, and its present, in the current global context to posit alternatives to art & culture and educational activities in India; primary amongst them the hosting of the political and cultural discourses emanating from the specific histories of Europe and America. Kochi-Muziris Biennale. KBF works around the year to promote national consensus on A dialogue for a new aesthetics and politics rooted in the Indian experience, but receptive to investment in contemporary art infrastructure and to broaden public access to art across the winds blowing in from other worlds, is possible. India.The Foundation was registered on 4-8-2010 under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale seeks to establish itself as a centre for artistic engagement in India by drawing from the rich tradition of public action and public engagement in Kerala, The Kochi Biennale Foundation seeks: where Kochi is located. The emergence of Kerala as a distinct political and social project a. To promote art, culture and educational activities in India; primary amongst them the with lessons for many developing societies owes also to aesthetic interventions that have hosting of Kochi-Muziris Biennale on biennial basis subverted notions of social and cultural hierarchies. These interventions are immanent in the b. To organise national and international art and culture exhibitions in India numerous genres and practices of our rich tradition of arts. In a world of competing power structures, it is necessary to balance the interests and independence of artists, art institutions, c. To promote and support traditional art forms and the public. d. To promote art education through schools and colleges e. To promote preservation of heritage properties and buildings The Kochi-Muziris Biennale seeks to reflect the new confidence of Indian people who are f. To use art for promotion of national and international brotherhood and co-operation slowly, but surely, building a new society that aims to be liberal, inclusive, egalitarian and democratic. The time has come to tell the story of cultural practices that are distinct to the g. To promote art for comfort and solace of the public in general and the disadvantaged in Indian people and local traditions, practices and discourses that are shaping the idea of India. particular These share a lot with the artistic visions emerging from India’s neighbourhood. The Biennale h. To conduct national and international seminars also seeks to project the new energy of artistic practices in the subcontinent. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale seeks to explore the hidden energies latent in India’s past and present artistic traditions and invent a new language of coexistence and cosmopolitanism that celebrates the multiple identities people live with. The dialogue will be with, within, and across identities fostered by language, religion and other ideologies. The Biennale seeks to resist and interrogate representations of cosmopolitanism and modernity that thrive by subsuming differences through co-option and coercion. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale seeks to be a project in appreciation of, and education about, ar- tistic expression and its relationship with society. It seeks to be a new space and a fresh voice that protects and projects the autonomy of the artist and her pursuit to constantly reinvent the world we live in. 10 KOCHI BIENNALE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15 11 Board of Trustees Apex Advisory Council 1. K V Thomas, Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, Government of India 2. M A Baby, Member of Legislative Assembly, Former Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala 3. T K A Nair, Former Advisor to the Prime Minister of India Artistic Advisory Committee of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 1. Balan Nambiar, Artist 2. Geeta Kapur, Art Historian Bose Krishnamachari Riyas Komu Bonny Thomas President Secretary Treasurer 3. Tasneem Mehta, Honourary Director, Bhau Daji Lad Museum Curator, Artist Curator, Artist Writer, Cartoonist 4. Feroze Gujral, Founder, Gujral Foundation 5. Sheela Gowda, Artist 6. Abhay Maskara, Curator, Gallerist 7.