Kochi Biennale Foundation ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15 · The Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) is an...

Kochi Biennale Foundation

1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015

ANNUALREPORT2014-15

2 \ Kochi Biennale Foundation

Annual Report 2014-15 \ 3


President’s Message On behalf of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, I have the honour to pres-

ent the Annual Report of the Foundation for the year 2014-2015. The Au-dited Balance Sheet of the Foundation for the year 2014-15 is an integral part of this Report.

The Year under Report has been truly a Biennale year for the Founda-tion. The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) was proud to host the second edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) under the curatorship of Jitish Kallat. The KBF’s mission is to draw from the rich tradition of public action and public engagement in Kerala, and build a new aesthetic that integrates both the past and the present. Kochi’s cosmopolitanism has been worn by generations of Keralites as a badge of honour.

We invited Jitish to envisage a Biennale that responds to the environ-ment that hosts it, which led to ‘Whorled Explorations’, a non-linear and layered meditation on the world we inhabit today. In its second edition, KMB maintained its unique character by yet again choosing an artist as the curator celebrating its legacy as an artist-initiated project.

Getting here has been anything but easy. For the first edition of the Biennale, Kerala Government financed it to the tune of Rs 9 Cr. For the Second Edition, similar substantial support was promised and Rs 3 Cr. has already been released. The Foundation has been under severe financial stress as further Kerala Government 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 Biennale cannot be sustained without Government support.

We consider the Biennale as the first step in engaging with people and initiating them into contemporary art. It is also worth remembering that the KMB is a project in appreciation of, and education about, artis-tic expression and its relationship with society. Whorled Explorations, the central exhibition, was accompanied by a host of responsible and inno-vative programmes under the direction of the co-founder and Director of


Programmes at KMB 2014, Riyas Komu. These programmes were not only designed to explore the operational and intellectual dimensions of the art world but also to directly engage people through a wide range of cultural activities.

And as we look back and reflect on the journey, we realise that we could not have achieved this exhibition without the unyielding support of our sponsors and well-wishers .But most importantly, it is hard to imagine this exhibition opening on time and running successfully for 108 days with-out the support and dedication of a young team who collectively stood up against all odds and relied solely on their ingenuity to make KMB 2014 the exploration and the exhibition that it was.

Immediately on the successful completion of the second edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the Foundation has initiated the work for opening the third edition of the Biennale as per schedule at Kochi. The Foundation is confident that the activities of the Biennale Foundation will continue to receive generous support from the Government, artists, art Lovers, public and private Corporations and Foundations and Public in general to make it a truly Peoples Biennale.

Bose Krishnamachari,President, Kochi Biennale Foundation and Biennale Director,Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014

Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF)KBF Mission Statement

Board of TrusteesCurator of KMB 2014

Apex Advisory CouncilArtistic Advisory Committee of KMB 2014

Honorary Advisors Goodwill Ambassadors

Senior ManagementKochi Muziris Biennale 2012Kochi Muziris Biennale 2014

Participating Artists of KMB 2014Collateral Projects of KMB 2014

Parallel/Outreach/Learning ProgrammesPost Graduate Residency and Other Artist Residency

Post Graduate Artist Residency at Vagamon, Idukki DistrictPepper House Artist ResidencyOrientation Programme for Young Curators Art-Workshop for Student group from School and CollegesLet’s Talk Series Artists Cinema Art and MedicineClosing Event of KMB 2014Media Coverage and ValueCSR Support and KBFMeeting of Board of Trustees Internal Complaints CommitteeAudit and AccountabilityAudited Financial Results for the Year 2014-15


(Annual Report 2014-15)

The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) is a non-profit charitable trust engaged in promoting art & culture and educational activities in India; pri-mary amongst them the hosting of Kochi-Muziris Biennale. KBF works around the year to promote national consensus on investment in contem-porary art infrastructure and to broaden public access to art across India.The Foundation was registered on 4-8-2010 under the Indian Trusts Act 1882.

KBF Vision Statement KBF vision is to enhance the cultural environment of Indian community

by providing meaningful experiences with visual arts and by integrating art into the lives of the people.

KBF Mission Statement The Kochi Biennale Foundation seeks to invoke the cosmopolitan spirit

of the modern metropolis of Kochi and its mythical and historical past, Muziris to create a platform for contemporary international visual art theory and practice to India.The Foundation also seeks to showcase and debate new Indian and international aesthetics and art experiences to enable a dialogue among artists, curators, and the public.

KochiBiennaleFoundation


The KBF seeks to establish itself as a centre for artistic engagement in India by drawing from the rich tradition of public action and public en-gagement.

The Foundation seeks to reflect the new confidence of Indian people and to tell the story of cultural practices that are distinct to the Indian peo-ple and shaping the idea of India.

The Kochi Biennale Foundation seeks to explore the untapped ener-gies latent in India’s past and present artistic traditions and invent a new language of coexistence and cosmopolitanism.

The Foundation’s project, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, also seeks to be a project in appreciation of, and education about, artistic expression and its relationship with society. The Foundation and its Biennale project seek to be a new space and a fresh voice that protects and projects the autono-my of the artists and their pursuit to constantly reinvent the world we live in.

In the above context, the Kochi Biennale Foundation seeks:-a. To promote Art, Culture and Educational activities in India; primary

amongst them the hosting of Kochi-Muziris Biennale on biennial basis.b. To organise national and international art and culture exhibitions in In-

dia.c. To promote and support traditional art forms.d. To promote art education through schools and colleges.e. To promote preservation of heritage properties and buildings f. To use art for promotion of national and international brotherhood and

co-operationg. To promote art for comfort and solace of the public in general and the

disadvantaged in particular.h. To conduct national and international seminars


Board of Trustees of the Foundation are

Bose KrishnamachariPresident\Curator\Artis

Sunil VJoint Secretary, Executive Creative Director – Wie-den+Kennedy, Motherland Magazine, IndiaTube

K Subhas Chandran(Former) Director (Pro-grammes), National Centre of Performing Arts, Mumbai

Jitish Kallat

Riyas KomuSecretary\Curator\Artist

P K H Tharakan(Former) Secretary (R), Cabinet Secretariat, Gov-ernment of India

Jose DominicManaging Director,CGH Earth

Bonny ThomasTreasurer\Writer\Cartoonist

Tasneem Zakaria Mehta,Honorary Director, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai

Lizzie Jacob,Former Chief Secretary,Government of Kerala

Curator of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014


Apex Advisory Council1. Prof. K V Thomas Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, Government of India/ Member of Parliament2. M A Baby Member of Legislative Assembly, Former Minister of Education and

Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala 3. TKA Nair Former Advisor to the Prime Minister of India

Artistic Advisory Committee ofKochi-Muziris Biennale 20141. Mr BalanNambiar – Artist2. Mrs Geetakapur – Art Historian 3. Mrs Tasneem Mehta – Curator, Director of BhauDaajiLaad Museum 4. Mrs FerozeGujral – Founder – Gujral Foundation5. Mrs SheelaGowda – Artist 6. Mr AbhayMaskara – Curator, Gallerist, Maskara Gallery 7. Mr Bose Krishnamachari – President – Kochi Biennale Foundation 8. Mr Riyas Komu – Secretary – Kochi Biennale Foundation,

Honorary Advisors1. AdoorGopalakrishnan,Auteur2. Sir Anish Kapoor,Artist3. Dr.ShashiTharoor, Member of Parliament Former Minister of State for

HRD Government of India

Goodwill Ambassadors1. AmolPalekar, Director, Actor2. P T Usha, Athlete

Senior Management of Kochi Biennale Foundation \ Kochi-Muziris Biennale 20141. Bose Krishnamachari,Biennale Director2. Riyas Komu,Director of Programmes3. Bonny Thomas,Research Coordinator4. Dr UdayBalakrishnan, Principal Advisor5. P.M.Sirajuddin,Chief Operating Officer6. N.P. Kurian,General Manager7. TreessaJaifer,Chief of Finance


Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012 The Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) is an international exhibition of con-

temporary art hosted in the city of Kochi, India. The Biennale is a platform for new Indian and international aesthetics and art experiences. The Ko-chi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) also seeks to invoke the historic cosmopolitan legacy of the modern metropolis of Kochi, and its predecessor, the ancient port of Muziris

The first edition of the KMB, Curated by Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, drew from the unique cosmopolitan heritage of Muziris-Ko-chi to invent and explore alternative paradigms of cultural practices. KMB 2012, which had a footfall of nearly 4,00,000 visitors, was embraced by the local communities and historicised as an exceptional moment in the tumultuous and exciting journey of an ancient region

Kochi Muziris Biennale 2014The second edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, titled Whorled

Explorations, curated by Jitish Kallat featuring 94 artists from 30 countries, was declared open by Shri Oommen Chandy, Honourable Chief Minister of Kerala on December 12, 2014 and ran for 108 days, till March 29, 2015. The second edition of KMB was experienced by nearly 500,000 people.

Kochi’s cosmopolitanism has been worn by generations of Keralites as a badge of honour. It is also at the crux of the civilisational crisis– one that is economical, ideological and geopolitical. These complexities give the Kochi-Muziris Biennale a context and an enquiry. It is a quest that brought the world to these shores.

Citing historically overlapping episodes from the 14th to 17th century, the exhibition drew upon a wide glossary of signs from the legendary mar-itime gateway, of Kochi,

Spread across eight venues, Whorled Explorations unfolded through a polyphony of artistic forms as varied as the minimalist poem, sculptural installation, vlog-speech, drawing, painting, video and performance. Start-ing at the Aspinwall House, a massive sea-facing colonial era warehouse and trading premise in Fort Kochi, the exhibition followed 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 was conceived both as an observation deck to contemplate our world and as a toolbox for self-reflection. The 8 venues of the exhibition were: Aspinwall House, Pepper House, Cabral Yard, David Hall, Kashi Art Gallery, CSI Bun-galow and Vasco Da Gama Square in Fort Kochi and Durbar Hall Gallery in Ernakulam.

In the Words of the Curator of the Second Edition “Whorled Explora-tions plays with the phonetic kinship between world and whorled. Like ty-pographical 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.”


The Participating artists of KMB 2014 were:Adrian Paci (Milan, Italy) / Aji V N (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) / Ak-

bar Padamsee (Mumbai) / Andrew AnandaVoogel (San Francisco, USA) / Anish Kapoor (London, UK) / Annie Lai Kuen Wan (Hong Kong) / Aram Sa-royan (Los Angeles, USA) / Arun K S (Vadodara, Gujarat) / BenithaPerciyal (Chennai, India) / Bharti Kher (New Delhi, India) / Bijoy Jain (Mumbai, India) / BijuJoze (Bengaluru, India) / Charles and Ray Eames (California, USA) / Chen Chieh-jen (Taiwan) / Christian Waldvogel (Zurich, Switzerland) / Dan-iel Boyd (Sydney, Australia) / David Horvitz (New York, USA) / Dayanita Singh (New Delhi, India) / Dinh Q Lê (Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam) / Fiona Hall (Adelaide, Australia) / Francesco Clemente (Rome, Italy, New York, USA, and Chennai, India) / Gigi Scaria (New Delhi, India) / Guido van der Werve (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Berlin, Germany, and Finland) / Gulammo-hammed Sheikh (Vadodara, India) / Hamra Abbas (Lahore, Pakistan and Boston, USA) / Hans Op de Beeck (Brussels, Belgium) / HemaUpadhyay (Mumbai, India) / Hew Locke (London, UK) / HoRui An (New York, USA and Singapore) / Ho Tzu Nyen (Singapore) / IqraTanveer (Lahore, Pakistan)


/ Janine Antoni (New York, USA) / Julian Charrière (Berlin, Germany) / K G Subramanyan (Vadodara, India) / K M VasudevanNamboodiri (Edappal, India) / Kader Attia (Berlin, Germany and Algiers, Algeria) / Katie Pater-son (berlin, Germany) / Khalil Rabah (Ramallah, Palestine) / Kwan Sheung Chi (Hong Kong) / Laurent Grasso (Paris, France and New York, USA) / Lavanya Mani (Vadodara, India) / Lindy Lee (Sydney, Australia) / Madhu-sudhanan (New Delhi, India) / Manish Nai (Mumbai, India) / Marie Velardi (Geneva, Switzerland and Paris, France) / Mark Formanek (Berlin, Germa-ny) / Mark Wallinger (London, UK) / Martin Creed (London, UK) / Menika van der Poorten (Colombo, Sri Lanka) / Michael Najjar (Berlin Germany) / Michael Stevens (London, UK) / MithuSen (New Delhi, India) / Mona Ha-toum (Berlin, Germany and London, UK) / MuhannedCader (Colombo, Sri Lanka and London, UK) / N S Harsha (Mysore, India) / NaeemMohaiemen (Dhaka, Bangladesh) / Nataraj Sharma (Vadodara, India) / Navin Thomas (Bengaluru, India) / NavjotAltaf (Mumbai, India) / Neha Choksi (Mumbai, India) / Nikhil Chopra (Goa, India )/ ParvathiNayar (Chennai, India) / Peter Rösel (Berlin, Germany) / Pors& Rao (Bengaluru, India) / PrajaktaPotnis (Mumbai, India) / Prashant Pandey (Jaipur India )/ PunaloorRajan (Calicut,


India) Pushpamala N (Bengaluru, India ) / Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Mon-treal, Canada and Madrid, Spain) / Raqs Media Collective (New Delhi, India) / RivaneNeuenschwander (London, UK) / RyotaKuwakubo (Tokyo, Japan) / Sachin George Sebastian (New Delhi, India) / SahejRahal (Mum-bai, India) / Sarnath Banerjee (Berlin, Germany) / ShahpourPouyan (Teh-ran, Iran and New York, USA) / ShantamaniMuddaiah (Bengaluru, India) / Shumon Ahmed (Dhaka, Bangladesh) / SisselTolaas (Berlin, Germany) / SudhirPatwardhan (Thane, India) / Sumakshi Singh (New Delhi, India) / Sunoj D (Bengaluru, India) / Surendran Nair (Vadodara, India) / Susanta-Mandal (New Delhi, India) / Tara Kelton (Bengaluru, India) / Theo Eshetu (Berlin, Germany and Rome, Italy) / Unnikrishnan C (Pezhumpara, India) / ValsanKoormaKolleri (Pattiam, India) / Wendelien van Oldenborgh (Rotter-dam, The Netherlands) / William Kentridge (Johannesburg, South Africa) / WimDelvoye (Ghent, Belgium and Brighton, UK) / Xu Bing (Beijing, China) / Yang Zhenzhong (Shanghai, China) / Yoko Ono (New York, USA)

The opening week featured a performance-lecture by artist HoRuiAn, on 12 December, followed by a 52-hour performance by Nikhil Chopra starting on 13 December at Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi.


Collateral Projects of KMB 20141.Mythical FantasyArtist : (Late) C N Karunakaran

2.Outside India: End of EmpireArtist: Robert D’Souza (Ed)

3.Edge EffectArtist: RathinBurman, Mansoor Ali, Pallavi PaulCurated by Kanchi Mehta

4. Artists Through the LensArtist: Manisha Gera Baswani

5 Hidden VoicesArtist: Nandita Choudhuri

6. JANELA - Migrating Forms and Migrating GodsArtist: Stefano Canto (Rome, Italy), KedarDhondu (Goa, India), Bhisaji-Gadekar (Goa, India), Kendell Geers (Johannesburg, South Africa), Sid-dharthGosavi (Goa, India), Gonkar Gyatso (Lhasa, China), Sweety Joshi (Mumbai, India), Katharina Kakar (Luebeck, Germany), SiddharthKerkar (Goa, India), SubodhKerkar (Goa, India), ChaitaliMorajkar (Pune, India), H.H.Lim (Kedah, Malaysia), KalidasMhamal (Goa, India), Kazuko Miya-moto (Tokyo, Japan), Midhun Mohan (Goa, India), KrisnaMurti (Jakarta, Indonesia), Pradeep Naik (Goa, India), VirajNaik (Goa, India), Yoko Ono (Tokyo, Japan), LuanaPerilli (Roma, Italy), Luigi Presicce (Porto Cesareo, It-aly), Marco Tirelli (Roma, Italy), DiptejVernekar (Goa, India), FrisoWitteveen (Amsterdam, Netherlands), KanXuan (Xuancheng, China), NarendraYadav (Ratnagiri, India)Curator: Valentina Gioia Levy Valentina Gioia Levy

7. Sleeping Through the MuseumArtist:Waswo X Waswo

8. In Which the Smallest Gestures Become EpicArtist: Epic, HemaUpadhyay (IN) &InEpic: Bo Magnus, Nina Grieg, Gitte-Saetre (N).

9. UnmarkedArtist: Josh PS, Manisha Parekh, MuraliCheeroth, Iranna GR, PrajaktaPa-lav, Sambhavi Singh, VickiMcconville.

10. Cross – CurrentsArtist:Triveni artists-VasundharaTewariBroota, RameshwarBroota, Shruti


Gupta Chandra, Surinder, Hemi Bawa, MeenaDeora, Satish Sharma, Ne-haTalwar, Manu Singh.

11. Annamalai and Gorbeia. Two MountainsArtist:Jasone Miranda-Bilbao

12. The Land Re-Formed 2Artist:Nandakumar P.K

13. Rooting (India) - The Knowledge ProjectArtist: Ravi Agarwal, PrayasAbhinav, BhagyaAjaikumar, Deborah Board-man, siteWARE: Chicago, Forager collective, Kate Daughdrill, Jim Duig-nan, Ken Dunn, Fernando Garcia Dory, Alexis Elton, Marianne Fairbanks, Vanessa Filley, Amber Ginsberg &LiaRousett, Arun Kumar HG, Kevin Kae-mpf, Nance Klehm, Sarah Mallin, Eric May, Meg Mitchell, RuchikaNegi& Amit Mahanti, Emmanuel Pratt, Ted Purves, MarjeticaPotrc, The Plant, Pe-terson Garden Project, Akshay Raj Singh Rathore, Madhu Reddy, Stuart Roweth, and Frances Whitehead

14. Critical JunctureArtists: Sanchayan Ghosh, TusharJoag, Magda Fabianczyk, Gopakumar R, Joanna Rajkowska, AlicjaRogalska, SharmilaSamant, Dinesh Shenoy, Cop Shiva, ŁukaszSurowiec, JulitaWójcik, ArturŻmijewskiCurator: Dr.NeelimaJeychandran and Magda Fabianczyk

15. Rake e Shams: The Unending Dance of LightArtist:SeemaKohliCurator: Charlotte Dugdale

16. What is home - Ideas of belongingCurator:AshikaVarmaCurator: Charlotte Dugdale

17. Possible EffectsCurator: Valentina Gioia Levy

18. Painting De TheoryCurator:Sumesh Sharma

19. WORLDSCurator:Sumesh Sharma, a Clark House initiative

20. The PRAC ForumOrganizers: PRAC forum Delhi

21. KHANANAMArtist: Jaiby Paul


Parallel/Outreach/Learning ProgrammePOST-GRADUATE RESIDENCY AND OTHER ARTIST RESIDENCY

The Foundation started the artist-in-residence program during the sec-ond edition of the Biennale. The program encourages young artists from all over the world to apply to the residency. The Foundation collaborated with Pepper House to support the Indian participation and other interna-tional cultural institutions like Goethe Institute and Pro-Helvetia supported international participation. The idea was to create a platform to encourage interaction and collaboration within the artistic community.

The Foundation also started two week residency programme meant for fresh graduates who are in the cusp of continuing their education in art, understanding their individual practice and articulating themselves in the art world.

• Post-Graduate Artists’ Residency at Vagamon, Idukki District

Kochi Biennale Foundation has organized a Post Graduate Artists’ Res-idency in associationwith Palette People at Vagamon in Idukki District from August 1st to 14th 2014. KBF, (in consultation with faculties of various Fine Arts colleges in Kerala) selected six participants for the Residency.

The fortnight long workshop has tremendously helped the six partic-


ipants to contemplate on their art practice in the serene surroundings of Vagamon Hill station and all of them produced a few works during this period. Later Unnikrishnan’s work has been selected for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 by the curator Mr. Jitish Kallat. Subsequently Unnikrishnan’s work at KMB 2014 was selected for Sharjah Biennale.

• Organized visits and residency for selected col-lege students from all over India.

The selected colleges/students were from Baroda, Guwahati, Aligarh, Tripura, Orissa, and Delhi. Chandigarh, Jaipur, Patna, Hyderabad, Vishakapatnam, Hyderabad, Assam, Pune, Indore, Kolkata, Kashmir, Mumbai, Panaji, Bangalore, Jabalpur, Thrissur,

Students stayed in Kochi and had an opportunity to see the Biennale, conduct workshops for school children and also participated in workshops themselves led by artists.

• Pepper House Artists’ Residency

The Pepper House Residency of Kochi Biennale Foundation has been successfully going on since the end of the first edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale. We have hosted artists from Germany, Australia and Switzerland with the support of respective cultural institutions of these countries. Apart from these artists from other countries, Kochi Biennale Foundation had


hosted artists from Kerala and other parts of the country at Pepper House and facilitated them in researching and producing new works.

K L Leon and AamiAtmaja from Kerala and Karthik from Tamilnadu were the three artists who were supported by Kochi Biennale Foundation. Later as part of the programmes of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 Mr. Riyas Komu had curated Pepper House Residency Exhibition at Mandalay Hall in Mat-tanchery and the works of these and other artists are exhibited in the show.

• Orientation Programme for Young Curators

As part of our Higher Education Programme, we had called for appli-cations from Young Curators, there were 65 applications out of which 15 young curators were selected. These 15 curators were invited to participate in a 2 days orientation programme at Fort Kochi. The programme was con-ducted at Pepper House on 27th& 28th of September 2014. Ms.VidyaShi-vdas from FICA (Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art) and Mr. Suresh Jayaram from 1 Shanti Road Residency in Bangalore were invited to lead the sessions of the Orientation programme. Mr. Bose Krishnamachari, Mr. Riyas Komu and Mr. Jitish Kallat had led various sessions for the 15 young curators over a period of two days.

These selected young curators continued to work on their project under the mentorship of the expert curators until December 2014. Their curatorial work was shown as a parallel event at the KMB 2014 as Student Biennale. Both the public as well as the international artistic community very well re-


ceived their work. The members from the Liverpool biennale who had come to see the KMB were so impressed that they are thinking of incorporating a similar feature in their next Biennale.

• Art- Workshops for student groups from Schools and colleges

1. Art- Workshops for young and the differently-abled by Ms.Timira, a specialized resource person to lead the art workshop for the children at Raksha Special School, Kochangadi, October 30th, 2014. Another art workshop for the differently abled children of Cottolengo Special School was held on 6th November at the School premises

2. One day art workshops for school children 3. One day art workshops by Students of Central St. Martins and Tate UK

as part of their BP Art Exchange.4. Apart from these workshops at schools, we had organized 10 art-

workshops for children at Aspinwall House, the main venue of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 led by participating artists and other art educators.

5. During the Biennale we organized school trips with guided tours of the Biennale, in which the curator addressed the groups and the students had the opportunity to meet with the participating artists and discuss the work. Complimentary passes were given along with short-guides to the students.


• Let’s Talk Series

As part of the outreach projects, Biennale foundation took up the task of organising talks ranging from art, culture history, development and more. These were open to public and free of cost. The Let’s Talk series aimed at providing art aficionados and the general public direct access to artists to encourage conversations and discourses. The talks were by artists, art critiques, cultural leaders, theorists, architects, scientists, performers and academicians from all over the world. The participants included

An Evening with KGS: Jitish Kallat, K G Subramanyan and Suresh Jayaraman

(Left) ‘The Missing Pavilion: Learning to Curate’ by Shatavisha Mustafi, Parul Singh, Julia Trouilloud; ‘Cross Pollination: How to Connect Art, Food & Nature’ by Ravi Agarwal, Jason Taylor, Cheruvayal Raman, KiranSadanandan, Akshay Raj SinghRa-thore


AwantikaBawa, V Vishwanathan, Johan Pousette and Helene Larsson Pousette, Aparna Rao, Soren Pors, BenithaPerciyal, Gulammohammed Sheikh, NS Harsha, Bharti Kher, Nikhil Chopra, Sabine Hornig, Sudhir-Patwardhan, Andre Leutzen, Christian Waldvogel, Raqs Media Collective, AshisNandy, NS Madhavan,Tong Lam, UdayBalakrishnan, KN Raghavan, Gigi Scaria, Pushpamala N, K G Subramanyan, Jitish Kallat and Suresh Ja-yaram, Kumar Shahani and CS Venkiteswaran, Patrick Blanc, G Shankar, KJ Sohan,RyotaKuwakubo, Chris Dercon, Dayanita Singh, ParvathiNayar, RajanGurukkal, Susie Tharu, TM Yesudasan, PrabhatPatnaik, AchinVanaik, David Elliott, ReemFadda, Anselm Franke, PJ Cherian, Sashi Kumar, Sanal Mohan, Michael Tharakan, GeetaKapur, Natasha Ginwala, VidyaShivadas, Vivek Nanda, Alex Johnson, OkwuiEnwezor, Riyas Komu, Cheran, Am-rithLal, Laurence Kardish, CS Venkiteswaran, Michael Pearson, Ken Hall, TansenSen, Rila Mukherjee, B Venugopal, KKN Kurup, PN Ravindran, MK Prasad, Benny Kuriakose, Samuel Berthet, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Karan Grover, KT Ravindran, Simon Britto, TN Joy, Kamal, Reghunadhan K, Shi-buChakravarthy, ShahabazAman, Bijibal, MM Lawrence, Jerome Poggi, Gabriel Beckinger, Sunil Manghani, Ed D’Souza, Ryan Bishop, August Da-vis, Mona Hatoum, Gieve Patel, SadanandMenon, RanbirKaleka, Nancy Adajania, Gayatri Sinha, GirishShahane, Vanessa Branson,Roger Buergel, TejaswiniNiranjana, AshisRajadhyaksha, Jitish Kallat, Sabih Ahmad, Law-rence Liang, Ravi Sundaram, Hilmar Farid, Lu Xinghua, SumangalaDa-modaran, Ding Naifei, Huang Sun Quan, Yoshihiko Ikegami, Kuan-Hsing Chen, Chang Tsong-Zung, NgoiGuatPeng, ShatavishaMustafi, Parul Singh, Julia Trouilloud, Ravi Agarwal, Jason Taylor, Cheruvayal Raman, KiranSad-anandan, Akshay Raj Singh Rathore, KatjaSchenker, Manoj Nair, George Gheverghese Joseph, MK Sanu, BalachandranChullikkadu, Sunil P Ilay-idom, et al, Raghu Rai, Nuru Karim, Raj Cherubal, D Dhanuraj, Bose Krish-namachari, BalanNambiar, Sethu, Jose Panachipuram, EP Unny, P Vijaya-kumar, AshisSen, PawanTiwary, TD Ramakrishnan, ValsanKoormaKolleri.

Artists’ CinemaThis is a 100-day film festival. The programme for each week was

curated by a different person, allowing a diversity of styles and visions to come together. The curators of Artists’ Cinema include Amar Kanwar, Ash-ish Rajadhyaksha, AmritGangar, Bina Paul, Venugopal, C S Venkiteswaran, RashaSalti, AmolPalekar, Manoj Nair, Faizal Khan, Natasha Ginwala and Madhushree Dutta.


Arts and MedicineIn February 2013, one-day symposium was organised as part of KMB

educational and academic programme and initiated a first of its kind coop-eration with the Cleveland Clinic’s Global Arts and Medicine Institute named “Arts and Medicine for India”. This onetime event planted the Arts and Med-icine concept in the local community and one year later, in February 2014 the first Arts and Medicine programme in Ernakulam General Hospital, Ker-ala was launched. The aim of this ongoing programme is not only to pos-itively change experience for both patients and caregivers in the Hospital but to engage artists in a noble mission to bring the art to those who suffer and to those who care for them. To date, over 50 performance have tak-en place at Ernakulam General Hospital, a public hospital that serves the entire metropolitan community. The programme has gone from strength to strength in recent months and continue to grow in popularity.


Closing Event of KMB 2014

The Closing Event of the Second Edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale was organised at Durbar Hall Ground, Ernakulam on 28th March 2015. Honourable Governor of Kerala Shri. Justice P Satha-sivam was the Chief Guest of the Closing Event. Ministers of Gov-ernment of Kerala, Members of Kerala Legislative Assembly, Mayor of Kochi and Chairman, GCDA were also participated in the Closing Event. A musical performance by ‘SkaVengers’ of Delhi was also organised as part of the ClosingEvent.

Media Coverage and ValueCSR Support and Kochi Biennale Foundation

The new Companies Act 2013 and Section 135 enshrined within it have placed corporate Social Responsibility at the forefront of corporate business in the country. Schedule VII of the Act identify areas/activities/programmes eligible for support under CSR. Items ii and v in schedule VII have identified the following eligible for CSR Support.

ii) Promoting education, including special education and employment enhancing

vocation skills especially among children, women, elderly and the dif-ferently abled

and livelihood enhancement projects.


v) Protection of national heritage, art and culture including restoration of buildings

and sites of historical importance and works of art; setting up public libraries; promotion

and development of traditional handcrafts:Therefore, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the contemporary art exhibition

and its parallel / other programmes are all now eligible for CSR Support.In June 2014 it has been further clarified that “contribution to corpus of

a Trust / society/ section 8 companies etc. will qualify as CSR expenditure as long as (a) the Trust/Society/Section 8 companies etc. is created exclu-sively for undertaking CSR activities or (b) where the corpus is created ex-clusively for a purpose directly relatable to a subject covered in Schedule VII of the Act.” Therefore, the Foundation is also eligible to seek CSR support for creating a corpus for the KBF.

Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the KBF Three meetings of the Board of Trustees of the KBF were held during

the year. The first meeting was held on 19th April 2014 and discussed the progress of work for conducting the second edition of the Biennale. The second meeting held on 8th August 2014 mainly reviewed the plan of action for the Second Edition prepared by the Curator, Mr Jitish Kallat and also discussed the plan of action for resource mobilisation. The Third meet-ing of the year was held on 29th March 2015 and noted with satisfaction the successful implementation of the Second Edition of the Biennale. The Board also discussed the plan of action for raising further resources for the Foundation and the preliminary work required for the Third Edition of the Biennale scheduled to be opened in December 2016.

Constitution of Internal Complaints Committee un-der THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT-WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION AND REDRESSAL) ACT, 2013

As per The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 and the Rules framed there under and


notified in December 2013, any Public or Private organisation has to con-stitute an Internal Complaints Committee to inquire into any Complaint of Sexual Harassment by an aggrieved Woman, whether employed or not who alleges to having subjected to Sexual Harassment by a person, in the workplace.

The Foundation, therefore, constitute an “Internal Complaints Commit-tee” for the purpose on 19th February 2015.

The Complaints committee shall make inquiry into the complaints in ac-cordance with the provisions of the said Act and Rules framed there under and in accordance with the principles of natural justice.

AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The Kochi Biennale Foundation understands the need to maintain prop-er book-keeping and accounts as the event is being conducted with public money. We hold ourselves to the highest level of accountability. Kochi Bi-ennale Foundation appointed an independent auditor to conduct monthly / quarterly internal audits and submit the reports to the Govt. of Kerala for the CAG Audit.

On behalf of Board of Trustees we also express our sincere thanks to all those who are engaged in the work of the Kochi Biennale Foundation and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. We also express our appreciation and gratitude to all our supporters for their support and co-operation.

Kochi Biennale Foundation ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15 · The Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) is an...

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