OREANDA-NEWS. The BMW Group, partner of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) since its first edition in 2012, decided to extend the cooperation for further three Biennales. This year’s edition of KMB will take place from December 12, 2016, to March 29, 2017, in 9 venues spread across Fort Kochi. Maintaining its unique character of being led by artist-curators, the KMB 2016 will showcase 112 art works of 97 artists from 36 countries. KMB 2016 is curated by internationally renowned artist Sudarshan Shetty. He is the first Indian artist to join the Rolls-Royce Art Programme, which was on show in Mumbai this November.

Frank Schloeder, President (act.), BMW Group India: “Right from it’s inception cultural engagement has been an integral part of BMW Group India. As an active partner, BMW Group has been promoting creative exchanges between cultures, people and within the company. Since 2012 BMW has enlarged it's cultural engagement in India by fostering a long-term commitment and partnership with Kochi-Muziris Biennale, enabling it to be a world-class platform for the showcase of contemporary art. The third edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 offers us yet another opportunity to widen the scope of our cultural engagement by showcasing various artistic expressions in projects focussed on the thought, ‘Forming in the pupil of an eye’.”

 

Founded and curated by two of India’s leading artists, Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is a project in appreciation of, and an education about, artistic expression and its relationship with society.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale intends to create not only a platform for contemporary art in India but also to provide a platform for social change. In addition, the Kochi Biennale Foundation sees it as its mission to function as a catalyst for subjects such as sustainability and urban development.

Shetty’s art practice has evolved over three decades from being centred on painting to multi-media explorations that include sculpture, video, performance and installation. Experimenting with scale and motion, Shetty’s works frequently involve bringing together heterogeneous world of objects, creating a sensation of strangeness and novelty in what previously familiar. To date, his works have been included in solo and group exhibitions in India and abroad, including at the Gwangju Biennale (2000), Tate Modern, London (2001), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (2001), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2011), Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010), and Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2012).

Shetty is the first Indian artist to join the Rolls-Royce Art Programme and this commission has enabled him to explore new dimensions of his work, including an in-depth exploration of new methods of filming. The commission takes inspiration from a popular South Indian folk tale that is an allegory for artistic expression and the importance of creativity (titled: “A Story a Song”).