Sixth Kochi Biennale: what's on show and who is funding it

"It is nearly showtime for the sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) in Kerala, southern India, which is scheduled to open on Friday 12 December and runs until 31 March 2026. For the Time Being is curated by the artist Nikhil Chopra and his Goa-based collective HH Art Spaces, who have invited 66 artists or artist groups to "work with Kochi's climates, conditions and resource realities to make time, think nimbly, and collaborate locally", they said in a statement."

"Chief among them is Marina Abramovic, who will deliver a lecture performance on 8 February, as well as exhibiting Waterfall (2003), a large multi-channel video installation of 108 chanting monks and nuns. Another performance art pioneer Tino Sehgal will show three of his collaborative live works, which he terms "constructed situations", including Kiss (2003), in which two performers lie on the floor locked in a sensual embrace."

"Other major international names taking part include Otobong Nkanga, who has planted a tropical garden that will grow throughout the show's run. Ibrahim Mahama, who topped the latest ArtReview Power 100 List, will show his installation Parliament of Ghosts (2019-ongoing) of salvaged chairs arranged to resemble a parliamentary hall. Iterations of this work, initially commissioned by the Whitworth Museum in Manchester, have been shown at the 2023 São Paulo Biennial, the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennial, and the Ibraaz Foundation in London."

The sixth Kochi-Muziris Biennale, For the Time Being, opens 12 December and runs until 31 March 2026. Nikhil Chopra and HH Art Spaces invited 66 artists or groups to work with Kochi's climates, conditions and resource realities. The programme foregrounds performance art, with Marina Abramovic presenting a lecture performance and exhibiting Waterfall (2003), and Tino Sehgal presenting multiple constructed situations including Kiss (2003). International contributions include Otobong Nkanga’s evolving tropical garden, Ibrahim Mahama’s Parliament of Ghosts of salvaged chairs, and Adrián Villar Rojas’s Rinascimento freezer-drawer sculptures featuring decaying food. Approximately two-thirds of participants are South Asian.

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