The Kochi-Muziris Biennale opened its first edition in December 2012, with many organisational and financial hiccups. The recent announcement of the biennale’s first long-term patron, T V Narayanan Kutty, comes as good news ahead of its second edition in December 2014.
Kochi Biennale 2014 curator Jitish Kallat, Biennale Director of Programmes Riyas Komu, KBF President Bose Krishnamachari and Biennale’s new long-term patron T V Narayanan Kutty at a function organised by the Kochi-Muziris Foundation to felicitate Mr Kutty in the city on Monday. Image courtesy Kochi-Muziris Foundation.
The Kochi-Muziris Foundation (KMF), which organises India’s first and only contemporary art biennial Kochi-Muziris Biennale, announced on 19 August 2014 that it has secured its first source of private funding for the event. The Biennale’s first long-term patron is UAE-based Indian businessman T V Narayanan Kutty, who will provide INR 1 crore (approximately USD165,344) per year to the organisation and its related activities.
Mr Kutty holds a Master’s degree in Physics from Kerala University, and an MBA from Cochin University, India. He is the Founder and Chairman of Dubai-headquartered IAL Group and has 33 years of experience in the banking and shipping sectors. In the announcement press release, he said of his new involvement with the arts:
I am extremely happy to be associated with the Biennale. Only art can bring back and preserve those values that have started to disintegrate.
Transforming Kochi into an arts capital
Mr Kutty’s pledge as long-term patron of the biennale has also led to the promise of aid and involvement on the part of the local government and the tourism board of Kerala where the event takes place.
Member of Parliament, Mr Kuruppasserry Varkey ‘KV’ Thomas was cited as saying in the press release that the Kerala government will extend all its help and support to the 2014 edition of the event, mentioning that it has become one of the most important events across the globe. He commented:
We need persons like Mr Kutty to support events of this magnitude that put Kochi on the world map.
Kerala Tourism Secretary Suman Billa added that the tourism department will do all it can to support the transformation of Kochi into an arts capital:
We also want to make Kochi a commercial capital of art where works of art from across the world are bought and sold. The government will extend all the required support to Biennale to make it a huge success.
Sheela Godwa and Christoph Storz showed their installation ‘Stopover’, 2012, at the first Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India. Image courtesy the artists and Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
Kochi-Muziris Biennale’s first edition
Mr Kutty’s involvement and the government’s renewed promise of support for the event mean that Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 could improve on many aspects from its first edition. The curator of this year’s biennale, artist Jitish Kallat, will also be able to meet his plan of mirroring an outward view of the old cosmopolitan city without obstacles. The 2012 event had received a lot of critical attention for what seemed like lack of professional organisation, funding cuts, and censorship and vandalism on artworks.
In a 2013 interview with culture360, event organisers – artists Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu of KMF – said:
Everything boils down to funds, especially when it comes to organising a large-scale event like a biennale. From the very beginning we have faced funding issues and it has affected many levels of operation. Remember, it is the first biennale in India, and even though we have been to many biennales, it has been a learning curve for us as organisers of a biennale. There are so many logistical nuances which could hold up things. If there were enough funds, everything could have [been] overcome on time.
With private funding secured and governmental support promised, KMF should not face the same issues this year.
Other important art events in India
Although Kochi-Muziris Biennale is the only art biennale in India, there are a number of other major events taking place in the country. These include the Translucent Video Art Festival, which held its first edition in 2013 in Mumbai and Goa; the India Art Fair and the United Art Fair, both in New Delhi, and the biennial Delhi Photo Festival dedicated solely to contemporary photography.
C. A. Xuan Mai Ardia
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Related Topics: biennales, biennials, philanthropists, promoting art, funding, events in India
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