KOCHI: “There are two distinct languages. There is the verbal, which separates people … and there is the visual which is understood by everybody.”
- Yaacov Agam
To be thus understood by everyone, isn’t it imperative that these visuals be in the public domain? Centuries ago, art was interwoven with one’s day-to-day life. From the pillars of public buildings to the tombs of the dead, art was everywhere in life and death.
Rubbing shoulders with art happened even as one cleansed one’s conscience in temples or churches, for all holy places were coated with layers of visual representations of historical and religious stories. Today the only art one encounters in public spaces are the crumbling statues of faded-out political leaders adorned with garlands from the last national holiday, fiercely competing with the just-installed glitzy ones.
The option of visiting galleries or museums is barely considered, with most people feeling intimidated by art that presents itself in sanitised spaces that drip with jargon and wall texts making it all the more inaccessible. How and where can this gap be bridged then?
Public art exhibitions play a key role in addressing this disconnect by providing the necessary platform for the general public to make their connections with art. These small and often personal associations ensure that art exists in memories, well beyond the expiry date of an exhibition.
The Kochi Muziris Biennale is one such public exhibition of contemporary art that has successfully drawn people from all walks of life, presenting them with new ways of thinking and eliciting unbounded reactions. To aid the effort, there are guides on request at every venue to help in decoding it all.
Here’s a look at how the fifth edition of the Kochi Biennale has resonated with visitors from diverse backgrounds.
ARCHANA SUBHASH, Psychologist
Art always drew me to visit all the editions of the Kochi Biennale, though I often found myself struggling to interpret it. I must confess that this proved stressful at times as thoughts of “Why am I not getting it or Why don’t I have the sensibilities of an artist?” hounded me. Things changed when I was assisted by a guide since the last Biennale and I suddenly found it all comprehensible. The strain on my mind gave way to a pleasant feeling of immersing myself in the world of art. I was also thrilled that I could meet a few artists and get a peek into their thought processes. It has inspired me.
KM SUBHASH,
Edutech Entrepreneur
Jitish Kallat’s works on Mahatma Gandhi from this Biennale spoke to me powerfully. I can’t get over his installation of Gandhi’s letter to Hitler — his words pleading for peace disappearing in the curtain of cascading fog. It reinforced my belief about how different Gandhi was from the other leaders and how much above. The Biennale was a unique experience.
GOKUL SANKAR, Designer
The Kochi Biennale appealed to me on a personal level this time, especially thanks to the works of artist Saju Kunhan. I could relate to the survey map of his ancestral home in Kerala, as some of the areas are in the vicinity and are familiar terrains. Even the road mentioned, Banglavukunnu-Thookkuparambu Road (which is also the name of the work ), passes through my village. Everything about the work, the wooden surfaces, the detailing, and the font used was spectacular and fascinated me immensely.
ANISH KUMAR,
Sub-Inspector of Police
‘All is Water and To Water, We Must Return’ by Sahil Naik, undisputedly captured my mind when I visited this edition of the Kochi Biennale. It was the ultimate story of sacrifice. His attempts at recreating what coming to terms with loss meant, with his sculptural installation is a work that I will remember. The submergence of the village of Curdi in Goa in the 1980s when the Salaulim Dam was built resulting in the displacement of so many families, told through this installation was a moving experience.
We need art, it’s as simple as that to challenge the way we think, to understand our history, to notice our environment, to humanise cemented spaces and concreted minds. Public art exhibitions like the Kochi Biennale are intended for the broader public to stumble upon, to find magic in its revelations in a single moment of solitude and take back seeds of thoughts that would find its way to blossom someday. Art must thus live on, in our daily lives even amid all the chaos of our existence, for as Pablo Picasso once stated, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”