Leading international art organisations threw their weight behind the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, and sought renewed institutional grant for the smooth conduct of the three-month festival, which is the first of its kind in India. In an open letter, undersigned by top organisers, curators and artists from across the world, the Amsterdam-based Biennial Foundation urged the governments of India and the host state, to continue its financial support for the ongoing event, that merited ‘sympathy’, they noted in the memorandum, sent to Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch and her Kerala counterpart K C Joseph.
“A biennial traditionally is the result of a collective effort and concentrated investment poured into a single outcome, and it often emerges from (and is a response to) a context where there is a lack of mature contemporary art institutions to run high-quality programmes year-round,” pointed out the letter bearing the names of top officials of institutes such as the Royal College of Art in the UK, Gwangju Biennale Foundation in South Korea, Ifa Institute of Auslandsbeziehungen in Germany, Asia-Europe Foundation in Singapore, Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art in Russia, Jogja Biennale in Indonesia, Istanbul Biennale, Land Art Mongolia LAM 360 degree in Mongolia, Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Australia, Emergency Biennale in Chechnya/France, Taipei Biennial, Yokohama Art Museum and Yokohama Triennial, Sharjah Art Foundation Biennial and Kobe Biennale.