KOCHI: The two-day orientation programme of Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) to put young curators through the processes for the Student’s Biennale, a first-of-its-kind project that will feature an exhibition of students’ works parallel to the main Biennale event, has commenced at Fort Kochi.
The Student’s Biennale will bring together the works of final-year BFA and MFA students of government art colleges from across the country under the Biennale umbrella. Select works will be displayed at the Mohammed Ali Warehouse at Mattanchery and a few other public spaces, opening a day after the Biennale kicks off on December 12. The orientation event is being held at the Pepper House Library, Fort Kochi.
The KBF has selected 15 talented, young curators with national and international exposure to put together the Student’s Biennale. Selected from 70 applicants from across India, the curators will be guided by a dedicated advisory committee of leading artists, art thinkers and educators. They will involve students and support them in the processes and creation of works for the exhibition.
The interaction between students and the more experienced curators is expected to create a dynamic environment that will encourage a free and open exchange of ideas and practices culminating in the exhibition at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014. Conceived and executed in collaboration with the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art and the Foundation for Indian Arts and Education, the project aims to also set in motion a dialogue between art institutions.
The Student’s Biennale targets to boost the confidence of students, and help them prepare for and plan a career in contemporary art, where it is difficult to get a good break. It aims to bring a new and young generation of curators on a common platform to converse, ideate and work on a curatorial premise. This is also an opportunity for a nation-wide survey on arts pedagogy in government-run institutions.
The initiative by the Kochi-Muziris Biennale hopes to set a precedent for including artists, curators, pedagogues, and institutional heads to work, research and reflect. The KBF is looking forward to the orientation programme for curators and working towards the realisation of the Student’s Biennale, which opens on December 13.