KOCHI: Artworks on display at the Kochi Muziris Biennale raise pertinent and thought-provoking questions concerning life and society on a global level, according to noted Carnatic vocalist and author T M Krishna, who visited the art extravaganza on Saturday.
“The Biennale poses difficult questions about society, our choices in the way we live and the people whose imagination is not considered as part of mainstream…I think, in many ways, the inspiration comes from the difficult questions that many artists have asked,” he says.
Krishna notes that Biennale brings to the fore the state of the world today. “I believe it’s personal reflections of these artists coming from different social, political, and geographical conditions.”
Creations communicate with each other, and those which do not, provoke thoughts in equal measure, he notes.
“The element of contrast found between contemporary and historical arts is another important feature. The artworks at the Biennale take the limits of imagination beyond all anticipation. The most important highlight of the Biennale is the inclusion of everyone without any kind of discrimination,” he says.
The nature of Kochi, that sense of equanimity, is in every way suited to be a Biennale venue. It’s good to find a place where you can just take that hustle and bustle in an imaginative, creative manner, which is what art does.”
Krishna adds he was impressed with the wide selection of videos or moving picture presentations this year. “It’s far more than what I have seen before, which I think is interesting,” he says. “The way narratives have been presented is beyond just paintings, sketchings, or etchings. This entire fluidity between different forms of visual media was quite a highlight to me.”
The Biennale, he highlights, has made a “very significant” post-Covid statement. “We need more gatherings, not just celebratory social gatherings, but political and social collectives, which is what artists are meant for,” says Krishna.