11 Dec 2012

Biennial Foundation and Kochi-Muziris Biennale present ‘Site Imaginaries’, a two-day symposium on the occasion of the inauguration of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India’s first biennial of contemporary art.

Biennial Foundation and Kochi-Muziris Biennale present Site Imaginaries, a two-day symposium on the occasion of the inauguration of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India’s first biennale of contemporary art.
Dates: 15th & 16th December, 2012
Venue: Outset Carnoustie Pavilion, Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi, Kerala, India
Language: English

Symposium Topics:

The Biennale in the Indian Context –
Perceptions of Change and Realities of Exposition.
Knocking Down Roadblock.
Biennale as Imaginary: An Artist Prepares.
New Beginnings.
Biennale as a cultural exercise.
Artist as social commentator: generating discourse.

Participants:

Aman Mojadidi, Amar Kanwar, Ariel Hassan, Ashok Sukumaran (Camp), Clifford Charles, Shahidul Alam, Gayatri Sinha, Geeta Kapur, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Jonas Staal, Joseph Semah, Marieke van Hal, Nalini Malani, Nancy Adajania, Paul Domela, Ranjit Hoskote, Riyas Komu, Robert Montgomery, Sarat Maharaj, Tasneem Mehta, Vivan Sundaram, Vivek Vilasini.

Site Imaginaries:

The Kochi Muziris Biennale actively engages the rich domain of cosmopolitanism and modernity that is rooted in the lived and living experience of this old trading port, which, for more than six centuries, has been a crucible of numerous communal identities.

It is necessary to explore and retrieve memories in the current global context to posit alternatives to political and cultural discourses, and build a platform for dialogue for a new aesthetics and politics rooted in the Indian experience.

From a global perspective we also need to examine the artist as manifest in expanding geographies, and a redefinition of the regions of art. The two-day international symposium to coincide with the first Kochi-Muziris Biennale will discuss these issues pertinent to the biennale.
Read More