While the Kerala government hesitates to fund the Kochi Muziris Biennale — the second edition of which got under way across venues in mainland and coastal Kochi — the Shiv Nadar Foundation is set to throw its weight behind the initiative which has been instrumental in contemporary art gaining traction in India.
The foundation will plough in about Rs. 1 crore to support various educational projects launched as part of the Biennale. “We are entering into an agreement with the Kochi Biennale Foundation next week based on which we will extend support to the students’ and children’s projects,” Kiran Nadar, chairperson of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Delhi and trustee of Shiv Nadar Foundation, told The Hindu at Aspinwall House, the main venue, on Saturday.
The grant, to be disbursed in instalments, was as part of the CSR of the foundation and HCL, she pointed out.
In awe of the location of India’s only Biennale, Ms. Nadar said the artefacts on show were fantastic. Only, the Biennale was not fully up. “It’s not 100 per cent ready as yet, but will be so in a week’s time. I will come back to explore the event all over again.”
Filmmaker and actor Amol Palekar, in town as ambassador of the Biennale and to inaugurate the ‘Artists’ Cinema’ segment on Sunday, told The Hindu that it pleased him to see the entire city waking up to a new visual art culture.
Artist Amar Kanwar, however, would prefer it to be a little more noisy and wild like last time. “Yes, it’s more organised now, but it is different,” said artist Subodh Gupta, whose exhibit at the last Biennale sold at a whopping Rs. 4.4 crore at a London auction. The inaugural ‘Art Talk’ of KMB’14, — supported by automobile giant BMW — on ‘Contemporary Indian Art at Home and Abroad: Making a Difference’ had BMW Group’s Thomas Girst, artists Gulammohammed Sheikh, Parvathi Nayar and Dayanita Singh, besides London-based Tate Modern gallery director Chris Dercon and Biennale curator Jitish Kallat discuss the contours of art the world over.
