Collateral show a window to the museum of Goa

‘Janela’, which is spread around a warehouse and the grounds of Mattancherry’s Mill Hall compound by the Arabian Sea, starts with Subodh’s ‘Chillies’, made of cycle tyres — as is his ‘Pearlspot’ fish found as you walk down.

Artist Subodh Kerkar with his work ‘Infinite Rice’ at the Janela exhibition, a collateral show at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Photo: Special arrangement

A collateral show at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, ‘Janela: Migrating Forms and Migrating Gods’, is a window to the Museum of Goa that artist Subodh Kerkar is setting up in Fort Kochi. It features works by 26 artists, including Mr. Kerkar’s son Siddharth. The exhibition is an exploration of the shared histories of Kerala and Goa.

‘Janela’, which is spread around a warehouse and the grounds of Mattancherry’s Mill Hall compound by the Arabian Sea, starts with Subodh’s ‘Chillies’, made of cycle tyres — as is his ‘Pearlspot’ fish found as you walk down. The ‘Chillies’ look like they are hung up to dry in the sun, suggesting the goods that the Portuguese brought to south India from their other colonies.

International flavour

Curator Valentina Gioia Levy, from the Museum of Oriental Art in Rome, brings an international flavour to the exhibition, with cultural exchange as the motif.

Mumbai-based Sweety Joshi’s untitled exhibit deals with the development of language, while Friso Witteveen’s ‘Lingam Palace’ shows how men from his native Holland Dutch came only as traders and—unlike the Portuguese—did not care to convert.

‘Janela’, says Subodh, “digs into the recesses of historical archives, memory and celebrate the connectedness” of cultures.

Feast of cinema

Screening of the ‘real new generation of Malayalam films’ curated by critic CS Venkiteswaran at the Kochi Muziris Biennale is turning out to be a feast of art-school cinema, and with exhaustive post-screening discussions to boot, the section is drawing a great of attention.

On Saturday, award-winning film ‘Oralpokkam’ directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was screened at Aspinwall House’s Umbrella Pavilion.

Says filmmaker P.P. Sudevan, whose acclaimed film ‘Cr No. 89’ was shown at the biennale on Friday: “There was quality projection; over 150 viewers from different part of the world and an exhaustive discussion lasting over an hour after the screening. It was indeed a success.”

Sudevan hopeful

Mr. Sudevan’s film, canned in 2013, is one of the four films shortlisted for marketing at the recently concluded International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). “I’m now hopeful of releasing the movie in the cinemas, with help from KSFDC,” he said.

All about movies

Everything about the films, from their making and methods of pooling resources to aesthetics, narrative styles and experience of viewing, gets discussed after every screening.

Sunday screening

‘Dayom Panthandrum’ directed by Harshad will be screened as part of the ‘Artists’ Cinema’ on Sunday.