A group of 12 students from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University visited Kochi to acquaint themselves with the Biennale.
The team, led by Adjunct Assistant Professor Christine Jia-Ning Chen, looked into how the biennale helped transform the cultural and urban landscape of the city.
At a presentation at Aspinwall House the students showcased master plans and ideas on how events at the Kochi Biennale could be staged in the future by taking advantage of the existing urban infrastructure and improving public accessibility. An interesting concept was Backwater Biennale, a mobile exhibition using the famed houseboats of Kerala by linking the art event with the tourism and transport infrastructure of Kochi.
Another presentation by the students was a plan incorporating ferry terminals and stations on the upcoming Metro network. A project rooted in the context of the creative economy and the need for cultural planning for creative cities, was the focus of another presentation.
The students aim was to leverage Kochi’s growing might as an IT hub; to use the data centres of the city to support biennale venues and spaces.
Film director Siddique, A.M. Arif, MLA, and the newly appointed Lalit Kala Academy chairman Kalyan K. Chakravarthy, were among others, who visited the biennele on Monday.
A symposium on ‘Urbanism in India’ has been organised with the support of BMW’s Global Cultural Engagements initiative, on March 12.
The country’s first ever biennial art event concludes on March 13.
