Four years after the Biennale dropped anchor at Kochi, particularly West Kochi that’s known for its cosmopolitanism and historical role in the global trade, an old ramshackle warehouse at Kochangadi in Mattancherry is receiving a facelift in the process of turning into a crucible of the fine arts, literature, philosophy, cinema and the performing arts and a mooring point for art and cultural practices and exchanges.
“Uru Art Harbour” — as the centre housed in the restored TKM Hall overlooking the Cochin Port is named, evocative of the trade and subsequent cultural exchanges that the place witnessed centuries ago — will seek to fashion “a sustainable model” in art and cultural exchanges by allowing the artistic community and the Kochangadi neighbourhood to have a “sense of ownership” of the space, maintains artist Riyas Komu, co-founder and director of programmes of the Kochi Muziris Biennale who is launching Uru as a dream project.
The centre will have a formal opening on November 12 with the release of a volume on the philosophy of Sree Narayana Guru, “Guruchinthana-Oru Mukhavura”. The release will be done by poet Kalpetta Narayanan and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby. On its cover, designed by Mr. Komu using an image from an old work of his, the Guru’s face has stretching crack marks.
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Mr. Komu, a Mumbai-based artist, says that Uru was an offshoot of his engagement with Kochi as a site of multiple histories, communities and their ways of co-existence without losing any of their prejudices and beliefs. Uru, he reckons, will be a space for radical collaboration and a steadfast hub for “alternative artistic, cultural, and intellectual exploration to move the dialogue about and of local cultural specificities from the margins”.
The centre comes booted with an expanding library, a performance, screening and exhibition space where the neighbourhood and the artistic community can engage with one another over coffee. With academic Dileep Raj overseeing the selection of books, publishing will be a key area and the centre has already tied up with the DC Books and alternative publications to bring out books primarily on art history for children and containing children’s art.
The centre will be a platform facilitating cultural engagement, between artists and with the local community, cultural discourse, production, creative practices and fostering critical enquiry.
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A tall sculpture, “Immini Balya Onnu” done by Mr. Komu in the courtyard of Uru points to the philosophical sheet anchor of the cultural space.