Kochi declared Biennale city

Artists from 35 countries will take part in the Biennale

Kochi Mayor Tony chammany addressing a press conference announcing Kochi as a Biennale city in Kochi on Saturday. Photo: Vipin Chandran

Kochi was declared a ‘Biennale city’ by Mayor Tony Chammany in Kochi on Saturday night.

He appealed to corporates, entrepreneurs and big business houses to come forward and make the Biennale, falling on 12-12-12, a “huge success”.

He said various locales where public functions are held in the city would be made available to the ‘Biennale’ which has been often described as the Olympics of Contemporary Art.

Nearly 80 artists from 35 countries would take part in the Kochi Muziris Biennale which is being held for the first time in the country.

The show would go on till March 13, 2013 and would be a major event in the art calendar for both art novices and veterans alike.

As per a communication from the organisers, the Kochi Biennale is expected to attract eight million domestic tourists and a large number of foreigners.

The Kochi Biennale is the only destination in the country mentioned in the ‘13 cultural events to be seen’—of Forbes, ‘45 places to go in 2012’—New York Times and ‘Top 3 tourist destinations for 2012 ‘ of British Airways High Life, the communication added.