Biennale Artist Mahama Tops Power 100; KBF’s Bose and Nadar Also Feature on List

KOCHI:
Acclaimed Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama, whose monumental installation will be unveiled at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) starting next week, has secured the top spot on the prestigious ArtReview Power 100 list for 2024.

The ranking, released annually by the London-based contemporary art magazine since 2002, also features prominently two key figures associated with the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF). Kiran Nadar, noted art collector and philanthropist, appears at number 18, while Bose Krishnamachari, President of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and co-founder of KBF, is ranked number 52.

Renowned Serbian conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramović, who is participating in the sixth edition of KMB, also features high on the Power 100 list at number 28.

Mahama, aged 38, is the first African artist ever to lead the list. Internationally known for his large-scale, politically resonant installations crafted from repurposed materials, his work, ‘Parliament of Ghosts’, at KMB 2025-26 is an expansive architectural work reflecting on systems of governance, memory and the afterlives of colonial histories. The artist is currently leading a workshop in Mattancherry, where participants are contributing to the construction of the installation.

Kiran Nadar, aged 74, is a patron of the Kochi Biennale Foundation and chairs the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. She is also a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation and leads several major national institutions, including the SSN Trust, Public Health Foundation of India, Rasaja Foundation, and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Bose Krishnamachari, aged 62, a distinguished visual artist and co-founder of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, has been a driving force behind India’s only international biennale since its launch in 2012. Currently serving as President of KMB, he continues to shape its artistic and institutional direction.

Marina Abramović, 79, who studied art in the former Yugoslavia and Croatia, is renowned for pioneering works in body art and endurance performance that test the limits of the mind while building an intimate, often intense connection between performer and audience. At KMB-6, she presents ‘The Past, Present, and Future of Performance Art’, a performance lecture that maps her artistic journey and traces the evolution of live and performance art as a discipline. At the Island Warehouse, visitors can experience Waterfall (2003), a multi-channel, 18-metre-wide video installation featuring 108 portraits of Tibetan monks and nuns in continuous chant, creating a cascading “waterfall” of voices. With twelve deck chairs placed before the projection, the installation offers audiences a quiet, meditative space for reflection and rest.

Bose, while expressing delight over two KMB-6 artists, besides himself, figuring in the list of the 1948-founded ArtReview magazine, said, “If I am on this list at all, it is because of the power of the people- the ‘people’s biennale’. Whatever recognition I receive is truly a reflection of the collective energy, trust and participation that have shaped the KMB.”

The KMB president also expressed pleasure that the Power 100 list features “individuals who, in one way or another, have long-standing connections with Kochi or have engaged with the Biennale across its editions”. They include Palestinian Emily Jacir (KMB-2025 ‘Invitations’ programme) and curator-educator Thiago Paula de Souza (South About conference). Those from past KMBs figuring in the newest Power 100 list are Singaporean contemporary artist-filmmaker Ho Tzu Nyen (KMB-2014), South Korean Haegue Yang (KMB-2022) and Delhi-based RAQS Media collective (KMB-2014).

For Bose, the honour “belongs to everyone who believes in and supports creative work in this country: the artists, the teams, the trustees, our partners and the vibrant communities of Kochi. It is because of them, the people’s biennale, that we continue to build.” To him, “Their journeys reaffirm how Kochi has contributed to shaping conversations in contemporary art, both in Indian and international contexts.”