KOCHI:
The Kochi-Muziris Biennale features exhibits based on universal themes that find “beautiful and honest” portrayal of issues facing societies, Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said today.
Hailing the curatorial theme that promotes visitors’ participation, he said the 108-day festival also helped boost Kerala’s tourism industry that had faced a lull last year after monsoon rains wreaked havoc across the state with its biggest floods in a century’s time.
The minister, who took a round of the exhibits at the main Aspinwall House venue of the biennale, lauded the festival’s inclusion of women artists totaling more than half the number of participants. He particularly praised the efforts of the curator, Anita Dube, in this respect, highlighting the feminist perspective of the biennale.
“We continue to live in a society where women are considered second-rate citizens,” he noted. “This biennale is a sincere attempt to essay the eminence of women in the field of art. Quite a few works are political, coming up with serious ideas that are conveyed well too. Each work is special and important in its own way.”
The minister, banking on primary data, expressed happiness over the number of biennale visitors having exceeded that of the previous edition of the festival. During his two-hour round of the Aspinwall, the minister sought to learn details of the installations and interacted with the crowd that included children from a school in Kalamaserry, north of Kochi.
