'Poems are like sentences that have taken their clothes off.' Marlene Dumas' poetic and sensual refrain accompanies her figurative watercolours on view in Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life, the fourth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) in the southern state of Kerala, India (12 December 2018–29 March 2019).Dumas' new series...
The paintings of Ellen Altfest are ethereal in their detail. Fields of minutiae come together as pulsating images; small brushstrokes of oil paint accumulate over a series of months to single out seemingly innocuous subjects, such as a hand resting atop patterned fabric (The Hand, 2011) or a deep green cactus reaching upwards from beneath a bed of...
On the rooftop of the former Rio Hotel complex in Colombo, it was hard to ignore the high-rise buildings, still under construction, blocking all but a sliver of what used to be an open view over Slave Island, once an island on Beira Lake that housed slaves in the 19th century, and now a downtown suburb. The hotel was set alight during the...
The Busan Biennale Organizing Committee convened on 11 November 2015 after considering the candidacy of eight influential curators from across the world for the role of Artistic Director of the next Busan Biennale, starting in September 2016. The choice fell on fellow national Yun Cheagab, currently Director of How Art Museum in Wenzhou and Shanghai, China.
The Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) launched in 2012 and has distinguished itself by the scale of its ambition. Its production values reflect the personalities and ethos of founders Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, as does the selection of its curators, who have the monumental task of framing the idea of what is contemporary within the context of...
In 2012, Jitish Kallat was invited by the Advisory Council of Public Art, Lower Austria to conceive of a large scale public art work to be installed in their public spaces. This commission is the result of collaborative action by the mayors of 10 townships and the Advisory Council constituted by experts of the art world. Rendered...
In 1997, Jane Farver, the farsighted and much-loved American curator who died in April in Venice, put together an influential exhibition called “Out of India: Contemporary Art of the South Asian Diaspora” at the Queens Museum.It was one of the few surveys of its kind in the United States up to that time, and Ms. Farver was careful...
In Kochi, things begin auspiciously: at precisely 12:12 on 12 December 2014, the second edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale was inaugurated, opening the gates to the the first set of crowds eager to see new and exciting works by international and Indian artists alike.This year, the Biennale is curated by renowned Indian artist Jitish Kallat,...