Republic Day 2018 | When art spreads joy

As director of Art Basel Hong Kong, one of the most influential commercial art fairs in the continent, Adeline Ooi is an influential voice in art circles in the region. So commendation from her is not to be taken lightly. “I’m a Kochi fan, hugely,” she says. Ooi has been to every one of the three editions of the Kochi Muziris Biennale (KMB) and even promoted it enthusiastically at last year’s edition, telling overseas visitors to go see Kochi before they come to Hong Kong or vice versa.

Ooi’s praise, and that of nearly everyone who has visited the 108-day Biennale which takes place over 10 venues in Fort Kochi, Chris Dercon, director of Tate Modern called it a “blueprint for museums of the future” — is a testimony to the revolution Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, the founders of KMB, have catalysed in six short years.

An impact study released last month by KPMG heaps further encomiums — the biennale has not just become one of India’s best-known art and culture brands, it said, but has also given global exposure to local artists, revived lost art forms, lent life and vibrancy to old dilapidated buildings in Kochi through ‘soft urban renewal’, and infused art in public places. KMB has, it goes on to add, become a major driver of art and culture in Kerala and India, built enduring infrastructure for culture, triggered economic spin-offs in the tourism sector, spawned jobs, and bolstered Kochi’s international reputation.

In 2016, Bose was invited to curate the inaugural Yinchuan Biennale  — no doubt, the managers of the Museum of Contemporary Art Yinchuan, the first such space in northwest China, hoped he would work some Kochi magic. And Yinchuan is not the only Biennale in the region to attempt to follow in KMB’s footsteps — there have been at least three others in Lahore, Srinagar and Pune.

No wonder, Bose and Riyas made it last November, for the third year in a row, to the ‘Power 100’ annual ranking of the most influential people in the contemporary art scene.

There’s yet another aspect of Bose and Riyas’s success with KMB, however, that needs highlighting — the fact that it has ushered in a new paradigm in the way cultural events are organised and financed. KMB is an artist-led initiative, a non-profit charitable trust, not dependent, at least not entirely, on government funding.

The idea of KMB was that of former Kerala culture minister MA Baby, who also promised Rs 75 crore in funds. Rs 23 crore of which was paid out in two tranches. But the funds dried up when the Left Front government Baby was part of, was voted out of power, setting off a crisis. KMB would have died out in its very second edition had not Bose and Riyas marshalled every resource they could. It included an auction of works by their artist friends, donations from artists and corporate patrons and even a crowdfunding drive on social media.

As preparations for the fourth edition, curated by Anita Dube get underway, KMB seems finally on a firm financial footing with steady stream of corporate sponsorships and Bose and Riyas can take a justly deserved bow.