‘KMB 2016 Works Have the Curator’s Master-stroke’: Ramu Aravindan

KOCHI:
For Ramu Aravindan, noted photographer and son of iconic filmmaker G. Aravindan, the takeaway from a tour of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016 was the presence of Sudarshan Shetty’s curatorial vision in the exhibited works.
“Though the works on display are diverse, we can feel the master-stroke of the curator in every piece. This can be felt in the balancing act between the space and the art work. That is an exceptional part of the experience at KMB 2016,” Aravindan said.
He was speaking during a session titled ‘Biennale: First Look’ held on Saturday (Feb 14) as part of the ongoing ‘Art, Body, Thought: Expressions’ conference at the Pavilion in Cabral Yard, Fort Kochi. The discussion saw the eminent thinkers participating in the four-day conclave share their experiences of the third edition of India’s only Biennale.
In response to Aravindan’s comments, KMB co-founder Riyas Komu noted that it had been a conscious effort to adhere to Shetty’s curatorial intent and presence.
“The Biennale is a wholly artist-led event and the curatorial practice is an important factor. The act of curation is itself an art-making process. It was a very conscious effort on our part to keep to the curatorial vision. The entire project is an art making process,” Komu said.
Komu added that the KMB was perhaps the only Biennale th
at facilitates site visits by artists to allow them to come into contact with and understand the culture of the host city and produce site-specific or region-specific works.
Poet Anita Thampi said that the poetry installations piqued her curiosity. “Poetry being a form of literature, I never imagined it could share the same space as a work of art. When I saw (KMB 2016 participating artist) Sharmistha Mohanty’s space, I was just amazed by the different elements inside the room that related to her poetry,” she observed.
Poet Anwar Ali said KMB brought up a sense of images. “Though I work closely with cinema, I consider myself basically a man of letters and not images. However, the Biennale has changed my perspective and showed me a sense of generating imageries from narratives,” he said.
Renowned academician Prof. Nissar Ahmed, film critic Prof. C.S. Venkiteswaran and scholars Ranjini Krishnan and Dileep Raj also spoke during the session.
The conference – organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation and supported by HCL and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art – will run till Monday, January 16.