KOCHI:
Bose Krishnamachari, an internationally acclaimed artist and co-founder of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), and Shubigi Rao, the curator of the fifth edition of the biennale that begins next year-end, have been included in Art Review’s coveted list of this year’s 100 most influential people in the global contemporary art scene.
This is for the fifth year on the trot that the KMB, one of the most anticipated biennales on the international art calendar, has been featured in the ‘Power 100’ list.
For Krishnamachari, this is the fifth consecutive entry in the list since 2015 as the Artistic Director and president of the Kochi Biennale Foundation that has been organizing the KMB since 2012. As for Singapore-based Indian-origin Rao, the visual artist, writer and archivist has made her debut in the list for being the curator of the four-month-long KMB beginning December 12, 2020.
The ‘Power 100’ is an annual ranking made by 30 anonymous international jurors and compiled by the influential Art Review magazine of the world’s topmost contemporary artists and influencers.
The other Indians in this year’s list are Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (at 30th rank), the 77-year-old scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic who is a Professor at Columbia University, and Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula & Shuddhabrata Sengupta , who form the Raqs Media Collective (rank 89).
The list also includes stalwarts like Glenn D. Lowry, Director of Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Nan Goldin, a legendary photographer; Iwan & Manuela Wirth, major gallerists with spaces in Zurich, London, New York and Hong Kong; Hito Steyerl, artist-theorist; and Thelma Golden, Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem.
Kerala-born and Mumbai-based Krishnamachari, 56, said his entry to the latest ‘Power 100’ proves yet again the validity of KMB as a path-breaking feature in India’s contemporary art festivals of international representation. “The Kochi-Muziris Biennale represents a coming together of the artists community in India. ArtReview has and continues to acknowledge the impact of the Biennale globally, since 2015. I also believe this to be a recognition of the collective work and support that has gone into the making of the Biennale.” he added.
The fifth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is slated to open on 12 December 2020 and will run up until 10 April 2021.
