KBF Let’s Talk: On the Rise and Fall of Structures

KOCHI:
An evening of erudition and high philosophy awaits the city as eminent litterateur Anand channels his famously acute observations on history and the human condition into a discussion on the physical and ideological structures erected by societies.
Among the most articulate contemporary voices of reason in Kerala, Anand, a participating artist in the upcoming third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), will share his insights at a ‘Let’s Talk’ event here on Sunday (Oct. 23).
Titled ‘How Things Fall, or Refuse to Fall’, the discussion – presented by the Kochi Biennale Foundation with the support of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and Chavara Cultural Centre – will begin at 5 pm at Chavara Cultural Centre, Ernakulam.
Anand’s works, which explore the junctures of power, justice and people, are celebrated for their profundity, humanism, and historical context. Through such classics as Aalkkoottam, Marana Certificate, Abhayarthikal, Govardhante Yatrakal and Marubhumikal Undakunnathu, he has both reshaped readers’ sensibilities and displayed the transformative agency of literature.
His oeuvre is marked by a metaphor of resistance, constantly questioning the moral premises of power structures through the repeating historical patterns of its abuse, perpetrators, victims and discontents. At the same time, Anand rejects the opposite absolute to this tendency – the overthrow of power,
advocating instead a middle path for sensitisation of the institutions of power.
Much like his writing, Anand’s talk will reflect also on the lessons that the past holds for the present.
The nearly four-month-long Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the largest and most celebrated contemporary international art event in India, gets underway on 12/12/16.