India’s inaugural festival of international contemporary art the Kochi-Muziris Biennale will partner with BMW for drawing up a curated programme of video series on urbanism.
In collaboration with leading Indian and international architects, urban planners and artists, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in partnership with BMW, will commission and produce a series of filmed interviews exploring the topics and challenges facing urbanism in India and other developing regions, a release here said.
This partnership initiative will be an important element of the Kochi Biennale Foundation’s research programme and develop the large-scale cultural project’s theme of ‘cosmopolitanism and inclusiveness’.
All interviews and discussions will be filmed and screened at a symposium as part of the closing week programme in March next year, the release said.
In the spirit of initiatives such as the BMW Guggenheim Lab, open since December 9 this year in Mumbai, BMW enlarges its cultural engagement in projects addressing issues for urban life.
Over 80 artists from over 35 countries are participating in the Biennale.
Meanwhile, 64 students of the Lokmanya Tilak College of Architecture and Design Studies, led by two of their teachers, visited various venues of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale yesterday, 11 months after they listened to a speech on contemporary art by Bose Krishnamachari, co-curator with the event that started on Dec 12.
“That was an extremely inspiring talk. We have a customary study tour for our second-year B. Arch students. This time we thought we’d make it to Kerala, and spend two days in Kochi so that they could see the Biennale,” said Niladwuti Chattopadhyay, an associate professor, who is leading the team, which paid a three-hour visit to Aspinwall House, the main venue of the three-month extravaganza.
Her colleague Harish Shetty said, “We wanted to give them a novel experience. We are also taking them to Pepper House and Darbar Hall.”