After a series of pandemic-related postponements pushed it back from its originally planned opening in 2020, the Kathmandu Triennale announced new dates for its fourth edition—now scheduled to open February 11 and run for a month into March. Organized by the Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation and the Siddhartha Arts Foundation, the event is billed in a press release as “the largest and most ambitious artistic project staged in the country to date” and will feature work by more than 100 artists from some 40 countries.
The work will be shown in five different venues: the Patan Museum (in a former royal residence that dates back to the 14th century and now ranks as a UNESCO World Heritage site), Bahadur Shah Baithak (a centuries-old military center that once played home to war elephants), the Nepal Art Council (one of the country’s largest arts venues since its founding in 1962), the Taragaon Museum (devoted to both cultural heritage and contemporary art), and the Siddhartha Art Gallery (opened in the ’80s with a focus on Nepali and international art).
The title for this year’s edition, “Kathmandu Triennale 2077,” refers to the year in the Nepali Bikram Sambat calendar that coincided with 2020 in the Gregorian calendar. The convergence of the two years evinces the spirit of “both a cemented, stagnant time and a fluid, unpredictable variant,” according to the press release. The Triennale’s curatorial team this year is led by artistic director Cosmin Costinas and co-curators Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung.
The list of artists and collectives involved follows below.
Pacita Abad (The Philippines)
Artree Nepal + Urmila Gamwa Tharu (Nepal)
Korakrit Arunanondchai + Alex Gvojic (Thailand & USA)
Bal Krishna Banamala (Nepal)
Nyima Dorjee Bhotia (Nepal)
Mohamed Bourouissa (France)
Daniel Boyd (Australia)
Mircea Cantor (Romania)
Chan Kwok Yuen (Hong Kong)
Chang En Man (Taiwan)
Olga Chernysheva (Russia)
Chet Kumari Chitrakar (Nepal)
Lok Chitrakar (Nepal)
Mae Clark (USA)
Cian Dayrit (The Philippines)
Dedron (Tibet)
Mireille Delice (Haiti)
Bachhi Devi (Nepal)
Palati Devi (Nepal)
Mary Dhapalany (Australia)
Patrizio Di Massimo (Italy)
Mihaela Drăgan (Romania)
Bijay Dutta Mani + Mira Devi Dutta + Priyanka Karna (Nepal)
Izmail Efimov (Russia)
Köken Ergun + Tashi Lama (Turkey & Nepal)
Naufus Ramirez Figueroa (Guatemala)
Irina Giri + Sonam Choekyi Lama + Keepa Maskey (Nepal)
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (France)
Julia Mage’au Gray (Australia)
Ion Grigorescu (Romania)
Dal Bahadur Gurung (Nepal)
Pooja Gurung + Bibhusan Basnet (Nepal)
Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe (Venezuela)
Hao Liang (China), Aziz Hazara (Afghanistan)
Nikau Hindin (New Zealand)
Andrew Thomas Huang (USA)
Hung Fai (Hong Kong)
Jivarama (Nepal)
Sudhira Karna (Nepal)
Karnali Arts Center (Nepal)
Shubha Kayastha + Deepti Silwal (Nepal)
Puran Khadka (Nepal)
Vvzela Kook (Hong Kong)
Pranika Koyu (Nepal)
Sakarin Krue-On (Thailand)
Gopal Kumal + Buddha Man Kumal + Dukharam Chaudhary + Sahadev Tharu + Chotu Tharu + Tulsi Ram Tharu (Nepal)
Emma Kunz (Switzerland)
LAB (India)
Lam Tung Pang (Hong Kong)
Chenda Singe Lama (Nepal)
Chija Lama (Nepal)
Kabi Raj Lama (Nepal)
Pramila Lama (Nepal)
Liu Kuo-Sung (Hong Kong/Taiwan)
Sunita Maharjan (Nepal)
Ujjwala Maharjan (Nepal)
Youdhisthir Maharjan (Nepal)
Madhumala Mandal (Nepal)
Rebati Mandal (Nepal)
Krishna Manandhar (Nepal)
Britta Marakatt-Labba (Sweden)
Ana Mendieta (Cuba)
Pavel Mikushev (Russia)
J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere (Nigeria)
Uriel Orlow (Switzerland/UK)
Sanghari Sanskritik Pariwar (Nepal)
Thảo Nguyên Phan (Vietnam)
Antonio Pichillá (Guatemala)
John Pule (New Zealand)
Komal Purbe (Nepal)
Bári Raklóri (aka Emilia Rigova) (Slovakia)
Ashmina Ranjit (Nepal)
Rosanna Raymond (New Zealand)
Joydeb Roaja (Nepal)
Zamthingla Ruivah (India)
Bhakta Bahadur Sarki (Nepal)
Citra Sasmita (Indonesia)
Jwala Shah (Sama) (Nepal)
Seema Sharma Shah (Nepal)
Shashi Bikram Shah (Nepal)
Uma Shankar Shah (Nepal)
Anil Shahi (Nepal)
Urgen Dorje Sherpa (Nepal)
Arhant Shrestha (Nepal)
Karan Shrestha (Nepal)
Shraddha Shrestha (Nepal)
Ekaram Singh (Nepal)
Simon Soon (Malaysia)
Bidhyaman Tamang (Nepal)
Subas Tamang (Nepal)
Alina Tamrakar (Nepal)
Katerina Teaiwa (Australia)
Manjula Thakur (Nepal)
Aqui Thami (Nepal)
Indu Tharu (Nepal)
Subash Thebe Limbu (Nepal)
Batsa Gopal Vaidya (Nepal)
Hitesh Vaidya (Nepal)
Mona Vătămanu + Florin Tudor (Romania)
Wai Pong Yu (Hong Kong)
Bo Wang + Pan Lu (Hong Kong)
Gyempo Wangchuk (Bhutan)
Brittney Leeanne Williams (USA)
Wing Po So (Hong Kong)
Sawangwongse Yawnghwe (Myanmar)
Trevor Yeung (Hong Kong)