COURTESY RONAN HAUGHTON
An Artistic Advisory Committee appointed by the Kochi Biennale Foundation has picked Sudarshan Shetty to be the artistic director and curator of India’s third Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which will occur in 2016. The news was announced by State Minister of Culture K.C. Joseph at the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. The international contemporary art exhibition, which takes place in the city of Kochi, will run for 108 days and will feature the work of 94 artists from 30 countries spread throughout eight different venues.
The committee that selected Shetty included artists Amar Kanwar, Atul Dodiya, Bharti Kher and Jyothi Basu, Ranjit Hoskote (an art critic and curator), Kiran Nadar (a patron), and art dealer Shireen Gandhy. Kochi Biennale Foundation trustees Sunil V, Riyas Komu and Bose Krishnamachari also participated in making the decision.
The Kochi Muziris Biennale is “a project in appreciation of, and geared towards education about artistic expression and its relationship with society,” the organization said in a news release. The Biennale’s first two editions, in 2012 and 2014 respectively, collectively drew nearly a million visitors, and the foundation said, “established itself as a center for artistic engagement in India.”
Shetty, who first received a BFA in painting from Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai in 1985, now concerns himself primarily with installation art. His work has been widely exhibited in India and around the world, and has been included in recent shows at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Guggenheim in New York.