For Every Age

As the experts dress the port town for the second edition of the Kochi Biennale that opens on December 12, students from government-funded art institutes across India such as College of Art in Delhi; CAVA, Mysore; Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai; Pune’s Bhartiya Vidhyaapeeth; University of Jammu and Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan, will also be showing at the festival this year. Works of over 100 students will house at the Mohammed Ali Warehouse in Mattanchery. The objective of the project, says advisor Vidya Shivdas, is to create a dialogue between art institutions, investigate their practice and give students a platform. Meanwhile, 15 youngsters, selected through a nationwide search, will curate the exhibition (pictured). The group includes artists, art writers, historians, PhD students and others, who are from the field, working with galleries or independently. “We could have had an expert committee, but this way it’s more like peer interaction. Taking them to places where they otherwise would not have gone, giving exposure to artwork that is not framed,” says Shivadas, who was activity involved in the selection of curators.

Trained during an orientation programme in the historic Pepper House, curators were divided into four geographical zones, independent to scan works of students. “It’s different to interact with the students in comparison to established artists; the curators are in a position of authority here,” says Arko Datta. The photographer has selected works from the East. “There is a tendency to just club the Northeast as a singular block, I intend to renounce that to bring out the layers of complexities,” says Datta, who was particularly interested in the idea of the “nation state”.

The display will not be thematic, but discuss the “thinking and environment” of each institution. “It was an opportunity to understand the practice of different institutions, how they use material, political and cultural history of that region and how students respond to it,” says Pallavi Paul, one of the curators. A PhD student at the School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehry University, the 27-year-old has exhibited in Delhi and Edinburgh and her solo is currently on at Project 88. Their observations will be published in a catalogue featuring trends across art colleges. An indicator to what to expect from the Gen-X in art? Hopefully.