Kochi, the Biennale City, is ready with the third edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Come find a different way of perceiving the world around you. 108 days, 12 venues, 97 artists and 112 artworks.

'Our Time for a Future Caring', an artistic enquiry into the many facets of Mahatma Gandhi, his philosophy and his legacy, is now live. Preview: 8-10th May 2019 Further, the exhibition will be on view between the 11th of May, till the 24th of November, 2019. #IndiaInVenice .

Hanna, Jagna, Helena and their little brother Alex from Poland found themselves at home here in Kochi. Hanna speaks about their favourites, the art they made and their experiences at the Biennale.

Jitish Kallat's ‘Covering Letter’ is a deliberation on a historical correspondence; a brief letter written by Mahatma Gandhi to Adolf Hitler in July 1939, just weeks before the start of World War II. In his letter Gandhi makes a radical appeal for peace, anticipating the brutal bloodshed that the impending war would unleash. In the spirit of his doctrine of universal friendship, Gandhi begins the letter with the salutation, “Dear Friend…” urging Hitler to resist “reducing humanity to a savage state.” Projected onto a curtain of descending mist, audiences walk through the letter simultaneously inhabiting and dissipating the ascending text. Kallat describes the letter as a site for self-reflection; a petition from one of the greatest proponents of peace to one of the most violent individuals who ever lived. It can also be read as an open letter from the past destined to carry its message into our turbulent present, well beyond its delivery date and intended recipient.

12\12\18 We're back with the fourth edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale curated by Anita Dube titled 'Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life.

Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018 is a happy conjuncture of organised chaos, diverse identities and contrasting perspectives for a unified purpose - art. This is where unabashed expression leads to the liberation of thought and stimulation of the consciousness.

Ashim Purkayastha has displayed three works for the India Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia 2019. *Untitled 2019 (Acrylic on canvas) *Shelter, 2019 (Found objects, rice paper, stone bricks) *Aam Aadmi, 2018-19 (Ball pen on paper and graph paper) A meticulous reader of Gandhi’s life and work, Ashim Purkayastha’s oeuvre mediates several positions around Gandhi as a popular icon and national symbol as well as an environmentalist whose acts of resistance and alternative way of living are stills radical and demand attention. An interventionist in his own way, Purkayastha’s painstaking labour in adding and subtracting meanings from an existing popular image is a compelling artistic strategy. His works on postage and revenue stamps are minimal but address issues of acute relevance, , be it a farmer’s suicide or social and political disparities. Their intimacy prompts the viewer to a closer investigation. The artist shifts our focus to a marginalised and the dispossessed stakeholders in a modern nation-state, including the homeless and those on the brink of the national population registers. His series on common citizens, portraits of acquaintances and neighbours come from his daily exercise of sketching in public spaces. He invites citizens to hold and expression while he sketches. Some faces are elated, others grimacing or laughing, each carrying a different air, impressionistic and linear, they compel one to question and think. Purkayastha, over the years, has been immersed in comprehending the complex social layers of Delhi. While regularly walking the known and lesser-known areas of the capital city, he collected stones used by migrants and homeless people to build rugged structures from shelter. Alternatively, participating in sit-in dharna (demonstrations), he often witnessed how silent protests turn violent when stones are flung to disperse and target the crowd. Purkayastha’s recent works revolve around stone, stone as a material used both for protest as well as for protection. India Pavilion At Venice Biennale Ministry of Culture, Government of India National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India Kiran Nadar Museum of Art Confederation of Indian Industry.

Celebrating the weaves of Chendamangalam with this fashion film that talks of how Kasavu is the weaver’s gold.

XANDARI HARBOUR In the heart of Fort Cochin’s spice trading district, Mattanchery, we have respectfully restored this historic waterfront merchant’s property. Our guest rooms and suites pay tribute to the history of the location and India’s contemporary aesthetic. The waterfront restaurant, likewise, looks at the multi-cultural influences on the Malabar foodways, updated for modern tastes. There is no better location from which to explore historic Fort Cochin.