Kochi-Muziris Biennale postponed till November 2021 due to COVID-19

One of India's most acclaimed and people’s favourite art exhibitions, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale has been pushed to November 1, 2021, over the COVID-19 fear. Earlier, it was announced that the art exhibition will kickstart on December 12, 2020, and art lovers across the country were super excited. But now, disappointment has taken over with this announcement.

The festival that started in 2012 attracts more than six lakh visitors in a three months period annually. But given the spike in the number of COVID cases in Kerala, it seemed difficult and irrational to organise the festival. Therefore, the organising committee decided to postpone it.
An official statement released, which read, “Over the past few months, the Kochi Biennale Foundation has been discussing the COVID-19 situation with our stakeholders. With the pandemic showing no signs of abatement in India, the state of Kerala having slipped into a second spike of cases, prolonged travel restrictions, and generally unfavourable conditions on-ground, we have decided to move the opening of the Biennale to November 1, 2021. We expect that circumstances by then would be conducive for visitors, artists, staff, and others for a safe and complete Biennale gathering.”

Though the prime festival has been postponed for now, the fourth edition of the Student’s Biennale will be held digitally. In this segment, art students from all over the country participate and display their talent.
The segment will be led by five curator-mentors, Suresh K Nair, Archana Hande, Manoj Vyloor, Adip Dutta and Vasudha Thozhur. The famous Indian novelist Sarnath Banerjee will also host an online workshop, namely The Redundant Fact-Checker.

The exhibition is held at 10 to 14 venues in Kochi, Kerala, and some of the popular spots include the Aspinwall House, Pepper House and Fort Kochi beach to name a few. When it comes to COVID-19 positive cases, Kerala has recorded over 418K cases and 1429 deaths as of now.