ARTnews

In a year defined by controversies surrounding large-scale exhibitions, first at the Berlin Biennale and then at Documenta 15, India’s Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) offers a ray of hope. Nurtured for four years by Singapore-based artist Shubigi Rao, the fifth edition of the Biennale, titled “In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire,” is finally opening its doors on December 23 after being postponed twice due to Covid-19 and then again just two weeks ago due to “organizational challenges.”

Participants in the biennial spoke of wanting to ask questions about the nation-state and interconnected cartographies.

Khin, a Myanmar-based photographer, will show haunting, large-scale images taken in the fortified city of Naypyidaw, the military-built capital of the country. Khin took these images in late 2019, a year before the coup d’état that began in Myanmar in February 2021. Titled “Soulless City,” this series of photos examines the emptiness of the prominent architectural structures in Naypyidaw, which was designated the new seat of power by a general in 2005, and which houses state buildings like the Supreme Court, House of Parliament, and official residences.

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In an equally quiet and self-reflective manner, Seher Shah has penned a group of short poems and notes against a backdrop of brutal nationalism and pervasive surveillance in Delhi. Notes from a City Unknown (2021) takes us through Shah’s meandering thoughts as a series of events unfold in the city, from the riots that shook Delhi in February 2020 to the protests at Shaheen Bagh between 2019 to 2020. The artist will present 32 cards, each pairing screenprints of monochromatic geometric compositions resembling architectural forms with an excerpt of poetry, creating bonds between language and form.