Kochi Biennale Foundation invites application for Students' Biennale 2018

Young artists from across south Asia are being invited to showcase their works on the global stage at the third edition of Students' Biennale.

Organised by Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF), in association with Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) and Foundation for Indian Art Education (FIAE), the Students' Biennale will run parallel to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2018, opening in December this year.

The foundation has invited applications from young artists and collectives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.

Centred on the idea of "Making as Thinking", the art event will aim to provide a platform for Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) students "to produce, exhibit, and reflect on their works under the guidance of prominent curators".

"Applicants are encouraged to respond to how a studio can be situated in the framework of the institution, and how the notion of making can become a process of responding to their context and reflecting beyond," the KBF said in a statement.

While the works of artists from India will be curated by Krishnapriya CP, Nishad M P, K P Reji, Sanchayan Ghosh, Shruti Ramlingaiah and Shukla Sawant, the works of young artists from other south Asian countries will be curated by Riyas Komu, KBF Secretary and KMB Director of Programmes.

"Over the last two editions, the Students' Biennale, and Kochi Biennale Foundation as a whole, has centred itself around the practice of art-making. This year, we hope to carry forward this spirit, and transform it into a site of learning. Students' Biennale 2018 posits, in theme and title, Making as Thinking," Komu told PTI.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale, known as the "People's Biennale", is curated this year by eminent artist Anita Dube.

It will run for 108 days from December 12 till March 29, 2019.

The exhibition will be supported by an ancillary programme of talks, workshops, film screenings, and music across a range of venues in Kochi.