Work of Portuguese artist moves out to dockyard

In the windy afternoon, the US-based Portuguese artist travelled along with fishermen in their mechanised blue boat that took his 10-metre-long structure made of bamboo reeds and choir to the Cochin Shipyard's abandoned dockyard, some 1.5 kilometres away.

There, at the site on Kalvathy Road, Rigo23 will continue his work for the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

The three-part installation will face the harbour where Vasco da Gama landed forming Cochin Tower, a twin with Belem Tower that was built in the 16th century to defend Lisbon from seaborne attacks.

"My work seeks to retain memories and preserve stories of the people who enabled the explorations of Vasco da Gama," Rigo23 said, recalling the historical figure who left Portugal and landed at the Malabar Coast in 1498.

Even so,"if you look through my cylindrical work, you will see the (Vallarpadom) container terminal on the other end...An update of where it stands now," he said

Fellow artists joined in at the ceremony of sorts that had a farewell touch to it.

"This looks like a procession," said young Argentine artist Ariel Hassan, while clicking photographs from behind the line-up of volunteers and functionaries with the Kochi Biennale Foundation that is organising the three-month extravaganza slated to end on March 13 next. (MORE)