KBF to facilitate Indian artists in fgn art residency prog'mes

: The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) today announced that it will facilitate Indian artists to participate in foreign art residency programmes.

KBF Secretary Riyas Komu made the announcement while inaugurating the exhibition of works by artists who participated in the KBF residency programmes here.

KBF, in association with Pepper House along with Kiran Nadar Museum, Goethe Institute, Prohelvetia and Piramal Foundation,has been organising art residency programmes here during the past two years.

"We have beenreceiving good response from other countries for our art Residency project right from the beginning. Many artists from abroad came down to Kochi and displayed their work."
 

"As a next step, we will send Indian artists, who will have a short stay in foreign counties and imbibe the culture of the town and display their art work there," said Komu.

He also added that the project will enable the Indian artists have a wider exposure to international art practises, besides enhancing their artistic skills.

The KBF initiative aims to create a space for expression and dialogue for artists and provide them a platform to establish and explore new possibilities.

Meanwhile, celebrated contemporary artist Vivan Sundaram inaugurated the second edition of theStudents' Biennale (SB), a unique art outreach initiative here today.

Speaking at the SB 2016 opening ceremony at the Biennale Pavilion in Fort Kochi, Sundaram said there is an impression that Biennales are elitist spaces, but the Students' Biennale reflects the democratic vision of Kochi Biennale Foundation.

"It creates a point of connect to the world of high art from the ground up. It fills the vacuum that most art students find themselves in after graduation," he said.

Surpassed only by the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) in terms of ambit and reach, SB is the Foundation's flagship art education effort, run in collaboration with the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) and the Foundation for Indian Art and Education (FIAE).

It is supported by Tata Trusts.

Led by 15 emerging curators, the year-long initiative reached out to 55 art schools throughout India and will feature the production of 465 art students in an exhibition that runs parallel to KMB 2016 from today till March 29 next year.