The Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) has created a sustainable platform for international dialogue and enrichment of contemporary art, Kerala Governor Justice (retd) P Sathasivam said today.
"It has, in the process, raised Indian art to a global level," he said while delivering a special address at the closing ceremony of the second Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) which will formally conclude on Sunday evening with the lowering of the flag at the main Aspinwall House venue.
Noting that the 108-day festival has mainly exhibited 100 works by 94 artistes from 30 countries, the Governor said a students' and children's biennale held as part of KMB'14 had the potential to churn out a new generation of top-class artists from Kerala and rest of the country.
"The word 'biennale' has now become very popular in this state even as it has origins in the Italian language where it simply means any event that happens every other year," he told the packed gathering at Durbar Hall Ground here, where Delhi-based Ska Vengers band later performed a lively reggae concert that spanned two hours and succeeded a dance show by Jazz Masters.
The closing ceremony, which was presided over by Kerala Culture Minister K C Joseph amid the presence of his cabinet colleague K Babu, was also addressed by legislators Thomas Isaac and Dominic Presentation.
In his presidential address, Joseph expressed happiness that a deluge of criticism that plagued the first edition of the biennale in 2012 had "completely vanished" two years later by when the ongoing KMB began in December 12, 2014.
"The biennale is a big blessing to Kerala; its aesthetics are a major exposure to its people," he added.
