Kochi is one of the most buzzing port cities in India, blending colonial charm with contemporary culture and serene coastal beauty. Adding to its vibrancy every alternate year is South Asia’s longest-running contemporary art event — the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which has announced its sixth edition from December 12, 2025, to March 31, 2026.
Curated by internationally renowned multi-disciplinary artist and co-founder of HH Art Spaces, Nikhil Chopra, and organised by Kochi Biennale Foundation, this edition is titled ‘For The Time Being’. It focuses on changing the notions surrounding the Biennale — from a singular central art event to a living ecosystem, “one where each element shares space, time, and resources, and grows in dialogue with each other.”
Bose Krishnamachari, President of Kochi-Muziris Biennale, mentioned that Nikhil Chopra’s emphasis on durational exhibitions and performances will be a highlight of the upcoming edition. “Those visiting the biennale will be introduced to an immersive atmosphere, featuring spectacular artworks and site-responsive installations. The event will also offer abundant opportunities to engage with artists and fellow art enthusiasts, and witness the layered cultural life of Kochi, a city where global and local currents converge and diverge all at once.”
Nikhil Chopra has rose to fame with his multidisciplinary art practice that weaves performance, drawing, photography, sculpture, and installation. His works have been part of some of the most coveted art events including the 12th Sharjah Biennale, 12th Havana Biennale, 53rd Venice Biennale, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York amongst others.
“In Kochi, a historic port city where trade once connected distant worlds, we begin with our site and region to engage in dialogue with emerging global perspectives. This rootedness allows us to resist the pressures of the conventional biennale model as a finished spectacle, and instead shape something that is evolving, responsive, and alive,” Nikhil Chopra mentions in the curatorial vision adding, “We invite artists to seek resonances across geography and time, to trace shared memories, mirrored struggles, and new affinities rooted in empathy and deep listening.”
With this edition ongoing for 110 days, the Biennale embodies slow, and immersive consumption of art which is a luxury in the fast-paced world of today. “In the aftermath of a global pandemic, we are more attuned to the space between performance and witnessing, between presence and absence. The saturation of digital images and information has distanced us from the world and from each other. In these times of war and regimes, what does it mean to watch and witness? What might a call to action mean or look like in a world desensitised by voyeuristic tendencies and mediated content production?,” says the curatorial note.
Alongside the international exhibition, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale will also feature talks, performances, and film screenings across various sites in Kochi and will announce participating artists in October.
