The dusty, blue doors of the KVJ warehouse in Mattancherry open into a cool, dark, pillared space beyond which is a high-ceilinged warehouse. The coolness inside, with some humidity, is a welcome change from the heat outside on Market Road. It is one of the venues for the Kochi Muziris Biennale, which opens on 12 December. Two workers are busy removing old paint from the walls of the warehouse. Light streams in through panes of glass on the ventilation, some through stained glass and some through dirt and time. Some pigeons are sitting on their banks; A pair of doors are open on the side.
“One of the artists, Belgium-based visual artist and tapestry-maker, Ottobong Nkanga, intends to create a garden installation here,” says Amu Josefina Mohan, production manager of the Biennale production team, led by Shyam Patel.
For Amoo, who has a master’s in museology and is a curator, it is a full circle moment. She was 16 years old when she came to the first edition of the Kochi Muziris Biennale in 2012. She remembers it as “life-changing”. I had not seen art in a place like this before. The Biennale changed my perception of art and inspired my work in art.
Work is going on in full swing at all the biennial event venues. Aspinwall House will be missed (due to ownership change). The adjacent coir warehouse and director’s bungalow are the base for the production team. Heaps of garbage – wood, paper, dry leaves and other things are being burnt outside. Inside the building, there are snaking cables and wires, paint, tape and scales, among other types of construction materials, and two kittens who appear to be overseeing the work.
Kudumbashree members stitching jute sacks at SMS Hall in Mattancherry. Photo Courtesy: Tulsi Kakkat
“We’re burning!” Amu describes the pace of work as follows. “Local carpenters, electricians, painters, masons, gardeners, sign board makers, Kudumbashree members… everyone is involved,” she says. Curator, Nikhil Chopra and his team are busy from one place to another checking and giving feedback on the progress of the work.
The production team of 14 ‘co-producers’, called core members, are working, almost continuously, with little rest, as D-Day approaches. The process of putting the team together was completed in August. There is a group of volunteers from across the country to help them. The team has eight site-in-charges who are assigned sites for which they will be responsible.
The works of 66 artists from across the world will be displayed at 22 locations in and around Fort Kochi, Willingdon Island (for the first time) and the Durbar Hall of Ernakulam.
Work is going on at the Director’s Bungalow near Aspinwall House in Fort Kochi. Photo Courtesy: Tulsi Kakkat
By looking at some of the venues, one can understand how much work goes into organizing such a show. Especially when some places like KVJ Warehouse or Anand Warehouse have closed down.
“We don’t want to change these places too much or take away their inherent character. We want to use the structures as they are while maintaining the environment and making use of what’s there,” says Abna C Azad, an architect and postgraduate in regional planning, who is a production assistant on the team.
“Although we have been assigned our respective sites, we [the team] Let’s work together so that work progresses smoothly everywhere,” says Abna, a resident of Cherthala.
The term for the team’s work is ‘site preparation’, of which conservation and restoration are a part. Whose work is displayed where is decided in collaboration with the artist based on the suitability of the artist’s work and location. “The artists visited sites with Nikhil earlier this year and focused on the places closest to their practice,” says Amu.
Arjun Nair, Amu Josephina, Abna Azad from the production team and Divyesh Undaviya from the curatorial team of Kochi Muziris Biennale. Photo Courtesy: Tulsi Kakkat
Anand Warehouse, also in Mattancherry, is in a similar state of disrepair. Although warehouses are rectangular structures, there are differences in architecture. The Ananda Warehouse consists of parallel, long high-ceilinged spaces, one inside the other with rows of chairs in various positions, which one would assume were part of some kind of installation. Abna explains that the chairs were found all over the place and were kept here for repair when needed. “Part of this space will become ‘Parliament’,” she says, referring to the work of Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama. “It will look very different once work starts here.” Most of these venues will showcase the works of more than one artist.
Across the road, in the SMS hall, three women are busy sewing jute sacks together. Women from the local Kudumbashree unit have been involved to do this. These jute sacks cut into pieces will form part of an installation that is likely to be installed there. The hall is modern, air-conditioned and quiet: a world apart from KVJ Warehouse and Anand Warehouse.
One cannot help but wonder about the effect of the humid weather on the artefacts. That’s when Abna says, there’s a lot more to venue preparation than just physically preparing the space, for example temperature is a factor.
Seated from left (front row) are Arjun Nair, Pranav PJ, Akshay Dev, and Deepak Johny; (middle row, from right) Ashad PS, Neeraj Bhawansingh, Abna C Azad, Jinsha PK, and Fatimath Safna K; (Top row from left) Isha Siraj, Amu Josephina Mohan, Sharanya Haridas, Ananth Krishnan and Ayesha Manna from the production team of Kochi Muziris Biennale 2025. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Akshay Dev, art conservator and member of the production team, says, “Temperature, humidity, relative humidity… fluctuations all need to be taken into account when preparing a venue. These factors are specific to each medium. My job is to create ‘ideal conditions’ for the artworks by creating a buffer zone between the artwork and the wall so that they can be preserved intact. Then there are artworks like Otobong Nkanga’s work which will be self-sustaining.”
He knows what each artist’s work will be and what conditions it will require. Live readings of temperature are taken to decide how to intervene to create ‘ideal conditions’. The intervention may be a dehumidifier or industrial-level exhaust or air conditioning.
Barely three weeks are left and the pace of work has increased. Six artists are already working on their artworks in the city, each assisted by a volunteer.
It is interesting to hear this young team talking about how these lifeless, forgotten warehouses and warehouses will be transformed like Cinderellas, and come alive as art galleries worthy of world-class art.
Kochi Muziris Biennale will open on December 12, 2025 and run for three months till April, 2026.