The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) was established in 2010 as a non-profit, charitable trust to promote art, culture, heritage, and education. Every two years, KBF hosts the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), India's first and largest contemporary art Biennale, in the historic port city of Kochi. It also actively contributes to the restoration and conservation of heritage properties and monuments, and the revival of traditional forms of art and culture. The Government of Kerala has been a principal supporter of the Foundation.
INITIATIVES
AWARDS,
RECOGNITIONS
NATIONAL TOURISM AWARD
Most Innovative and Unique Tourism Project in 2012.
Biennale Pavilion, Kochi
Project of the Year Award. For its aesthetic design using unconventional materials in 2016-17.
KMB THROUGH
THE YEARS
The sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, titled 'For the Time Being', curated by Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces, opens on 12th December 2025. The international exhibition will feature 66 projects from over 25 countries, envisioning a living, evolving, and responsive art ecosystem that prioritises process, friendship, and collaboration over conventional biennale models.
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The fifth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, 'In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire', curated by artist Shubigi Rao, featured works by 87 artists from 30 countries and drew more than 600,000 visitors. Spread across 15 venues in Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, and Ernakulam, the exhibition delved into the power of storytelling, resistance, and the persistence of shared histories in challenging times.
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The fourth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, 'Possibilities of a Non-Alienated Life' (2018), curated by artist Anita Dube, featured 94 artists from 31 countries. The edition showcased 106 artworks under a curatorial vision that highlighted liberation, friendship, and collective joy, where marginal voices reclaimed agency, not as victims, but as visionary sentinels shaping future possibilities. The edition welcomed 600,000 visitors.
Curated by Sudarshan Shetty, the third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2016), titled 'Forming in the Pupil of an Eye', featured 97 artists from 30 countries and drew over 600,000 visitors. Inspired by ancient theories of sight and perception, the edition showcased works by visual artists, architects, poets, musicians, and performance artists from diverse cultural and artistic traditions.
The second edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2014), titled 'Whorled Explorations', and curated by Jitish Kallat, featured 94 artists from 30 countries. Drawing from the historical and cosmological narratives from 14th to 16th century Kerala, the edition interwove the terrestrial and celestial, past and future, inviting viewers into a contemplative dialogue across temporal and spatial dimensions.
The inaugural edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2012, curated by Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, brought together 89 artists from 23 countries. Spread across 13 revived heritage sites in Kochi, the Biennale unfolded as a show unlike any other, drawing thousands into the historic neighbourhoods of Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, and leaving an indelible mark on Kerala's cultural economy
BOARD OF
TRUSTEES
Venu V
Chairperson
Kochi Biennale Foundation
Bose Krishnamachari
President
Kochi-Muziris Biennale
Adeeb Ahamed
Shabana Faizal
Amrita Jhaveri
Tony Joseph
Jitish Kallat
Aarti Lohia
N.S. Madhavan
Mariam Ram
Bony Thomas
FOUNDING
MENTORS
M.A. Baby
Former Minister of Education & Cultural Affairs
Government of Kerala
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K.V. Thomas
Former Minister of State
Government of India
ADVISORY
COUNCIL
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Sangita Jindal
Anish Kapoor
Alex Kuruvilla
Tasneem Zakaria Mehta
Anu Menda
Kiran Nadar
Fereshte Sethna
K.J. Sohan
V. Sunil
P.K. Hormis Tharakan
Shashi Tharoor
Shefali Varma
G. Vijayaraghavan
CEO
Thomas Varghese
STEERING
COMMITTEE
KMB
2025 TEAM
