Kochi: The Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), India’s only contemporary art biennale and one of Asia’s largest art events, opens its sixth edition on Friday, bringing four months of exhibitions, performances and public engagements across 22 venues and seven collateral shows.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the 110-day event on December 12. Featuring works by 66 artists and collectives from 25 countries, KMB-6 runs till March 31, 2026.

This edition, curated by artist Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces, is themed ‘for the time being’, emphasising process, exchange and the idea of the biennale as a “living ecosystem” rather than a finished spectacle.

For the first time, a majority of KMB’s exhibits will lie outside the iconic Aspinwall House in Fort Kochi. The venues now stretch across Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Durbar Hall Gallery in Ernakulam, and even Willingdon Island, making the show’s footprint larger than ever.

Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) Chairperson Venu V said visitors would need “no less than three days” to see the expanded edition. He noted that the event’s scale has grown following financial streamlining and new senior appointments at the Foundation.

KBF President Bose Krishnamachari said the biennale remains rooted in community participation. “Each edition is built on collaboration between artists, curators, volunteers and the people of Kochi. The expanded venues and partnerships underline our commitment to artistic freedom and public engagement,” he said. 

The inauguration at Parade Ground, Fort Kochi, will be followed by a public concert by Shanka Tribe with Neha Nair, Resmi Satheesh and Shahabaz Aman. Earlier in the day, the biennale flag will be hoisted at Aspinwall House after a Chenda recital by Margi Rahitha Krishnadas. Opening-day performances include works by Mónica de Miranda, Zarina Muhammad, Naeem Mohaiemen and Mandeep Raikhy.

Chopra described this edition as centred on the body as a holder of memory and materiality, extending metaphorically into Kochi’s layered geography shaped by migration, trade, colonial histories and everyday life.

“This edition is oriented around temporality,” he said, adding that KMB-6 seeks to move beyond the idea of the biennale as a singular, centralised exhibition.

The Students’ Biennale 2025-26 will open at VKL Warehouse, featuring work from student-artists representing more than 175 art institutions across India.

Edam, curated by Aishwarya Suresh and KM Madhusudhanan, will open across three venues on Bazaar Road in Mattancherry. The show features 36 artists and collectives from Kerala and its diaspora, exploring intergenerational practices and lived histories.

KBF is also launching an Island Mural Project, taking public art interventions to neighbourhoods and local communities. Throughout the opening week, the biennale and partner venues will host performances, conversations, lectures and concerts.