A visitor's guide to the sixth edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale

At its heart, the 6th edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is about letting art unfold naturally. Set in a city shaped by centuries of exchange, it grows as a shared, evolving experience rather than a finished event. Curated by artist Nikhil Chopra along with HH Art Spaces, this edition is titled "For the Time Being" and runs till March 31, 2026. Featuring 66 artist projects across 22 venues, the Biennale encourages viewers to slow down and engage with art as a living, evolving ecosystem.

Here are five important venues to start with:

1. Aspinwall House
Located along the Fort Kochi waterfront, the colonial-era warehouse complex remains the Biennale’s primary venue, housing its largest installations as well as the official ticketing counter.

Must-see works include:
– Adrián Villar Rojas's Rinascimento, a sculptural installation of freezer drawers containing decaying organic matter

– Marina Abramović's At the Waterfall (2003), a 108-channel video installation featuring chanting monks

– Shiraz Bayjoo's Sa Sime Lamer, a multimedia installation combining textiles and ceramics

– Dhiraj Rabha's The Quiet Weight of Shadows, examining the history of insurgency in Assam, particularly the ULFA period

– Works by the Panjeri Artists' Union, a 14-member anti-caste collective from West Bengal

The venue also houses the Biennale Kada for official merchandise and Samridhi People's Café, offering refreshments for visitors.

2. Pepper House (0.8 km from Aspinwall House)
A 10-minute walk along the coastline leads to this 16th-century heritage complex, where art engages closely with ecology and community.

Must-see works include:
– Otobong Nkanga's Soft Offerings to Scorched Lands and the Brokenhearted, a living tropical garden accompanied by an immersive soundscape

– Bani Abidi and Anupama Kundoo's Barakah, a functional community kitchen that serves daily Kerala meals as a performance of hospitality

– Minam Apang's Specter of War: Big Thief, a series of intricate drawings examining Indigenous displacement

3. David Hall (0.4 km from Aspinwall House)
This restored Dutch bungalow overlooking the Parade Ground offers a contemplative, domestic setting for contemporary works.

Must-see works include:
– Peterson Kamwathi’s Scree, charcoal and pastel drawings tracing human movement directly onto the building’s surfaces

4. Bastion Bungalow (0.6 km from David Hall)
Built into the remains of the Dutch fort, this venue explores intersections of memory, gender, and the city. It also hosts most of the Biennale's performance art programmes and workshops. (Visitors can check Onmanorama.com's Biennale updates for daily schedules.)

Must-see works include:
– Naeem Mohaiemen and Mallika Taneja’s Statues Must Die, examining body, city, and gender through film and photography

– Brook Andrew's research-based installation and lecture series on colonial legacies

5. Anand Warehouse (1.5 km from Aspinwall House)
Located deeper in Mattancherry, this industrial-scale venue accommodates monumental sculptural installations.

Must-see works include:
– Ibrahim Mahama's Parliament of Ghosts, composed of salvaged train station chairs from Ghana

– Jayashree Chakravarty's expanded Roots, a large-scale hanging installation made of paper and organic materials

– Nari Ward's Divine Smiles, part of his ongoing Canned Smile Project, where visitors' reflected smiles accumulate into a growing luminous sculpture

This edition also features several collaborative projects and specialised exhibitions, most notably Edam, which showcases the work of 36 artists from Kerala and its diaspora across venues like the Armaan Collective & Café and Garden Convention Centre. From the Students' Biennale at VKL Warehouse to the Island Mural Project, the city is filled with hidden gems that prove art is truly everywhere.