Pattanam was just another mundane town in Kerala until an engineer decided to plant coconut palms in his backyard. He chose a cloudy morning in 1998. Coconut saplings patiently awaited their turn in the veranda while a couple of pickaxes loosened the soil. The soil caved in to reveal a brick wall that was erected in another lifetime. In the decades that followed archaeologists took over and discovered Roman amphora shards, Persian Torpedo jars, Chinese porcelain fragments, amongst other wreckages which also included remains of a 500-ton ship. The rediscovery of Muzuris, the busiest international port in the first century BC was the starting point of Kochi Muziris Biennale. A visit to this biennial is barren without such history lessons. To recall Jorge Luis Borges, "In order truly to see a thing, one must first understand it". And here, to understand it, one has to rely on the leftovers from the past.
The second edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale (KMB) that concluded this April – India's only such event – was scattered across Fort Kochi, another seaport, set 52 kilometres apart from the sleeping site of Muziris. An assortment of colonial architecture would be unveiled across the town: whitewashed Portuguese churches, Dutch cemeteries, Jewish synagogues and Chinese fishing nets embroidered along the shoreline. It was on these streets, decrepit buildings, abandoned warehouses and moss covered walls, that 94 contemporary artists stage their work as a part of a larger theme, 'Whorled Explorations'. "An observation desk to contemplate our world and a toolbox for self-reflection," was how curator Jitish Kallat likes to correlate the theme with the venue.
Started in 2012 by artists Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, the Biennale's prime venue was once a storehouse for pepper, coconut, turmeric, coffee and coir. Built in 1867, by an English trader John H Aspinwall, the Aspinwall house, a vast sea facing property is split into 69 sections apportioned to artists from around the globe. The destruction of Cranganore, in 1340 paved the way for Kochi to become the busiest harbour, inviting British, Arab, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese traders. What began as a trade port exporting pepper and other spices, soon evolved into a cultural haven. As the Italian traveller Niccolò de' Conti wrote in 1440, "China is where you make your money, and Cochin is surely the place to spend it."
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