Since its very first edition in 2012, BMW has been official partner of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB).
Kochi : Since its very first edition
in 2012, BMW has been official partner of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB). For
the sixth Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the Kochi Biennale Foundation is curated by Nikhil
Chopra with HH Art Spaces featuring 66 artists projects from more than 25
countries. The biennale opened to public on 12 December 2025 and will last
for a period of four months.
Mr. Hardeep Singh Brar, President & CEO, BMW Group India
said, “The BMW Group India is proud to continue its partnership of the sixth
edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a platform that celebrates creativity,
dialogue and new perspectives. Art has the power to inspire progressive
thinking, and this partnership reflects our belief in innovation that moves
both people and culture forward. The Biennale’s spirit of openness and
exploration mirrors, BMWs philosophy of redefining possibility, and we are
delighted to be a part of a movement that enriches India’s cultural landscape.”
The exhibition, the largest contemporary art biennale in South Asia and the first of its kind in India, unfolds across 29 venues in Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Willingdon Islands and Ernakulam. It sits in conversation with a constellation of exhibitions, performances, and discursive programmes which are set in close dialogue with Kochi’s unique geographical, social and cultural ecology.
Embracing process as methodology, this edition places ‘freindship
economies’ as the very scaffolding of the exhibition. The curatorial vision
acknowledges bodies as a landscape of time, a vessel of labour, joy, and loss,
and invites the visitors to think through ‘embodied histories of those that
came before us and continue to live within us in the form of cells, stories and
techniques.
BMW Group India Cultural Engagement
Since its inception, BMW India has participated in
leading cultural engagements across the country. In 2007, two BMW Art Cars
created by world renowned artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were
presented at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai. BMW Art Cars by Andy Warhol,
Jeff Koons, Sandro Chia and Cesar Manrique have been exclusively showcased at
various editions of the India Art Fair. “The Future is Born of Art” is a unique
initiative by BMW India and India Art Fair which aims to propel emerging Indian
artists and further BMW Group’s commitment to promote art, sustainability, and
innovation. In 2012-13, the innovative BMW Guggenheim Lab came to India. Based
at Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum and conducted at six different sites in Mumbai, the
lab organised six weeks of free programme with diverse audience and communities
addressing the challenges and conditions of the urban city.
Since 2012, BMW has partnered with the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the contemporary art exhibition, which brings international artists to India and creates a global platform for Indian artists. This vital and dynamic partnership has been instrumental in shaping the Biennale into a global cultural landmark. BMW Group’s continued commitment, even in uncertain times, highlights the profound belief in the power of art and culture to unite and inspire.
About the Kochi-Muziris Biennale
Kochi-Muziris Biennale is India’s first ever biennial of
international contemporary art and its story is unique to India’s current
reality—its political, social and artistic landscape. It began as a government
initiative, when the Department of Cultural Affairs of Government of Kerala
approached two artists—Riyas Komu and Bose Krishnamachari—to help organize an
international platform for art in India. The challenge was proportionate to the
ambition of the project. A biennial had never gotten past the conceptual stage
in India before. There was no existing infrastructure necessary for an
exhibition of this scale—no spaces and no institutional support structures.
With the support of the government, private patrons, and local
businesses the Biennale found the spaces and opened them up for art. The Indian
art community has been growing rapidly and has been emerging onto the world
stage, and the international arts community offered their support in sending art
and artists to participate in Kochi. Artists became the spokespersons and
activists for the biennale.
About Nikhil Chopra
Nikhil Chopra’s artistic practice interweaves live art, drawing,
photography, sculpture and installations. His performances, in large part
improvised, dwell on identity and its construction, autobiography and
authorship, the pose and
self-portraiture. Nikhil combines everyday life, memory and
collective history; daily acts such as eating, resting, washing and dressing,
in tandem with the act and discipline of making large scale drawings in situ
become the process of making an artwork.
Nikhil’s works have been included in major exhibitions including
Documenta 14, 12th Sharjah Biennale, 12th Havana Biennale; 2nd Kochi-Muziris
Biennale and 53rd Venice Biennale amongst others. He has also shown works and
performed at the Gropius Bau, Berlin; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York;
Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester; New Art Exchange, Nottingham; ,
SFMOMA, San Francisco; Artsonje, Seoul; Museum of Contemporary Art, Yinchuan,
China; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway; Indian
Highway, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK; Carriageworks, Sydney; Kiran Nadar
Museum of Art, New Delhi.
Nikhil Chopra was born in Kolkata in 1974, and lives in Goa
where he runs HH Art Spaces with partners. After studying at the Faculty of
Fine Arts at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Vadodara, India, the artist
continued his studies in the United States in 2003 to return to India in 2005
with a Masters from Ohio State University.
About HH Art Spaces
HH Art Spaces, Goa, was founded in 2014 by Nikhil Chopra and
Romain Loustau, both live art and performance artists. HH Art Spaces is a
movement, and currently includes the shared vision, voices, rigors, and
energies of a collective of artists and cultural practitioners. Key founding
and partner members of the organization are: Madhavi Gore, Shivani Gupta, and
Shaira Sequeira Shetty.HH Art Spaces fosters an ethos of collaborations,
residencies and interdisciplinary exchanges within art and culture; and has
worked with artists and organizations locally, regionally and internationally.
Over the years, HH Art Spaces has developed a rich archive of
visual, sonic, installation, and live art and performance work, in South Asia.
HH Art Spaces promotes artists and produces exhibitions and artist residencies,
talks and workshops, in contemporary and traditional artistic practice-based
research, bridging transdisciplinary practices through collaborations and
partnerships. HH is a hub and a laboratory for artists and curators to
investigate and explore new forms and approaches within arts and cultural
practice.
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