In the coastal state of Kerala, a layered past sets the stage for India’s preeminent art festival.

One of Fort Kochi’s iconic Chinese fishing nets; Goan artist Sahil Naik with his installation All is Water and to Water we Must Return at the 2022 edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. — *Left to right:* One of Fort Kochi’s iconic Chinese fishing nets; Goan artist Sahil Naik with his installation *All is Water and to Water we Must Return* at the 2022 edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. (Photos: iStock.com/turtix (left); Mohammed Roshan)

When India’s first art biennale was announced in early 2012, the news came as a surprise to many. Not because the country would finally have a large-scale art event, but because the venue wasn’t in the usual suspects of Delhi or Mumbai. Instead, it was an unassuming southern city few associated with a thriving art scene. Formally called the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the show raised two questions: Why Kochi? And what was Muziris?

Writing in the first century B.C., Roman author Pliny the Elder described the ancient harbor of Muziris as “the first emporium of India.” Located along the Malabar Coast just north of present-day Kochi, it was a bustling trading port until fierce floods in 1341 washed it away. Kochi—once known as Cochin—eventually took its place as a hub for spices and silks, and remains one of Kerala’s busiest ports to this day.

As to why Kochi, Mumbai-based artist Sudarshan Shetty, who curated the 2016 Biennale, explains, “Kerala has always had exposure to the outside world, with a significant maritime history going back centuries. That makes a port city like Kochi the perfect location for a major art exhibition like this.”

Fittingly, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is concentrated in Fort Kochi, the city’s old town, whose roots can be traced to the first European fort on Indian soil. Set at the head of a peninsula between the Arabian Sea and the backwaters of Vembanad Lake, the area has experienced centuries of intermingling influences from traders and colonizers. Given how much this coast has been shaped by maritime trade, it’s no surprise the first edition of the Biennale emphasized that connection. One highlight was a sprawling installation by the late Vivan Sundaram, who reimagined Muziris as a bricolage of thousands of terra-cotta shards and broken pieces of brick unearthed during excavations in the area just a few years earlier.

Sundaram titled the work Black Gold in honor of the potent pepper that first drew traders from ancient Rome and Egypt, and later colonizers from Europe. The Portuguese arrived first, along a sea route pioneered by Vasco da Gama, who died here in 1524. A century later came the Dutch, followed by the British in the late 1700s. Any other place might have suffered whiplash from so many shifts in power, but Fort Kochi managed to prosper through it all.

The interlopers are long gone, but their legacies remain in Fort Kochi’s culture, architecture, and food. And then there are the picturesque Chinese fishing nets—cheena vala—along the waterfront, said to have been introduced by visitors from the court of Kublai Khan centuries ago. The simple cantilever system is still functional, dipping into the water every morning and evening to catch fish—and the attention of tourists.

When I visited Fort Kochi in late 2012 during the first weeks of that inaugural Biennale, I was struck by the enthusiasm with which the local populace had embraced the event. From tourist guides to tuk-tuk drivers, the “binnali” was on everyone’s lips, and the streets had a festive look with fresh wall posters and paintings highlighting the event. On the narrow lanes along the Arabian Sea, old warehouses, factories, and processing centers, their air still faintly scented with spices, had found a new lease on life as exhibition venues.

“In Fort Kochi, the demarcation between inside and outside is very fluid, and the neighborhood itself becomes the venue, which is really striking,” Shetty says. So it was even in formal spaces like Aspinwall House, Cabral Yard, and Pepper House, where installations seemed to flow through the venues while visitors walking between them encountered murals, statues, and even snatches of poetry along the way.

Popular hangouts like Kashi Art Café, housed in a restored Dutch-era rowhouse, were also co-opted into the festival, with Biennale art displayed alongside the café’s regular paintings. Galleries near Aspinwall House became spillover exhibition spaces, basking in the newfound spotlight. Since then, the exhibition has attracted internationally renowned figures, from Subodh Gupta and Francesco Clemente to Anish Kapoor and poet Raúl Zurita.

Dilip Narayanan, owner of the OED Gallery in nearby Mattancherry, says that while Kochi always had a vibrant art scene, the Biennale marked a new chapter for regional artists. “It changed the way the world sees us. People—even other Indians—became more curious about Kochi, and the local art business is booming with new museums, galleries, foundations, and grants coming up all the time.”

Shetty concurs, noting that the Kochi-Muziris Biennale also paved the way for other major art events nationwide, from the Bengal Biennale to Goa’s Serendipity Festival and the Chennai Photo Biennale. “There are more galleries than ever in other cities, and more opportunities for artists to travel, work, exhibit, and attend workshops and residencies. Kochi has definitely had an effect on the way Indians themselves are seeing art,” he adds.

Scheduled to kick off this December, the Biennale’s sixth edition was still months away when I visited Fort Kochi in the muggy monsoon of July—but anticipation was already palpable. I stayed at Brunton Boatyard, a stylish waterfront hotel repurposed from a 19th-century shipyard and now the flagship property of Kochi-based hospitality group CGH Earth. Over a traditional Kerala breakfast of puttu (steamed rice-and-coconut cakes) at the hotel’s Armoury restaurant, I chatted with Mridula Jose, the group’s vice president of marketing.

“The Biennale has definitely added a creative and contemporary dimension to Fort Kochi. Now we’re seeing more interest from Indians who come year-round to explore local culture, art, design, and cuisine,” she says. Indeed, what stood out for me during this visit was the sheer number of domestic tourists I was seeing everywhere—a striking change from just a decade ago, when Kochi was little more than a pit stop for international travelers bound for backwater houseboats or Ayurveda retreats.

Jose’s focus has been on creating experiential stays that give guests a glimpse of Fort Kochi’s multidimensional character. And that was how I ended up on a sunset boat cruise to see the famous fishing nets in action, followed by a guided walk through the area’s many markets and by-lanes. I eventually fetched up at David Hall, a colonial bungalow originally built as the Dutch governor’s residence and later owned by Jewish businessman David Koder.

Restored by CGH Earth, the mansion now serves as a gallery supporting the local arts community. “This is a popular meeting point and performance space for artists in Kochi,” caretaker Binu Koshy told me as he showed me around. “We also offer it free as a venue for every Biennale.”

But even beyond that event, art is everywhere in Fort Kochi: in the blue Chinese tiles and multihued Belgian chandeliers of the 16th-century Paradesi Synagogue; in Jew Town’s antique shops, crammed with colorful idols, ivory doorknobs, carved spice boxes, and towering teakwood pillars; in the vivid murals of Mattancherry Palace; and in the painted faces and elaborate costumes of Kathakali dancers who perform nightly for tourists. The Biennale is just the latest expression of a creative inheritance centuries in the making.

Occupying a pair of converted dockside spice warehouses, Pepper House is one of the main exhibition venues for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. (Courtesy of Kochi-Muziris Biennale)

The Details

The sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale will run from December 12 to March 31, 2026. Titled “For the Time Being,” it is being curated by Nikhil Chopra, a multidisciplinary artist based in Goa.

For stays in the heart of Fort Kochi, Brunton Boatyard (from US$240 a night) is a lovely heritage hotel with 22 rooms overlooking the water. Nearby sister property Eighth Bastion (from US$130 a night) has an even more intimate vibe, with decor and food that celebrate the area’s Dutch legacy.

This article originally appeared in the October/November 2025 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“A Biennale by the Backwaters”). Buy a single issue or subscribe here.

How the Kochi-Muziris Biennale Draws from Its Storied Backdrop

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