For internationally-renowned art curator Sheena Wagstaff, a tour of the venues of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 was a revelatory experience.

“There are those who have said that there is a proliferation of biennales every year. I wasn’t here for the first edition of the Kochi Biennale, but I’m very impressed with this edition for a number of reasons,” says Ms. Wagstaff, who chairs the department of modern and contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

She toured Aspinwall House, Durbar Hall and other venues of the Biennale on Sunday, and met KMB-2014 artistic director Jitish Kallat, organisers of the Biennale, and artists.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale doesn’t, as most biennales do, contain just artists who are already on the international art circuit. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be included, but there is a clear attempt on the part of Jitish Kallat, himself an artist, to evaluate how each work stands on its own and in relation to the overall theme,” she says.

As she walked through the venues of the Biennale, one of the things that stood out was the overwhelming participation of the public. Art students, schoolchildren, and families viewed the exhibition standing alongside the biggest names in the world of contemporary art. She believes that the Kochi Biennale’s ability to draw both established names in the global contemporary art scene and local people is a mark of its success. “The exhibition sets the bar high for any Biennale, certainly in Kochi, for India, and the rest of the region.”

(The Hindu)