4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: May 8, 2026 08:48 PM IST
In a year when the Venice Biennale is witnessing a strong presence from India, including its National Pavilion, it seemed only fitting that the announcement of the curator for the next edition of the country’s own biennale was made in the city of canals. On May 8, Jitish Kallat, president of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), announced that the biennale’s seventh edition, which will open in Kochi in December 2027, will be curated by French-Algerian artist Kader Attia. He will be the first international curator of the biennale since it began in 2012.
Speaking about Attia in a statement issued, Kallat stated, “Kader Attia brings to the biennale artistic depth, curatorial openness and a strong pedagogic sensibility. The committee was drawn to the poetic range and generative potential of his proposal, and to the flexible curatorial framework it offered for bringing multiple artistic practices, histories, and publics into meaningful relation in Kochi. Attia had previously participated in the 2014 edition of the KMB and we look forward to the ways in which his curatorial vision will take shape in Kochi.”
Attia was selected by a committee chaired by Kallat, which comprised as its members artists Shilpa Gupta and Rirkrit Tiravanija, gallerist Amrita Jhaveri, director of Khoj and curator Pooja Sood, director of BDL Museum Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, and Managing Director of TNQ Technologies and KBF trustee Mariam Ram. At the 2014 edition of the biennale, curated by Kallat, Attia had exhibited his work Independence Disillusionment that explored the complex legacy of colonialism in the Middle East and Africa. In December 2025, he also delivered the inaugural Vivan Sundaram Memorial Lecture in Kochi.
Kader Attia with Jitish Kallat. (Photo Credit – Hélène des Rieux, 2027)
On his appointment as the curator of the next edition of KMB, Attia noted, “Ever since I visited Kochi for the first time, I have dreamed of coming back and building connections between the many intertwined influences that are at the core of this culturally multi-layered city. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this desire to life on the scale of a biennial, together with the fantastic team of the KMB, for its seventh edition. Dreams repair us, like art… and the biennale, as well as Kerala, will give us the space-time to reclaim our sovereignty over our dreams.”
One of India’s most prestigious art events, the sixth edition of the biennale, curated by artist Nikhil Chopra and his team HH Art Spaces, concluded in March 2026. In January, this year, it’s co-founder Bose Krishnamachari also resigned from the posts of president of KMB and member of the Board of Trustees of Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF).
Incidentally, Attia’s work is currently showing at the Venice Biennale.
The 1970 France-born artist and curator is best known for exploring themes of colonialism, memory, identity, migration and the conceptual and material practice of repair — “how the act of mending reveals as much as it conceals”. Winner of prestigious awards such as the Joan Miró Prize (2017), Prix Marcel Duchamp (2016), Cairo Biennale Prize (2009) and Abraaj Capital Art Prize (2009), he was also curator of the 12th Berlin Biennale (2022), and his works are in the collections of Sharjah Art Foundation; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tate Gallery, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, among others.
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Dr Venu V, Chairperson of the KBF, stated in a release, “The sixth edition of the KMB was remarkable in many ways. It reaffirmed the biennale’s role as a vibrant space for dialogue, imagination and inclusiveness. The announcement of the new curator, Kader Attia, marks the beginning of a fresh artistic journey — one that will continue to challenge, inspire, and connect global voices with our local realities. We are committed to building on this legacy with new ideas, deeper engagements, and bold artistic explorations, while remaining rooted in Kochi’s unique cultural fabric.”
Receiving support from the Government of Kerala besides arts councils, embassies, philanthropists and corporate sponsors, among others, the previous editions of the biennale have been curated by artists such as Kallat (2014-2015) Sudarshan Shetty (2016-17), Anita Dube (2018-19) and Shubigi Rao (2022-23). Its first edition in 2012 was curated by its co-founders Riyas Komu and Krishnamachari, who had initially ideated the event in 2010 with the then culture minister of Kerala, MA Baby.
