India’s Biennale Effect

India’s Kochi-Muziris Biennale has been described as one of the most significant newly emergent biennales, alongside Shanghai, Sharjah and Dakar. This book presents a close reading of the unique context of the Kochi Biennale as well as sets out a broader critical framework for understanding global, contemporary art and its effects.

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India’s Kochi-Muziris Biennale has been described as one of the most significant newly emergent biennales, alongside Shanghai, Sharjah and Dakar. However, there have been few sustained and critical studies of these events as specific sites of production and reception of contemporary art.

This book, engaging with the Kochi Biennale, provides detailed examination of what the editors term as the ‘biennale effect’ — a layered contestation of place, economics, art and politics. It presents a close reading of the unique context of the biennale as well as sets out a broader critical framework for understanding global contemporary art and its effects.

Replete with illustrations, this book will serve as an important and rare resource for scholars and researchers of contemporary art, art history, visual cultures, and media studies.