The Kochi-Muziris Biennale: India’s Largest Art Exhibition, in an Old Spice Port

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is the largest art exhibition in India and one of the largest festivals of contemporary art in South Asia. It takes place in Kochi, on the coast of Kerala, in the old colonial quarter of Fort Kochi and in neighbouring Mattancherry and Ernakulam. Its exhibition halls are disused spice warehouses, trading company offices and bungalows, many of them on the water.

How it began

The Kochi Biennale Foundation was established in 2010 by two artists from Kerala who had made their careers in Mumbai, Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu. The first edition opened on 12 December 2012, a date written 12/12/12, and ran until March 2013. It showed some 80 artists, about half of them from outside India. No exhibition of this kind had been held in the country before.

The name joins two ports. Kochi rose as a harbour in the fourteenth century. Muziris was its ancient predecessor on the same coast, a trading port known to Greek and Roman sailors, which later disappeared. The title points to a history of exchange that is far older than the European forts.

The editions

Each edition has been directed by an artist, not by a professional curator, which gives the Biennale its character. Editions have opened on or near 12 December. The third, in 2016, was curated by the Mumbai sculptor Sudarshan Shetty and drew more than 600,000 visitors. The fourth, in 2018, was curated by Anita Dube.

The fifth, curated by the Singapore-based artist Shubigi Rao under the title “In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire”, was postponed twice because of the pandemic and opened to the public in December 2022. A group of participating artists published an open letter criticising the management. The sixth edition, For the Time Being, was curated by the artist Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces. It ran from 12 December 2025 to 31 March 2026 across 29 venues in Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Willingdon Island and Ernakulam, with Aspinwall House again at its centre. The dates of the next edition had not been announced in the sources we found.

The venues

Aspinwall House. The central venue is a large sea-facing compound of offices, warehouses and a bungalow that once belonged to a British trading firm. Installations fill the lofts and open onto the harbour.

Pepper House. A warehouse built around a courtyard between the street and the waterfront, with a café and a library.

David Hall. A Dutch bungalow facing the parade ground.

Durbar Hall. A public gallery in Ernakulam, on the mainland, reached by ferry.

The line-up of venues changes from edition to edition. Works also appear in the streets and on walls across the district, and a parallel Students’ Biennale shows the work of students from art schools around the country.

Fort Kochi itself

The setting is part of the visit. The Portuguese were granted this site in 1503 and built the first European fort in India. The Dutch took it in 1663 and the British in 1795. St Francis Church, first built in 1503, is where Vasco da Gama was originally buried. The cantilevered Chinese fishing nets along the shore are thought to have been introduced by Chinese traders in the fourteenth century. In Mattancherry are a palace with painted murals and the Paradesi Synagogue of the old Jewish community. All of these lie within a short ride of the exhibition halls.

For travellers

The Biennale is held every two years in principle, from mid-December to the end of March, though the calendar has slipped more than once and should be checked. Allow two full days for the main venues. They are spread along the waterfront and can be covered on foot, by bicycle or by auto-rickshaw. Several halls are not air-conditioned, and mornings and late afternoons are the comfortable hours. Check the Foundation’s site for ticketing.

December to February is also the best season for the rest of Kerala. The exhibition combines naturally with a night on the backwaters and with the hills.