When the name of Jitish Kallat was announced as the new curator for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale for its forthcoming second edition at the Hotel International in Kochi, the bevy of press photographers and cameramen surrounded him, as they would if a Bollywood star descended in their midst. Jitish looked genuinely pleased with the appointment even though the accomplished artist also knew it might halt his own art practice for a while.
The language journalists made the Mumbaikar speak in broken, Thrissur accent Malayalam. The man who was born and brought up in Mumbai obliged them but made it clear that he wouldn’t like his Kerala roots to have any impact on his curating of the Biennale, the biggest art event of its kind in the country. Parochial concerns are unlikely to influence him but only great ideas, he made it clear. Talking of his vision for the next biennale, he said, “Let us hope it will be different but the genetic link will remain and it will be the continuation of the same language…I want to bring a new set of tools to work with the same set of ideas.”
Jitish described how he was a ‘distracted viewer’ during the first biennale, watching both the art as well as the reaction of the local audience to it. “The kind of installations and video art was unfamiliar to the local audience but they adapted to it and some even sat through entire videos. This process will certainly continue.”
Born in Borivali and raised in Bandra, Jitish somehow knew that his destiny lay in art. He had enough drawing skills to help his sister with her botany projects before eventually joining the JJ School of Art. “Once there, the first smell of oil paint sealed my fate,” says the artist who dabbles in different media. He has organised shows in prestigious galleries around the world and has taken part in leading biennales but the latest assignment will be a new challenge for him.
