Five lakh visited Biennale in three months

KOCHI: Nearly five lakh people have visited the ongoing third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) since it got underway three months ago on 12/12/16, living up to the event’s reputation as the biggest celebration of contemporary art in South Asia. The figure takes into account both ticketed and non-ticketed entries to the 12 Biennale venues as well as the crowds seen at the special programmes – including talks, film screenings, music and dance performances – taking place on the sidelines of the main exhibition. With the next few weeks featuring a stellar line-up of exciting events and experiences, KMB 2016 is on track to be the best attended edition of India’s only Biennale yet.

Over its runs in 2012 and 2014, KMB had received about four lakh and five lakh visitors respectively. “I have been a regular at the Biennale, having visited each of the three editions many times. This year, the crowds have been very good whether it’s a weekday or the weekend. Sometimes, I have had to wait for more than half an hour to get in!” said Giridhar Virmani, who works at a tech firm in the city. The ‘Closing Week’, from March 22-29, is expected to be especially busy with encore performances by KMB 2016 participating artists Anamika Haksar, Padmini Chettur and Zuleikha Chaudhuri on the stage. In the opening week, the shows saw an average of 300 visitors attend daily.

The Biennale’s ‘Free Entry Monday’ policy continues to see strong crowds throng the venues despite the start of the workweek. Two Mondays, December 26 and January 2, brought in record one-day turnouts of 20,000 and 25,000 visitors respectively. “We are still getting calls and people keep coming in to ask about rooms for the end of March. I have been working here for over a year, but the last few months are the busiest I have seen. It was not like this last year,” said Shubroto, who mans the reception at the White Rose hotel in Fort Kochi. “This is the Biennale effect,” noted autorickshaw driver M. Abdu, who said he never had to worry about customers in a Biennale year.