India

Art in Kochi

Kochi, the historic port city on Kerala's Malabar Coast, is home to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India's largest contemporary art exhibition, which takes over the warehouses, heritage buildings and waterfront of Fort Kochi and Mattancherry every two years. The biennale's main venue, Aspinwall House, sits among spice merchants' godowns that have faced the harbor for centuries, and the festival has turned these working neighborhoods into one of Asia's most distinctive exhibition landscapes. Between editions, the city's spice-trade streets, Chinese fishing nets, small galleries and the Mattancherry palace quarter keep its art conversation going, and Kochi remains the natural starting point for exploring Kerala's wider cultural life.