Last Updated on September 21, 2026 by admin
Kochi Biennale 2026: For the Time Being
Every two years, Kochi dresses up for art. The sixth Kochi-Muziris Biennale, titled For the Time Being, opened on 12 December 2025 and ran for 110 days, until March 31, 2026, curated by artist Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces. It brought 66 artists and collectives from over 20 countries to the city, and it didn’t stay inside gallery walls. The whole city seemed decked up for and around the Biennale, from the heritage lanes of Fort Kochi to Mattancherry, Willingdon Island and Ernakulam.
The Biennale Across Kochi
The exhibition was spread across 29 venues in those four parts of the city, and Aspinwall House served as the central hub. Among the main venues were the Coir Godown and the Director’s Bungalow at Aspinwall House, Pepper House, Anand Warehouse, SMS Hall in Mattancherry, Island Warehouse on Willingdon Island and the Durbar Hall Art Centre; see this venue guide for more. The Biennale is India’s first, and South Asia’s longest-running, contemporary art biennale, and it is often called the “People’s Biennale” and the “Artists’ Biennale”. I visited in the final week of this edition (24–27 March), so this post is a photo diary of the paintings, installations, sculptures and wall texts that stayed with me, plus the Kochi scenery in between. Follow the Biennale on Instagram at @kochibiennale, and read more about its history on Wikipedia.
Where I Stayed: Brunton Boatyard
For the Biennale I stayed at Brunton Boatyard, a heritage hotel by CGH Earth that overlooks the harbour and is set in a colonial building that used to be a boatyard. It sits right next door to Aspinwall House, the Biennale’s main venue, and that decided it for me, because I could walk to the art in the morning and be back by the water in the evening. Even the raintrees in its green courtyard were planted by the British, and the sea-facing rooms look out over the Arabian Sea and Cochin Harbour, with Fort Kochi’s old harbour life passing by outside.
A Sunset Cruise on Cochin Harbour
The day we reached the city, the hotel took us out in the evening for the boat cruise.
On our first evening, the day before we started the Biennale tour, the hotel arranged a complimentary cruise on its own boat, leaving from the hotel’s private jetty for a trip around Cochin Harbour at sunset. We saw fishing boats going about their evening, the famous Chinese fishing nets, and lots of birds over the water, all under a beautiful sunset. We passed a few islands and got a glimpse of life along the coast, including some nice seafood restaurants right by the seaside. It was an unhurried, quiet way to settle in before a few days of art.
Why Kochi Is the Perfect Setting for a Biennale
Kochi Biennale 2026 felt especially memorable because the art and the city kept speaking to each other. Walking between venues takes you past old warehouses, quiet courtyards, cafés and the working harbour, so Fort Kochi becomes part of the exhibition rather than just its backdrop. Leave room to wander instead of treating the Biennale as a checklist: some of the best moments come in the pauses between installations, when the history of the port and the art begin to feel like one conversation.
Here are a few pics I took in Kochi, the gallery for Biennale is separate, further down on this page.
Next Day we started on our toue of the biennale and it was unlike anything we have seen, beauitfully curated and managed across multiple venues.
Here is a video of the Biennale and then some pictures of it. Do let me know what you think of it in the comments below.
