The Kochi Biennale Foundation has named Algerian French artist, curator, and scholar Kader Attia as curator of the seventh edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which is scheduled to open in 2027. 

Inaugurated in 2012, the biennial is widely regarded as India’s first and largest contemporary art event of its kind, foregrounding local practices while engaging global discourse shaped by Kochi’s history as a port and trading hub.

Born in Dugny in 1970 and based between Berlin and Paris, Attia examines the ongoing ramifications of colonialism through installations, films, sculptures, and archival research, often articulated through his long-term engagement with the concept of “Repair.” He is a professor of time-based media at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg and has been recognized with the Marcel Duchamp Prize in Paris (2016), the Joan Miró Prize in Barcelona, and the Yanghyun Prize in Seoul (both 2017). In 2022, he curated the 12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. 

In a statement, Attia said he looks forward to drawing on Kochi’s layered cultural histories to frame both art and dreaming as forms of “repair,” adding that both the biennial and Kerala offer “the space-time to reclaim our sovereignty over our dreams.” 

His appointment was made by a curatorial selection committee chaired by the Kochi-Muziris Biennale president Jitish Kallat. Details of the biennial’s curatorial framework have yet to be announced. 

Yuqian Fan is an editorial assistant at ArtAsiaPacific.