Kochi Biennale's Bose Krishnamachari, Shubigi Rao make it to ArtReview’s POWER 100 list

More for the art fraternity of the country to be proud of! Two of India's most prominent contemporary artists – Bose Krishnamachari and Shubigi Rao -- have made it to the ArtReview’s POWER 100 list this year.

Krishnamachari, president, Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) and Rao, curator, Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2021, have been placed on the 85^th position in the list of the most influential people/group in the art world.

The anti-racial movement 'Black Lives Matter' tops this year's POWER 100 list.

Founded in 1949, ArtReview is one of the world’s leading international contemporary art magazines, dedicated to expanding contemporary art’s audience and reach, and tracing the ways it interacts with culture in general.

The Power 100 tracks who or what is influencing the art that’s being made today. It seeks to highlight what’s going on in the art world and who is providing it with momentum, the KBF said in a press release.

On selecting the duo for the coveted list, ArtReview said, “Having announced the first list of 25 participating artists in July this year, Rao, artist and curator of this year’s edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, and the biennale’s co-founder, director and president of the board, Krishnamachari, announced its postponement this October from December this year to next November. Despite that, the artist-led biennial remains an influential model for similar largescale shows outside the global north. In the meantime, the biennial distributed works made by artist friends during lockdown on its social media platforms, while the Students’ Biennale (normally concurrent with Kochi-Muziris) will now run online in February – so there’s plenty still to do. Earlier this year, Rao, who won the Singapore Literature Prize for the second volume of Pulp, her ongoing project tracing the history of banned books, wrote that the 5th edition of the biennale will embody ‘the joy of experiencing practices of divergent sensibilities, under conditions both joyful and grim’, and now has extra time to mull this over for the 2021 exhibition.”

Krishnamachari said he was honoured that they have been included in ArtReview's Power 100 list in 2020, the year which has been incredibly challenging for all in the arts sector. “ArtReview is one of the oldest art magazines in the world and since 2002 has published its annual Power 100 list. The list is compiled by an anonymous international committee of art world professionals, judged according to a person's ability to influence and shape the public's perspective of art. We therefore acknowledge this listing on behalf of all our colleagues at Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the patrons, sponsors and trustees of Kochi Biennale Foundation and all our domestic and international partners. We remain grateful to the government and the people of Kerala who have stood by us from the beginning. This honour is a testament to the hard work and sacrifice of many people," Krishnamachari said.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2021, In our Veins Flow Ink and Fire, together with a programme of seminars, screenings, performances and workshops, will run for 120 days from November 01, 2021 to February 28, 2022 at various sites across the city of Kochi.