Archive · 19 Sep 2026
Kader Attia Sets Repair-Focused Vision for Kochi Biennale
Kader Attia is an artist who will organize the next Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
The biennale is a large art exhibition in Kochi, India.
Attia previously showed his work there in 2014.
He thinks Kochi is special because many cultures and religions have met there over hundreds of years.
His main idea is called “repair.”
He believes fixing something should sometimes leave its marks instead of pretending it was never damaged.
He wants the exhibition to show how people and cultures are connected by history.
Attia also believes art can help people with different views spend time together peacefully.
He hopes art can help society build a better future.
French-Algerian artist Kader Attia will curate the seventh Kochi-Muziris Biennale, scheduled to begin next December.
Attia says Kochi’s layered history, religious diversity, and trading links will shape the exhibition.
His curatorial approach centers on “repair” as a process that preserves traces of damage rather than erasing them.
Attia wants to explore cultural exchange before the digital era, including the movement of language, food, and religions.
He believes art can promote tolerance, connect divided people, and offer a counterforce to destruction and social chaos.
- Who
- Internationally acclaimed French-Algerian artist Kader Attia.
- What
- He will curate the seventh edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
- When
- The appointment was revealed after his selection in April; the seventh edition is scheduled to begin in December next year.
- Where
- Kochi, Kerala, India, including venues in Fort Kochi.
- Why
- Attia wants to examine repair, historical traces, cultural exchange, conflict, and art’s potential to connect people.
Replacement and Erasure
Repair and Preservation
How societies respond to damage
Replacement and Erasure
Attia critiques a Western modern and neoliberal approach that treats damaged objects as things to smooth over or replace with new ones.
Repair and Preservation
Attia favors repair that keeps visible cracks and marks, seeing them as evidence of history and a way to give damaged things new life.
Art’s role in society
Replacement and Erasure
The destructive forces Attia describes promote conflict, inequality, hate, and what he calls social entropy.
Repair and Preservation
Attia argues that art can act as a counterforce to destruction by encouraging tolerance and bringing people with different views together.
- Curator
- Kader Attia
- Event
- Seventh edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale
- Schedule
- Begins in December next year
- Previous participation
- Attia exhibited at the biennale’s second edition in 2014
- Central idea
- Repair as a process that can preserve cracks, wounds, and historical traces
- Kochi’s significance
- A historic meeting place shaped by trade, migration, and multiple religions
- Earlier curatorial role
- Attia curated the Berlin Biennale in 2022