Swiss sculptors and installation artists Bob Gramsma and Latifa Echakhch will be in Kochi this December to participate in the Biennale.

Andreas Koller will be working on the Biennale’s short catalogue and review catalogue.

Swiss artists, Bob Gramsma and Latifa Echakhch have been invited by the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016, which is to open for public viewing on 12 December 2016.

Andreas Koller, an interaction designer and visual artist, who is currently a designer at EPFL+ECAL Lab in Lausanne, will be the Editor of the Biennale’s short catalogue and review catalogue. The objective of this collaboration is to increase and intensify Pro Helvetia – Swiss Artist’s engagement and emphasise the potential of intercultural engagement and skill sharing.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is a platform that aims to introduce contemporary international visual art theory and practice in the region while showcasing new Indian and international aesthetics and art initiatives. For more information on Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 visit https://www.kochimuzirisbiennale.org/

About the participating artists

BOB GRAMSMA
Bob Gramsma is a Swiss/Dutch sculptor and installation artist who lives and works in Zurich. Consistent throughout Gramsma’s career has been an engagement with space and how the body mediates itself through space, time, imagination and thinking, all at once. Since the beginning of the 1990s the artist has been concerned with creating spaces and their inextricable connections to people. His sculptural and installation works raise the question of how space is conceived and how this has an effect on our consciousness. For over 20 years Gramsma has exhibited extensively, including at the Kunst (Zeug) Haus, Rapperswil; Kunstmuseum Sankt Gallen, St.Gallen; Helmhaus, Zurich; Kunsthaus CentrePasquArt Centre d’art, Biel; FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon; Kunstverein Ulm; Kunstverein Ruhr, Essen; Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius; MoMA PS1, New York; Swiss Institute, New York; Vögele Kultur Zentrum, Pfäffikon; Kunstmuseum, Bern; and the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon. Gramsma has presented major projects as part of Art Public Chur 2016 in Chur; Lokaltermin Schwamendingen, Art in public space in Zurich; Môtiers 2015 – Art en plein air in Môtiers; the Turtmann Triennale of 2013 in Wallis; and the 2011 Bex & Arts Triennale de sculpture contemporaine en plain air, Bex. More: www.bobgramsma.com

LATIFA ECHAKHCH
Latifa Echakhch was born in 1974 in El Khnansa, Morocco, grew up in France and now lives in Fully, Switzerland. Echakhch’s installation and sculptural works are characterised by simple and bold gestures and materials. She interrogates themes and issues ranging from individual and cultural identity, to personal and collective histories, and sociopolitical contexts such as current international migration and humanitarian conditions. Echakhch has presented solo exhibitions at the Protocinema, Istanbul; Portikus, Frankfurt am Main; Kunsthaus, Zurich; Museum Haus Esters, Kunstmuseen, Krefeld; Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona; and Tate Modern, London. Her work has been featured in thematic exhibitions internationally, such as EMERGE SELECTIONS 2016, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 2016; Nel mezzo del mezzo, Palazzo Riso, Palermo; DECORUM, Museé d’Art Moderne, Paris; It is what it is. Or is it?, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 2012; ILLUMInations, Venice Biennale, Venice, 2011; 21st Century: Art in the First Decade, Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2010; Flow, Studio Museum Harlem, New York, 2008; and, Global Feminisms, Brooklyn Museum, New York and Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 2007.

ANDREAS KOLLER
Andreas has studied at the Academy of Art and Design in Basel and holds a master’s in History and Theory of Architecture from ETH Zurich. He has edited and contributed to various arts publications. As Head of Publication of the 2016/2017 iteration of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, he edited the show’s catalog which was awarded with the price “The Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2016”.

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