BMW is partnering with Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India’s inaugural festival of international contemporary art. Kochi-Muziris Biennale in partnership with BMW announce a curated programme of video series on urbanism.

Munich/Kochi. India’s first festival of international contemporary art, the Kochi Muziris-Biennale, is taking place from December 12, 2012 to March 13, 2013 in spaces across Kochi, Muziris and surrounding islands in the region of Kerala. The Biennale endeavours to create a cultural impact both locally and globally, bringing international artists to India and providing a worldwide platform for Indian artists. Indian and other artists will showcase contemporary visual art mediums in existing galleries and halls, and site-specific installations in public spaces, heritage buildings and disused structures. Over 80 artists from over 35 countries have been selected to participate in the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012. 

In the next three months, the Biennale’s exhibition will be accompanied by a rich programme of talks, seminars, screenings, music, workshops and educational activities for school children and students of all ages. Co-founded and co-curated by two of India’s leading artists, Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu, the Biennale is designed to create a platform to introduce contemporary visual art to India as well as to enable a dialogue among international and Indian artists and the widest possible public. Alongside the development of visual arts in India, a key aim of the Kochi Biennale Foundation is to serve as a catalyst for regeneration and urban development. 

In the spirit of initiatives such as the BMW Guggenheim Lab, open since December 9, 2012 in Mumbai, BMW enlarges its cultural engagement in projects addressing issues for urban life. In collaboration with leading Indian and international architects, urban planners and artists, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in partnership with BMW, will commission and produce a series of filmed interviews exploring the topics and challenges facing urbanism in India and other developing regions. This partnership initiative will be an important element of the Kochi Biennale Foundation’s research program and develop the large-scale cultural project’s theme of ‘cosmopolitanism and inclusiveness’. All interviews and discussions will be filmed and screened at a symposium as part of the closing week programme in March 2013. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale will then take place every two years in Kochi and Muziris, India. 

More information on the BMW Group’s cultural involvement: www.bmwgroup.com/culture and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview

About BMW’s Cultural Commitment

For more than 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of its long-term commitment on modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group's Munich headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim and Anna Netrebko have co-operated with BMW. The company has also commissioned famous architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au to design important corporate buildings and plants. In 2011, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a global initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Guggenheim Museum and the BMW Group celebrated its world premiere in New York. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted – as this is just as essential for groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business.

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI, Husqvarna Motorcycles  and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 29 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries. 

In 2011, the BMW Group sold about 1.67 million cars and more than 113,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2011 was euro 7.38 billion on revenues amounting to euro 68.82 billion. At 31 December 2011, the BMW Group had a workforce of approximately 100,000 employees. 

The success of the BMW Group has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. As a result of its efforts, the BMW Group has been ranked industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the last eight years. 

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For questions please contact: 

Dr. Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs

Head of Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49-(0)89-382-24753, Fax: +49-(0)89-382-10881

Internet: www.press.bmwgroup.com

E-mail: presse@bmw.de

Michelangelo Bendandi

Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Director of Communications
Tel.: +91 9562 905 508