Fort Kochi Biennale Morning Walk

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is HERE! and this year’s theme “For the Time Being”: exploring performance, embodied knowledge, and how art becomes a conversation about memory and resistance.

Come lets celebrate Kochi Bianale the Unventured Way, where every installation, video, soundscape, and found object is a way for human beings to leave behind a trace of how they saw the world. This half-day Unventured walk through Fort Kochi and Mattancherry is your way into that world, focusing on the 2025-26 curatorial theme of “For the Time Being”: exploring performance, embodied knowledge, and how art becomes a conversation about memory and resistance.

The Unventured Difference

Unventured believes in curating authentic, immersive experiences through the eyes of locals, going beyond the typical tourist itinerary to find the hidden stories. We don’t just guide you through “must-see works”; your local tour leader is a storyteller who weaves together three distinct strands:

The Art & The Body: This edition, curated by performance artist Nikhil Chopra, views the entire Biennale as a “corporeal experience” where the venues are bodies, the art is the flesh, and the visitors are the blood. Your guide will help you experience art with all your senses, engaging with performance and site-responsive works in a personal, intimate way, rather than explaining it with dense jargon.

A Living History: We connect the art to the layered history of Kochi as a global trading port. You’ll step into 19th-century warehouses that once stored spices and now host cutting-edge contemporary art, feeling the continuity of trade and cultural exchange that has shaped this coast for centuries.

Local Life: The walk is designed to integrate the art festival with the everyday rhythms of Fort Kochi’s streets, cafés, and communities. We ensure small group sizes to foster dialogue with your tour leader and local residents, making the experience dynamic and responsive.

By the end of the walk, the Biennale stops being an intimidating “art event” and becomes something more intimate: a series of conversations between artists, a port city, and you.

Who can do this tour?

This walk is ideal if you:

• Are curious about contemporary art, even (especially) if you don’t “know much about it”.
• Enjoy slow travel – walking, pausing, sitting with a work, rather than ticking boxes.
• Want to understand Fort Kochi not just as a pretty heritage town, but as a living, postcolonial city still negotiating trade, migration and climate.
• Are comfortable walking 3–4 kilometres in warm, humid weather, enjoying the sights and sounds along the way.

You don’t need prior art history knowledge. You just need curiosity, an open mind, and comfortable walking shoes.

(Exact sequence may vary depending on Biennale programming and crowd flow.)

• 8:30 AM – Meet your Unventured tour leader at the entrance of St Francis CSI Church, learn about the beginnings of art in Kochi and its connection to its culture, people and religion. Your tour leader will also introduce you to the Biennale, its curatorial theme and how to “read” contemporary art without jargon.
• 8:30 – 9:30 AM – Start your day with a guided walk through Kochi’s street art, learn about the beginning of Art and the canvas that Kochi becomes holding space for some of the most intriguing art works.
• 9:30 – 10:30 AM – Walk through key works at Aspinwall House – large installations, video works and site-responsive art that set the tone for the morning. Short break by the waterfront.
• 10:30 – 11:30 AM – Walk to Cabral Yard and explore outdoor installations, Continue to David Hall. Engage with one or two carefully chosen exhibits; hear stories of Dutch Kochi, spice trade and how old homes have been repurposed into art spaces.
• 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM – Stroll via the harbourfront to Pepper House and Dutchware House. Explore its galleries and courtyard; talk about residencies, artist studios and how the Biennale supports emerging voices..
• 12:15 – 12:30 PM – Closing circle: reflections, questions, and suggestions for how you can continue exploring the Biennale on your own for the rest of the day. You can alternatively choose to join our afternoon Biannale walk that begins at 4:00 AM in Mattancherry.

What you’ll experience

• Aspinwall House – Where the Sea Meets the Gallery
  Aspinal House is a 19th-century waterfront complex built by English trader John H. Aspinwall – once filled with sacks of spices headed for ships, today it anchors the Biennale as its primary venue. The long, white façade along the water and cavernous halls inside create a dramatic backdrop for large-scale installations, sound works and video pieces by leading artists from India and around the world.
• Cabral Yard & Kashi Art Café – Open-Air Ideas
  Once an industrial coir-pressing yard, Cabral Yard is now a tree-lined pavilion space where commissioned works often spill into the open air—sculpture, performance, and community-based projects. A short walk away, Kashi Art Café blends art into an accessible, informal setting, reflecting how the Biennale’s ideas flow seamlessly into everyday life
• David Hall – Dutch Bungalow, Contemporary Conversations
  A beautifully restored 17th-century Dutch bungalow turned art gallery, David Hall is where colonial architecture meets new media and experimental practices. Quiet verandas, thick laterite walls and leafy gardens create a contemplative setting for smaller, tightly curated shows that change with every Biennale edition. 
• Pepper House – From Spice Godown to Artists’ Hub
  This twin-godown complex on Calvathy Road once stored spices destined for ships. Today it holds galleries, studios and a courtyard café. In past editions, Pepper House has hosted residencies, workshops and mid-scale installations; it remains one of the most atmospheric venues to experience the Biennale’s blend of art, archive and everyday life. 
• Dutch Warehouse – Grand Scale, Quiet Echoes
  Along the Fort Kochi waterfront, the Dutch Warehouse offers soaring ceilings and long, echoing halls – perfect for ambitious sculptural and sound works. Here, the history of maritime trade and the immensity of the architecture amplify the themes artists are working with: migration, labour, oceans, and time. 
• Throughout the walk, your tour leader helps decode key works at each venue, while also leaving space for you to respond, question, and bring in your own associations.