The Kochi-Muziris Biennale-2014 stays clear of snob appeal, while its location is highly relevant and part of the success, according to Swiss Ambassador to India Dr Linus von Castelmur, who said that the 108-day festival was a perfect forum to foster cultural exchange between the two nations. Simultaneously, Norwegian Ambassador Eivind S Homme said, “the Biennale could be the beginning of another beginning. Spread across eight venues in the city, the event inspires us to think in new ways. We feel challenged,” he noted.

The growth trajectory of the biennial is, of course, similar to that of the contemporary art museum and the commercial art fair, and accompanied by similar commentaries about their links to globalization, to imminent saturation of the market and to “instrumental” motives that are only tangentially related to cultural production but umbilically related to tourism, economic development and urban regeneration.