French Algerian artist, curator, and educator Kader Attia has been appointed curator of the Seventh Kochi-Muziris Biennale, scheduled to open in Kochi, India, in December 2027. The selection was made by a jury led by Biennale president Jitish Kallat and including Shilpa Gupta, Amrita Jhaveri, Pooja Sood, Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, Mariam Ram, and Rirkrit Tiravanija. Attia, who participated in the 2014 edition of the biennale, is known for his practice addressing social injustice, postcolonialism, and marginalized communities, and previously curated the 2022 Berlin Biennale.
The appointment matters because it brings a prominent artist-curator with a strong pedagogical and postcolonial focus to one of Asia's most significant biennials, signaling a continued commitment to socially engaged and globally connected curatorial frameworks. Attia's proposal was praised for its poetic range and flexible structure, promising to connect Kochi's multilayered cultural influences with diverse artistic practices and publics, reinforcing the biennale's role as a platform for critical dialogue and cross-cultural exchange.