Behind the scenes at a hybrid biennale

Photographer: Sharan Ragesh

In December, we spoke to Chennai Photo Biennale co-founder Shuchi Kapoor about how the festival had altered course and had become a hybrid event. We follow that up with a look behind the scenes as the biennale unfolded, with candid photos from Sharan Ragesh.

Ran into a glitch while on an artist talk with Jane Jin Kaisen.

Sarabhi Ravichandran, one of the exhibiting artists, on the phone with another artist, Andreas Langfeld, finalising the layout of the pictures for the physical showcase.

Exhibiting Artist Siva Sai Jeevanantham (right) is explaining the layout and how he wants his installations at Forum Art Gallery to co-curator Bhooma Padmanabhan.

The four curators at a hybrid event, two of them attending virtually. On stage, Bhooma Padmanabhan and Arko Datto (taking a photograph on his phone) and on the screen in the backdrop, Boaz Levin (left) and Kerstin Meincke.

Exhibiting artist Parvathi Nayar (left) rehearsing the flow of her presentation and making last minute corrections with CPB’s programming manager, Priya Mohan.

Participants in an artist talk with Jane Jin Kaisen at Goethe-Institut/MMB, Chennai.

CPB Foundation co-founder, Shuchi Kapoor (left, corner) introducing exhibiting artist Parvathi Nayar (right) and co-curator Bhooma Padmanabhan. Nayanthara Nayar (top, projected on screen) joins in.

Photographs of the audience being taken while social media is being updated.

Recording the guided tours given by the knowledge guides for reference use.

A member of the social media team posting live updates during the inauguration ceremony.

Video artwork of artist Jane Jin Kaisen being showcased at Goethe-Institut/MMB.

A team member sets up a camera to stream the artist talk by Sridhar Balasubramanium (left) and Siva Sai Jeevanantham (centre) with co-curator Bhooma Padmanabhan.

Artist talk with Tobias Zielony via Zoom moderated by co-curator Boaz Levin.

Harun Farocki’s video artwork being showcased during one of the virtual guided tours.

Artist Parvathi Nayar speaking during one of the virtual guided tours.

Artist talk by Anais Tondeur moderated by co-curator Arko Datto on Zoom.

Some screenshots from the online preview of the student showcase Land of Stories.