Shubigi Rao

Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India
Curator

Shubigi Rao is an artist, writer and curator. She was Artistic Director for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2021. Rao’s works have been showed in exhibitions across the world, including at the 4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2018. The appointment as Artistic Director is in keeping with the Biennale’s tradition of having an artist as the curator. Rao’s interests include archaeology, neuroscience, libraries, archival systems, histories and lies, literature and violence, ecologies and natural history. Her work was included, among others, in the 10th Taipei Biennial (2016), 3rd Pune Biennale (2017), 2nd Singapore Biennale (2008) and the Singapore Writers Festival (2013, 2016). She’s also the author of many books, including two volumes of Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book (2016, 2018), a decade-long film, book and visual art project about the history of book destruction.

Shubigi Rao was invited for a curatorial research trip in 2019 when she was announced as Artistic Director for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

Shabigi Rao. Photo: Courtesy of Kathrin Leisch.