Kochi’s backwaters hold histories often unheard. Stories shaped by Dalit communities who built the region’s islands from mud and silt, yet were denied the freedom to move on land. In 1913, when public spaces excluded them, a hundred people led by Krishnathi Ashan gathered on tied boats in the middle of the river, forming the legendary Kayal Sammelanam, a powerful act of resistance and collective dignity.This performance, rooted in the idea of water memory, listens to these submerged histories. A water-resistant microphone placed in Kochi’s backwaters captures live underwater acoustics, transmitted in real time and intertwined with pre-recorded sonic textures. Local artists respond with songs, oral traditions, and spoken word, drawing from Dalit Renaissance struggles and lived experiences. Together, these voices of water, memory, and community create a space where the backwaters speak, reminding us that resistance flows, accumulates, and resounds.The performance unfolds inside a moving Water Metro boat, turning the act of transit into a listening chamber. Audience capacity is limited; entry is by prior registration. Kindly RSVP to be part of this floating gathering of sound, history, and remembrance. About the Artist and CollaboratorsAravind Chedayan is a multidisciplinary artist, folk singer, performer, and photographer, based between Kochi and Delhi. He completed a BFA from RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Rippunithura, Kerala, and an MA in Visual Art from the School of Culture and Creative Expressions, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Delhi. His practice revisits and reimagines the lived realities of subaltern life, weaving together themes of labor, the body, environment, sound, and music. Chedayan’s work delves into the nuanced experiences of marginalized communities, spotlighting their resilience, creativity, and cultural expressions often overlooked in mainstream narratives.By exploring the everyday spaces, labor, and soundscapes that shape subaltern existence, he transforms these realities into visual and sensory narratives that honor their dignity and wisdom. His art emphasizes the body as a vessel of resistance and sound as a carrier of cultural memory, creating immersive works that blend traditional and contemporary forms. Through his practice, Chedayan aims to elevate subaltern experiences, inviting viewers to recognize their profound impact on our collective cultural heritage. He received the AAA–Inlaks Art Grant 2025 for archiving Kerala folk songs. Aasma Tulika is an artist currently based in Delhi. Her practice engages with belief systems and their entanglement with technology and social relations. She works with written and unwritten codes, fictional scenarios, and peer networks to speculate on the structural layers of complicity between protocols, communications systems, historical time, and their effects on everyday life. These inquiries take the form of video installations, albums, performances, and publications. Kaushal Sapre is an artist based in Delhi. His work has to do with rethinking the self and the social in everyday techniques. He develops web servers, manages an internet radio station, writes software, teaches courses around art and technology, stages images and objects, and makes and performs with experimental sound instruments. Recent appearances include Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Madrid (2024); Watermans Art Center, London (2023); Kunsthalle Bern (2023); Hangzhou Triennale for Fiber Art (2022); Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2022), Five Million Incidents, Delhi (2020). Raji V. B. is a folk singer and scholar based in Kochi. Her work focuses on researching, collecting, and performing Naadanpattu, engaging deeply with oral traditions, community histories, and folk knowledge systems of Kerala. Rajagopal is a folk singer from Kollam with over 25 years of experience in Naadanpattu. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his significant contribution to preserving and performing Kerala’s folk music traditions.Rajaneesh Pandalam is an artist and percussionist from Kollam with over 15 years of experience in Naadanpattu. His practice draws from rooted folk rhythms and performance traditions, engaging deeply with Kerala’s oral and musical heritage.Prasheed is a folk singer from Kochi with over 25 years of experience in Naadanpattu. His practice is deeply rooted in the songs that emerge from Kochi’s landscape, reflecting its histories, communities, and lived cultural traditions. The performance is part of the KNMA’s Rolling Museum series, this edition curated by Avik Debdas and Chinmoy Deori. Rolling Museum is a curatorial programme, initiated and conceptualised by Avik Debdas. It transforms the concept of a museum into a dynamic, moving entity, weaving art seamlessly into the fabric of urban, sub-urban or rural life. Rooted in the philosophical idea of 'praxis', the process by which theory, lessons, or skills are enacted, embodied, or realized. This programme invites artists/ groups/ collectives to engage in various kinds of public interventions and community engagement programmes. Decentralizing the museum experience, the programme tries to redefine public space as an ever-evolving cultural landscape, encouraging dialogic acts, where artists choose their sites for the performance or any sort of engagement programme with communities, educational institutes, artist-run studios, art institutions, etc. The initiative not only democratizes access to artistic expressions but also makes the public sphere itself a living, breathing museum in perpetual motion.
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