Serendipity Arts Festival 2018 focused on India and Goa's intangible heritage

Appreciating the Festival, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said, “Serendipity Arts Festival has added to Goa’s growing reputation as major cultural center of the country and given a big boost to tourism for Goa. Many have benefited from Serendipity Arts Festival, beyond just the art lover."

The 2018 edition of Serendipity Arts Festival saw a turnout of over 350,000 visitors across venues during the festival, according to the organisers.

The Festival consisted of 90 dynamic projects, involving over 1500 artists, showcased visual, performing and culinary arts across 10 venues in Panaji, capital of Goa.  

Smriti Rajgarhia, Festival Director, said, “This edition of Serendipity Arts Festival has been a huge success, with impressive turnout from the locals in Goa and global engagement from more world leading institutions than ever before."

"Our vision for the festival is based on creation, introspection and collaboration," said Rajgarhia.  "We wish to build and strengthen an ever-growing platform that accommodates India’s and the region’s intangible heritage. We hope to reposition this heritage in a manner that makes it both contemporary and inclusive.”

According to Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman Serendipity Arts Foundation, “One of the key objectives of the Serendipity Arts Festival is to unite the country through the arts. Whilst we are consistently committed to engaging the public and being inclusive, we’re also focused on energising contemporary practice not just in Goa, but across the country."

"The objective is to challenge traditional boundaries and redefine engagement with the arts," said Munjal. "The eight days of the Serendipity Arts Festival is only a window but the work of the Serendipity Arts Foundation is year long. The initiatives of the festival every year feed into the research programs for the Serendipity Arts Foundation to implement for the next year.” 

The Goan public, and culture enthusiasts visiting the city from across the world were treated to an impressive array of programming including visual arts exhibitions at Adil Shah Palace, large-scale photography and craft installations across public spaces, children’s music performances, panel discussions, film screenings, culinary workshops, outdoor theatre performances, held in the Panaji Municipal Market and the Kadamba Bus Terminus as well as dance and music performances in the evening in Kala Academy and DB Football Ground.

The programming for Visual Arts and Photography this year offered visitors  a wide spectrum of projects, each considering a distinct tenet of artistic practice, from collections, archival images and historical works, to diverse performances and street art.

Visitors were  exposed to international artists furthering the Festival’s objective of promoting cross-cultural exchange and fostering global dialogue via the arts.

The programming also responded to conversations within global contemporary art, evolving the dialogue on creative practices, and policy within the wider arts community via panel discussions and workshops, whilst also addressing key issues and concerns in India’s society.

Visual arts curators included Ranjit Hoskote, Rahab Allana and Ravi Aggarwal who each presented a different facet of the visual arts and lens culture through their selected works.

Exhibitions were displayed alongside special project initiatives including St+art Goa by the St+art India Foundation, Out of Turn curated by Asia Art Archive and Meenakshi Thirukode and an international Film Programme curated by Sabeena Gadihoke.

This year’s theatre and dance events focused on gender issues, as well the LGBTQ+ community, examining the challenges and pressure of heteronormative societies, considering their impact on contemporary India.

Several projects confronted the laws questioning the legitimacy of diverse sexualities, examining effects on artistic practice, looking at the work of LGBTQ+ movements across the country, and their role in mobilising public awareness and community consciousness about equal and fair rights for citizens.

Projects such as Spotlight on the Margins, featuring the performance Parayan Maranna Kadhakal, and accompanied by a panel discussion and film, were held alongside productions of Queen-size, Gentlemen’s Club and Lavani Queens… Double Mazaa! which also addressed these themes.

This year’s dance and theatre programmes also had a  particular emphasis on traditional folk arts and dance, curated by Chennai based Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor and Padma Shri recipient Leela Samson and Ranjana Dave, Odissi dancer and arts writer.

The dance discipline at this year’s festival engaged almost all traditional forms of Indian dance.

The projects had an interdisciplinary focus and intended to explore interrelationships between the performing and visual arts, venturing into alternate spaces, and emphasising gesture and the body.

Dynamic Music programming at the Festival, included a performance by Grammy Nominated LA based artist Raja Kumari and the innovative project Museum of Sounds in My Head curated by leading Bollywood Music Director Sneha Khanwalkar.

Exploring the cross currents between sound, visuals, space and technology, the project was an interdisciplinary sound installation that examined the relationship between visual arts, technology and music.

Aneesh Pradhan, one of India’s leading tabla players, curated a range of projects that platformed folk and traditional practitioners alongside local Goan musicians and international artists, offering audiences a unique amalgamation of both Western and Indian music, including Bollywood, retro, jazz, and electro funk music.

One of the highlights of the Festival’s music programming was the River Raga, conceived by guest curator Shubha Mudgal.

Serendipity Soundscapes, an initiative by Serendipity Arts Festival, brought together the unique sounds of the subcontinent via some extraordinary projects.

Aneesh Pradhan presented, Maverick Playlist, an unfettered musical exchange - drawing on diverse musical ideas, techniques, styles and songwriting both from India and from other parts of the world, and Anti Musicals offered  classic musicals remixed as never before, curated by Sneha Khanwalkar.

Alongside the more traditional disciplines of music, visual arts, theatre and dance, the Festival also celebrated craft and artisan art forms as physical and tangible products of human creativity in Matters of Hand, exploring objects and artisan processes not usually associated with ‘high art’, which are culturally significant in our society.

Curated by Dr. Annapurna Garimella, Delhi-based designer and an art historian and Rashmi Varma, the Craft projects focused this year on local Goan crafts that were displayed in a specially designed architectural structure, in continuation of one of last year’s projects.

The exploration of everyday objects brings to light their histories, and the status of Indian handicraft in the present time, encouraging an equal collaboration between designers and craftspeople.

Curated by Odette Mascarenhas, food historian and critic, author and television host and Rahul Akerkar,  one of Mumbai’s leading restaurant moguls, the Culinary Arts discipline this year moved away from the idea of food being a means to sustenance, and discovers the different possibilities of food as art/performance, innovation and delight.

Festival provided a unique food experience through curated workshops, with focus on local produce and regional flavors; recreating a Goan marketplace and its unique wares, and celebrating the integral role of spice in Indian cuisine as well as unusual but intriguing pairings in food and drink.

One of the key objectives of this year’s Serendipity Arts Festival is to be a catalyst for cross-cultural exchange, fostering a sense of unity across disciplines and art forms whilst also erasing regional divisions in the country.

Offering equal opportunities to artists, artisans, indigenous and folk art forms, performers and other creative practitioners from all over India, the event aims to foster the development of thriving artistic communities across India by making the arts inclusive, educational and accessible.

The Festival also proactively engaged a range of demographics with a strong policy of diversity and inclusion bringing together over 1200 students from various schools in Goa along with underprivileged children and those with special needs through a series of specially curated participatory events and tours.

Representatives from the various business houses who supported the Festival also spoke highly of its objectives.

Sanjeev Mantri, Executive Director, ICICI Lombard General Insurance; Shrinivas V. Dempo, Chairman Dempo House and a spokesperson from Coca Cola, appreciated the Festival's focus on bringing together a diverse range of art and artistry from the whole country and across the globe.