The makers of Serendipity Arts Festival term it to
be an inclusive and collaborative platform for the
promotion of arts and culture from the subcontinent
on an international level. It aims to be a catalyst
across the arts, to create an immersive experience
shaped by the creative needs, aspirations and
potential of contemporary India. And if the 2016
edition of the festival that is currently on in the capital
city of Goa is anything to go by, the organisers are
doing a truly fine job of sticking true to the brief.
The festival kicked off on December 16, 2016
with a wide array of some of the most enthralling
art and photography exhibitions, display of craft
work and captivating musical performances.
With an aim to conventionalise arts in the
country, the festival provides a perfect blend
of theatre, music, craft, visual arts and culinary
arts alongside an opportunity to interact with
industry stalwarts and leading art connoisseurs.
Here are some of the highlights of the
festival till now:
SERENDIPITY ARTS CONCLAVE
The festival commenced with a four-panel
Serendipity Arts Conclave hosted by Ranjit
Hoskote that saw leading art connoisseurs
come together to deliberate on what an arts
institution of the future in Goa should look like.
Throwing in their subjective views based on
their professional expertise and experience,
illustrious artists, poets, scholars and historians
such as Maria Aurora Couto, Arshia Sattar,
Tishani Doshi, Aneesh Pradhan, Mortimer
Chatterjee, Shukla Sawant, Manisha Patil and Rahaab
Allana came together to delve on the subject.
INSTALLATIONS
The festival featured some installations such as
‘The Power of Art’ at The Old GMC Compound,
put together by Dr Katharina Kakar from Tata Trust
where a group of 10 children, including two visually
impaired children, brought together a fresh way of
experiencing and accessing art that touched upon all
the senses.
PERFORMING ARTS
Lucid Sleep, a unique performance art project
curated by Goa’s HH Art Spaces Foundation featured
live performances that blur the line between visual
and performing art, to create an immersive space
for audiences. This featured Uriel Barthélémi, Bhisaji
Gadekar and Yasmin Jahan Nupur. Other musical
and dance performances held across multiple
venues of Kala Academy and D B Ground included a
specially curated performance by Sanjeev Bhargava.
He brought forth an extraordinary amalgamation
of dance styles in ‘Pravaha’, which was performed
by Leela Samson and troupe and Priti Patel and
troupe. The performers responded to the idea
of life, preservation and conservation using the
river as a narrative. Adding to the fervour was a
musical performance, Living Traditions, a concert
of Hindustani classical music which was curated by
Shubha Mudgal. The performance featured Murad
Ali, Kaushiki Chakraborty and Mohammed Akram.
Acclaimed percussionist Ranjit Barot teamed up with
various musicians from across the country and put
the audience at the D B ground in a state of trance
with a collective magical performance.
GOA AT SERENDIPITY
Latin Connection, a musical band featuring Colin
D’Cruz performed some of the most popular
Portuguese and Konkani songs at Serendipity
Arts Festival Goa 2016. The festival also featured
a captivating display of Goan Costumes brought
together at The Adil Shah Palace by renowned Goan
fashion designer Wendell Rodricks. Ten Histories
decoded the mythology and traditions associated
with each of the showcased costumes. The objects
on display included mesmerising historical items
such as a mother goddess photograph, a 17th
century gold cross, a Narkasur effigy, Shantadurga
and Kunbi saris, a Pano Bhaju garment, 1930s
Women’s wear lingerie, a Muslim turban, Edwin
Pinto’s shoes and ‘zottim’ sandals and a 7th century
Buddhist sculpture.
PHOTOGRAPHY
The Adil Shah Palace restored to its former glory
had on display photographs captured in the 1970s
by noted fashion and fine-art photographer, the
late Prabuddha Dasgupta. The rare black and white
images, which have never been displayed in Goa
before, capture the cultural dilemma faced by the
Catholic community in Goa in the years following
the state’s freedom from Portuguese rule. Also,
in tandem with the times, the festival unveiled a
unique Selfie Project at the Old GMC compound.
The initiative has crowd-sourced over 1,50,000
individual images showing the relationship between
technology and art.
There’s more that awaits the cultural aficionado
as the Serendipity Arts Festival Goa 2016 is on till
December 23, 2016, at venues across Panjim.
