Serendipity Arts Festival 2023, one of Asia’s biggest arts festivals, is a nine-day event that takes place from December 15 to December 23, 2023. The festival has come to be associated with Goa.
The highly anticipated sixth physical edition of the multidisciplinary Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) 2023 will be held at 12 locations dispersed across Goa’s picturesque capital, Panjim, to accommodate this year’s extraordinary line-up of 150+ projects across six broad artistic fields.
“Historical value, natural beauty and affinity to the arts and aims to transform the Mandovi waterfront into a hub of cultural activity,” explains Smriti Rajgarhia, director of the Serendipity Arts Foundation and the Serendipity Arts Festival, of the festival locations, which flank the serene River Mandovi.
SAF 2023 has raised the stakes and increased the number of venues to an impressive 12 locations at which visitors can experience the artistic magic of this creative fest. This is a massive upgrade from the festival’s first edition, held in Panjim in 2016 which consisted of only 40 commissioned projects and eight venues, and compared to last year’s 10-venue line-up.
River Raag, SAF 2023
Dispersed among several locations in Panjim and the surrounding areas of Goa, the festival will continue its encouragement of creativity and experimentation in the arts while upholding its fundamental principles of sustainability, inclusiveness, and ease of access. It will do so by featuring projects tailored to specific regions, special needs workshops, and a specialised section featuring programmes for young attendees.
Art Park, Serendipity Arts Festival
The section on Craft will be curated by Sandeep Kumar Sangaru and Anjana Somany, who will present a variety of crafts practices that combine traditional and modern methods. The festival’s theatrical part, which will feature a varied collection of pieces, will once again be selected by Quasar Thakore Padamsee, who oversaw it last year.
In addition, the Festival invites artists and curators to investigate the facets of time, space, and relationships through thought-provoking conversations about shows like “Time as a Mother.” The panels, which are facilitated by well-known individuals, are meant to spark introspective thought and conversation.
The event is a synthesis of artistic partnerships with foreign embassies’ cultural offices and other cultural institutions. Apart from the collaboration with Pro Helvetia, the British Council, and Institut Français (India), the festival anticipates showcasing more initiatives developed in conjunction with other cultural institutions.
Svasa Life also returns with the Future of Storytelling – a panel discussion featuring Anand Gandhi and Zain Memon of Memesys Studios. Building on the insights shared last year, this discussion promises to unravel the future landscapes of narrative expression.
A bit about the panelists:
Anand Gandhi ushered in a new wave of Indian cinema with Ship of Theseus and won the National Award for Best Film. He brought a paradigm shift in genre cinema by creating Tumbbad, a film widely loved by audiences and critics alike. He produced the bestselling board games Shasn and Shasn Azadi, now played in over 75 countries.
Zain Memon is a transmedia storyteller, producer, and media tech specialist. He created the award winning board games SHASN and SHASN:AZADI, has produced the critically acclaimed An Insignificant Man, OK Computer, run the three largest crowdfunding campaigns out of India, as well as the world’s largest open source film project for Ship of Theseus. Zain also launched India’s first VR journalism platform with ElseVR.
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Some projects to keep an eye out for at Serendipity Arts Festival 2023:
HOLY FLUX!
Rituals for Deconsecration
This project by The Packet invites artists to reconsider what is held to be sacred in the contemporary and asks them to imagine rites of deconsecration that rupture notions of the sacred and reconstruct it instead, as rites performed from the margins.
Top: Blue Carbon
We live on the blue planet, and all this water continually captures carbon. Moving away from the discussion on carbon capture through trees and forests, this exhibition seeks to open our minds to the latest research that points to the ways in which oceans and marine ecosystems are an increasingly important site to explore innovative climate change mitigation. Tidal marshes, mangroves and seagrasses play a critical role in carbon sequestration. To bring this new research into the public domain, a collaboration has been facilitated between artists and scholars based in Goa to create an exciting exhibit and programme that brings the sea home in a new way.
Bottom: A Longing For Home | Food Booth
‘A Longing for Home: Phone Booth’ is a captivating installation designed to honour and preserve cherished family recipes in a unique and interactive way. This innovative setup invites individuals to step into the phone booth and embark on a nostalgic culinary journey.
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For its sixth edition, the Serendipity Arts Festival will bring the world to Goa for nine days of celebration of the arts and the many creative expressions of the region, bringing art and culture into everyday conversations. It will also explore innovation and experimentation within the arts and support international creative collaborations to increase public engagement with the arts.
(Svasa Life is the official arts partner at Serendipity Arts Festival 2023.)
