A hot December in Goa is no oddity, but encountering the sound of a train running on a bridge in the middle of Panjim, where there’s no railway station in the vicinity, certainly is. Even as you realise that the rail track reverberations are emanating from a Kanjira (a bowl-like wooden instrument used in Carnatic music), one inadvertently indulges in a moment of nostalgia, as percussionist V Selvaganesh reminisces his childhood memories on train journeys.
The legendary percussionist’s interactive performance at this year’s Serendipity Arts festival, which reprised its physical form after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus, in a way, set the tone for what the annual multi-disciplinary event was going to offer.
With over 120 programmes across varied formats of visual and performing arts, as well as theatre and food, the week-long festival (December 15-22) explored the idea of belonging—to a place, person or community—as artistes reflected, introspected and delved into their memories and personal histories to create works that celebrate the shared experiences of humankind, encouraging conversations on the blurring, rather expanding, boundaries of heritage, sustainability and inclusivity.
Tradition Paves the Way
Conventional might have often been dismissed as conservative, but the trailblazing documentary theatre act, Lavanya Katta, shows otherwise.
Treading the line between tradition and modernity, the 90-minute performance, directed and written by Savitri Medhatul, puts the spotlight on lavanyavati, or the performer.
As the group of Lavani and tamasha (drama) artistes chronicle the evolution of the Marathi folk music and dance form, it reinforces the fact that the Indian traditions have always been progressive.
Taking the audience through the history of Lavani, Medhatul speaks about how the dance form in the 1950s—with the advent of banner shows, where it was performed to orchestra opened its doors to performers of all genders and caste, setting in motion a true appreciation of the art form.
“Earlier, Lavani was limited to Maharashtrian women from castes such as Mahar Kolhati and Matang, but with banner shows, the barriers came down. In fact, in 2000, Bin Baykancha Tamasha Mumbai’s first all-male Lavani dance troupe was established, allowing men to take up the traditionally women-centric dance form, making it an open and inclusive cultural space,” says Medhatul, as she introduces Akshay Malpekar from her troupe, who is dressed in a gorgeous shimmery purple sari.
With his diamond-decked chest, he effortlessly dances with the grace of a lavanyavati to flirtatious Marathi tunes.
India by Book is another project that explores the theme of identity, but through the idea of a nation. In a stunning top-down installation, hung from the ceiling, the work recreates a chandelier made of paper printed with impactful sentences from 100 different books on the country.
“This is an imagination of India and the Indian people—their histories, the present and aspirations; their cultures, environments, heritage and identities,” says curator Pramod Kumar KG. He, however, insists that the work is not rooted in nostalgia, but is futuristic and attempts to engage and encourage the viewer to investigate “newer ways of looking at ourselves”.
Mining Memories
“I have always been curious about the way artefacts and avatars (incarnations) move. It often involves a manual mechanism, wherein at least 20 people (mostly men) are behind the moving objects,” says artist Diptej Verneker, who trains a fresh perspective on the age-old craft traditions he grew up witnessing in the small village of Kumbhajua, Goa. He recalls how local artisans would make moving mythological artefacts such as Narkasur idols and Chitrarath as part of Ganesh Chaturthi and Sangodotsav celebrations.
His outdoor installation, Incarnation Park, is a gymnasium where mythological idols are attached to workout machines. The artist welcomes the public to move the avatars by engaging with the space.
“This installation subverts the gendered nature of the process of moving these artefacts. I wanted to open up access to various living craft traditions and the local technologies behind them,” he says.
For Goan chef Avinash Martins, on the other hand, it is food that has always been a portal to a trove of stories. So when the international ingredients for his global cuisine restaurant, Cavatina, in Benaulim, stopped coming in due to the pandemic, he tapped into his own memories to tell stories of the state’s culinary heritage, one dish at a time.
“Goan food for me is about nostalgia and stories,” says the chef, as he whips up a batch of mini koiloreos (rice pancakes) at his workshop—Reimagined Goan cuisine. Contrary to the usual white rice, Martins uses black rice, sourced from the “forgotten” tribals of the region. He, however, presents them as tacos, with a stuffing of condensed vegetable or chicken caldine, a traditional Goan preparation with a Portuguese influence.
To bring the “flavour of Goa in a global format” idea to life, Martins has created for himself a self-sufficient gastronomical ecosystem within the state that promotes local foraging and art and craft traditions, which, otherwise, were fading into oblivion. Be it the toddy tapper, the poder (baker), the fisherman, chittari artists, basket weaver or the stone carver, he makes use of their services at his restaurant, where every dish is presented with an origin story.
“It’s always good to be modern, but our roots have to be strong,” he says.
One for All
Embracing inclusivity, SAF, this year, saw a significant representation from the Northeast, particularly in the music segment. While Takar Nabam from Arunachal Pradesh infused mellow alt-rock with hints of Himalayan folk music, Avora Records from Mizoram belted out indie rock tunes with an international resonance.
“I’ve always known about the talent in the Northeast, but it was during the lockdown that I realised that their work is noteworthy. These bands/singers, however, mostly toured only within the region, or occasionally in some pockets of Delhi and Mumbai. The pan-India appeal was missing. SAF seemed like a good platform to showcase their material,” says Ehsaan Noorani, who curated part of the music segment of the festival.
Going beyond the bare necessity of having ramps, tactile braille networks and guides, and sign language experts at the venues, the festival also incorporated an “accessible and inclusive” outreach programme.
Titled Senses, it was curated for people with special needs and includes printmaking and AI art workshops, improv and zine-making sessions. A section of the promenade along the Mandovi river that flows through Panjim had on display over eight large-scale photographs by Salil Chaturvedi as part of
a public art project titled, The Places My Chair Likes to Go.
Imagining that his wheelchair has topophilia, the artist photographs the machine as an experiencing entity in different natural surroundings—around lakes, in forests and farms.
“At a time when persons with disabilities are still largely missing from spaces, these photographs ‘visibilise’ this absence. The photographs invert the problematic and overused phrase ‘wheelchair-bound’ to a celebratory condition of an unbounded wheelchair,” Chaturvedi says, adding, “The aesthetic nervousness that people often experience when confronted with disability is then paradoxically whittled away through a close encounter with a nomadic wheelchair. This chair does not yearn for access as much as for you to experience the wheelchair-ness of things.”
Other highlights
Terra nullius/nobody's land: Excavations from image 3.0
An exhibition of works by eight multi-media practitioners from France, who invent new spectral edifices, environments and networked ecologies in the post-digital, post-pandemic world, deflecting our known sensibilities of place, belonging and reality.
Art kitchen: Community cooking
A public art project that used the production and consumption of food as an approachable way to
activate the participants’ social imagination and redefine the way we consume food, inspiring people to inhabit the world in a better way.
The world of pancham
A musical tribute in memory of the legendary and inimitable music director, RD Burman, through
a collection of songs from his inconic films such as Teesri Manzil and 1942: A Love Story.
Camera Obsura workshop
hands-on learning session that allowed viewers to understand the construction of a camera obscura, explaining how to use it in artistic ways and for taking photographic prints.
Somewhere ethereal
by six digital artists co-exist in the physical space and explore what NFTs could be––from CGI to generative art and digital art prints.