Foundation Initiatives

Imagining Narratives – A Photography Workshop

​​Imagining Narratives A Photography Workshop Key information Course Facilitator: Srinivas Kuruganti Format: Online / RemoteDuration: 3 months (12 weeks)Intake: 12 participantsCommencement date: August 10, 2023Application deadline: July 31, 2023 About An Open Call for photographers who will be mentored and guided on individual projects of their choice. It’s a remote-workshop. Participants will work remotely from their […]

Practicing Public Art | Exploring tools for site-specific dialogues

Practicing Public Art Exploring tools for site-specific dialogues – A Collaboration with FICA Photo credit: Annalisa Mansukhani, Golconda fort, 2015 Key information Application Deadline: 19 October 2022 Duration of the workshop: 5 weeks All sessions for the first four weeks will be held online on Zoom. The last week of sessions will take place on-site […]

Mapping the Shifting Terrains- READING PUBLIC/READING ART

Mapping the Shifting Terrains Reading Public/Reading Art – A Collaboration with FICA Ankan Datta, details from his installation made as part of ON-SITE: A Workshop exploring process, dialogue and experimentation, organised by FICA and SAF, 2019 Key information Application Deadline: 1st September 2022Dates: September: 17, 24; October: 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29 Timings: Every Saturday, […]

B-SIDE | DJ MIXING WORKSHOP

B-Side | DJ Mixing Workshop Key information Dates: 12th to 22nd October 2022Venue: Satori Wellness, Arambol, GoaWorkshop Facilitated by : Vridian About B-side is an initiative by Serendipity Arts centred around independent music and cultural currents stemming from contemporary music practices. The programme strives to spark conversations around music production, DJ-ing, research, performances, educational modules, and […]

WOULD I LIE TO YOU? -On the Use of Documents in Theatre

WOULD I LIE TO YOU? On the Use of Documents in Theatre RED by Living Dance Studio, Picture Credit – Richie Wong Key information Dates: September 1st to October 22nd, 2022Sessions: 3 sessions per week | 4 hours per session | 21 sessions totalTwice a week with facilitators and once a week collaborative/group work at […]

THE TIME IS NOW- A COURSE ON LIVE ART

The Time Is Now- A Course on Live Art River Lin, ‘Sleeping in between Tehching Hsieh and On Kawara’. This act, themed as Performance Beyond The Body was part of Out of Turn, a project curated by Meenakshi Thirukode and Asia Art Archive for Serendipity Arts Festival 2018.

Pop up library space for people to visit

Papertrail at C340 by Chennai Photo Biennale Learning Lab & SAF Key information DATE – 28 August – 5 September(Closed on 30th August)TIME – 11 AM – 5PM Venue– Serendipity Arts, New Delhi  About We’re delighted to be hosting books by two outstanding publishers and curators, Yaarbal Books and Offset Projects at the C340 pop-up library […]

Text/Matters: Delhi Arts Week at Serendipity Arts Foundation

Text/Matters: Delhi Arts Week at Serendipity Arts Foundation Key information DATE – April 3-10, 2021 TIME – 11 AM – 5PM  VENUE – C 340, Defence Colony – a basement space in a residential area in Delhi that functions as a platform for artistic programmes. C340 aims to be space that can adapt itself to […]

Goa Glitch

Goa Glitch: Hanif Kureshi CREDITS Supported by Serendipity Arts Festival and Stir Creativity, in partnership with the Corporation of the City of Panaji. Serendipity Arts Festival, together with Stir Creativity, a campaign of Bombay Sapphire talk Global with local conscience and create bridges that unite and empower people. With strong common belief on creative platforms, […]

Line of Flight

Line of Flight was a two-part project, showcased at Serendipity Arts Festival 2018, from 15-22 December 2018.

Writing Initiatives

Up and down the whole hungry longitude

On the corner of Rampart Row, across from Rhythm House in Bombay’s Kala Ghoda district, poet and artist Arun Kolatkar sits at a table at the Wayside Inn. It is a Thursday afternoon in the 1960s, and like every other Thursday, Kolatkar is gradually joined by friends and acquaintances – painters, poets, editors – who drop in for a conversation

The Last Poet

Eating food that is not prepared at home is a significant kind of eating that has risen with the growth of restaurants and cafés (Bhatia, 2022). While family meals are an interesting situation allowing us to study the relationship between food content and social setting, equally important are other situations of eating such as snacking,

From Chapati to Bread: Of New Dietary Belongings

Eating food that is not prepared at home is a significant kind of eating that has risen with the growth of restaurants and cafés (Bhatia, 2022). While family meals are an interesting situation allowing us to study the relationship between food content and social setting, equally important are other situations of eating such as snacking,

The Social Life of Food in Indian Cinema

In The Lunchbox (Dir: Ritesh Batra), a 2013 Hindi film about an epistolary romance in Mumbai, a series of montages shows the lead character Ila cooking a host of dishes. Not for her husband, but for a man called Sajan Fernandes who she only knows through letters exchanged via wrongly delivered dabbas meant for her husband.

A Table for One, Please

It was many moons ago that I had said those words for the very first time. What had then been a herculean quest, of walking into the Odeon cinema on the corner of New Street, had my young voice quivering at the moment of getting popcorn, my knees cold as I sat facing the screen in the dark. I no longer recall the film,

Expected Time of Arrival

Expected Time of Arrival AUTHOR Stuti Bhavsar With the promise of promptness, Swiggy was accompanied by other food-based apps on my phone with 10- to 20-minute delivery as their USP – BlinkIt with its compression of time into a blink, BigBasket Now, where the now is conceived as an instance, or Zepto, which announces itself […]

How Many Lives Does A Fruit Live?

How Many Lives Does A Fruit Live? AUTHOR Shankar Tripathi It was always the smell that first caught my attention. A smorgasbord of musky vapours, the room would be filled with its wafting hints of banana, pineapple, and rotten onion. Riveted to the ground, I would find myself carefully examining its cleft parts, wondering how […]

Shokher Ilish : Of Nostalgia, Nation-States, and the Cultural Connotations of Food in Zones of Conflict

Shokher Ilish : Of Nostalgia, Nation-States, and the Cultural Connotations of Food in Zones of Conflict AUTHOR Ankita Ghosh Two weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, contemporary artist Zhana Kadyrova was one amongst thousands of Ukranians who had no choice but to flee their homes in search of safer horizons. While her family moved […]

Imagined and Lived Spaces of the Queer Kitchen

Imagined and Lived Spaces of the Queer Kitchen AUTHOR Upasana Das Rukmini Srinivas writes, in Tiffin: Memories and Recipes of Indian Vegetarian Food: “My mother, whom I lovingly call Amma, spent much time and thought in the preparation of the ‘everyday’ tiffin for me and my seven sisters…the tiffin that Amma made, usually one savoury […]

Open Call | WAC Edition 6: Matters of Taste – Writing and Creative Practice around Food Cultures

Open Call Write | art | connect 6 Stand on the Street by Aruna Ganesh Ram, at SAF 2017 The Library of Edible Issues by Elizabeth Yorke and Anusha Murthy, at SAF 2022 The Boochi Project by Tansha Vohra, SAF Food Lab 2021 The Case of the Missing Vegetables by Akash Muralidharan, at SAF 2022 […]

Collaborations

SAF x ASAP Curatorial Research Fellowship 2023

SAF x ASAP Curatorial Research Fellowship 2023 About Art South Asia Project (ASAP) and Serendipity Arts have come together to support a curatorial fellowship program for a diasporic South Asian curator living in the UK. The primary aim of this program is to establish cross-continental connections between South Asia and the UK, which will facilitate […]

CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS

Serendipity X Arles

Serendipity Arts Foundation and Les Rencontres d’Arles announced the biggest photography, video and new media grant in India, supported by the Institut français en Inde named the Serendipity Arles Grant, with the shared purpose of promoting cultural practices in South Asia.

CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS

TRANSMITTER: DARWIN X DELHI

We’re inviting applications from emerging and mid-career artists who are interested in interdisciplinary practice and paradigm-shifting collaboration.

MUSEUM ASSOCIATIONS

Lands, Waters, and Skies

Serendipity Arts Foundation is very pleased to have supported 2019–2020 Artist in Residence Nikhil Chopra at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York between September 12-20, 2019.

OTHER SUPPORT

Vivaad Talks – Critical Collective

A series of conversations conceptualized by Critical Collective around the myriad topics pertinent to today’s context resulted in a collaboration between the venue, Bikaner House and the principal sponsor, Serendipity Arts Foundation.

OTHER SUPPORT

My East is Your West

My East is Your West, was presented as a Collateral Event of the 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. Commissioned by The Gujral Foundation, this landmark exhibition united for the first time at the Biennale the historically conflicting nations of India and Pakistan in a shared exhibition by artists from both countries.

CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS

Festivals of the Future

The British Council, in association with Serendipity Arts Foundation and Festival presented a three-day intensive course in Goa in  March 2019 on the core principles of Festival Management.

CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS

A GIFT FROM KASHMIR

This little gift from Kashmir to Goa is a window into the intricate work of these women artists, and a small symbol of their resilience and strength. The ornaments were transported to Goa and put for sale during Serendipity Arts Festival 2017.

CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS

A Tale of Two Cities

‘A Tale of Two Cities’ was conceptualized as a one year project facilitating established artists of two countries, India and Sri Lanka, to engage in an investigative/research based art-making process, relooking at the socio-cultural and historical dynamics of two cities, Varanasi and Anuradhapura.

Serendipity Grants

Open Call : Theatre at Serendipity Arts Festival, 2024

Serendipity Arts Festival is one of the largest multi-disciplinary arts initiatives in the South Asian region, spanning the visual, performing, and culinary arts, whilst exploring genres with film, live arts, and literature. We invite you to apply via this open call, which comprises two categories: Ready Productions and Commissions.. Our theatre curators this year – Quasar Thakore Padamsee and Sankar Venkateswaran – along with the foundation team shall be shortlisting a select few entries that will feature in the Festival’s line up and other performances through the year.

Food Matters Grant

The Food Matters Grant supports projects that aim to contribute to the discourse around food and create a knowledge network to promote inquiry into food practices in India and South Asia. Through this grant, we hope to create a space for the exchange of ideas around food habits, traditions, and futures.

PUBLIC ART GRANT

Serendipity Arts Production Grant for Independent Musicians is for all independent music creators across different genres to support the process of creating, recording, producing and releasing and/or presenting new music. The grant will be awarded to bands, duos, groups or individual independent musicians with a grant of up to INR 1,00,000.

Enduring Traditions Grant

There is a multitude of art and craft forms, folk traditions and festivals that have been steadily declining for many decades and are now almost on the verge of disappearing completely. The increasedly insular outlook and attitude of the majority of the subcontinent is also posing a new threat to many traditional practices that belong to marginalised faiths and communities. Amidst the accelerated urbanisation in rural parts of India, the circumstances are even worse for the agnostic folk traditions in these areas. Once familiar rituals that were seen often or even daily are now waning into the shadows of memory.

Folk Arts Mentorship Grant

The Serendipity Arts Folk Arts Mentorship Grant offers financial support to practitioners in the field of folk traditions in the performing arts who wish to train under a selected mentor for a period of six months. The goal of the grant is to facilitate the enhancement of the artist’s practice through further pursuance of their discipline or through the acquisition of allied art practices and any related skills from the respective mentors that shall contribute to their artistic journey. The awardee will be chosen from a pool of candidates nominated by the Jury.

Production Grant for Independent Musicians

Serendipity Arts Production Grant for Independent Musicians is for all independent music creators across different genres to support the process of creating, recording, producing and releasing and/or presenting new music. The grant will be awarded to bands, duos, groups or individual independent musicians with a grant of up to INR 1,50,000.

THE ISLAND THAT NEVER GETS FLOODED 2023

Artists contribute to the public realm in many ways, the outcomes of which may not always be readily defined as art. Public art projects may aesthetically enhance an environment; be utilitarian; respond to a particular site through material, form and concept; educate and comment on issues and events; commemorate the past; and much more. The project is free to observe as there are no class or social barriers in how it is encountered. It can become a familiar feature in the fabric of the city that generates a sense of ownership, a sense of place, and help in cultivating community identity. It can offer insights into issues through the research and expression of artists, and deliver a range of outcomes through community involvement.

Dwindling Traditions Grant

There is a multitude of art and craft forms, folk traditions and festivals that have been steadily declining for many decades and are now almost on the verge of disappearing completely. The increasedly insular outlook and attitude of the majority of the subcontinent is also posing a new threat to many traditional practices that belong to marginalised faiths and communites. Due to the accelerated urbanisation in the rural parts of India, the circumstances are even worse for the agnostic folk traditions in these areas.

Food Matters Grant

The Food Matters Grant supports projects that aim to contribute to the discourse around food and create a knowledge network to promote inquiry into food practices in India and South Asia. Through this grant, we hope to create a space for the exchange of ideas around food habits, traditions, and futures.

Serendipity Arts Virtual Grant

Serendipity Arts {Virtual} Grant is back for the second edition, inviting applications for digital projects across all disciplines responding to the interweb as a site. The Grant would be awarded to one collectives, group, duo, or collaborations to develop a project adapted to the digital space with funding up to INR 1 lakh. Projects have to be interdisciplinary in nature, inviting collaborative projects, and will be hosted on the Serendipity Arts website.

Residencies

Serendipity Arts Residency 2024

Serendipity Arts Residency 2024 Image: ‘आज़ाद पंछी / free bird’ by Surbhi Mittal aka pale blue dotter, showcased at Serendipity Arts Festival 2023. Photograph by Philippe Calia and Sunil Thakkar. KEY INFORMATION Residency Duration: May 15, 2024 – August 16, 2024 Location: Serendipity Arts Foundation,C-340, Defence Colony, New Delhi, 110024 Intake: 5 Artists-in-Residence and & 1 Writer-in-Residence ABOUT Serendipity Arts […]

B-SIDE | Music Production Residency

B-Side | Music Production Residency  Key information Dates: 10th to 20th October 2023Venue: GoaFacilitated by Jay Pei Deadline: 06th September 2023 About B-side is an initiative by Serendipity Arts centred around independent music and cultural currents stemming from contemporary music practices. The programme strives to spark conversations around music production, DJ-ing, research, performances, educational modules, and […]

Serendipity Arts Residency 2023

Serendipity Arts Residency 2023 OPEN STUDIO The Open Studio event marks the culmination of a three-month-long Serendipity Arts Residency program, during which our talented artists have been hard at work. The event is not just about presenting finished projects; it’s a celebration of creative exploration, with our artists displaying their works-in-progress, all expertly curated by […]

Serendipity Arts Residency 2022

Serendipity Arts Residency 2022 KEY INFORMATION Residency Duration: 1st July – 16th September 2022 Location: Serendipity Arts Foundation, Defence Colony, New Delhi ABOUT Serendipity Arts Foundation is delighted to announce the OPEN CALL for Serendipity Arts Residency 2022, an annual three-month artists residency based in New Delhi. Applications are invited from emerging artists working across […]

Serendipity Arts Residency 2022

Serendipity Arts Residency 2022 Coming Soon! Stay tuned for the Open Call.

The Question of Food

To say this past year has been stressful would be an understatement. Every routine we were familiar with was disrupted, and all our attention was directed to the virtual world – to stay connected with friends and family, for entertainment, and of course, for work.

BIRDS OF HUNGER

To say this past year has been stressful would be an understatement. Every routine we were familiar with was disrupted, and all our attention was directed to the virtual world – to stay connected with friends and family, for entertainment, and of course, for work.

Food lab 2021

To say this past year has been stressful would be an understatement. Every routine we were familiar with was disrupted, and all our attention was directed to the virtual world – to stay connected with friends and family, for entertainment, and of course, for work.

Invisible

A workshop conducted by Cie Yan Duyvendak, in collaboration with Pro Helvetia New Delhi, which took place in Goa, in May 2019.

Dharti Arts Residency 2019

The third edition of Dharti Arts Residency showcased the works of 4 artists, including a sound artist and a performance artist.

Commissions

Stand on the Street

Four performers recreated life moments of various street vendors framing the street as a performance space, sharing personal narratives, conversations around food and their aspirations.

Shiv Yin

Shiv Yin is a rare performance bringing China and India together through dance and music.

Sandhi

An extension of the 2016 project, Sandhi included renowned musicians accompanied by four dancers.

About the Elephant

About the elephant is an exploration of our place and purpose within civilization.

Exploration with Shadow and Light

An evening of contemporary – classical music with original songs by the band Shadow and Light, in collaboration with three gifted musicians.

Stars in the New Sky

Over the last few years, there have been many determined and talented young amateurs who have used unique platforms to connect directly with new audiences and have bypassed mainstream vehicles such as films and recording labels. This project curated by Ranjit Barot created a platform to showcase such talent.

A Night in Harlem

A Night in Harlem is a journey through the birthplace of some of the most important music ever to be created – music that was the origin of most contemporary music that we listen to today.

Sonic City

An interactive sonic wall that intended to surprise the viewer by revealing sounds from the city of Delhi.

Shadow Play

Shadow Play was an exploration of the technique of shadow puppets as intricate works of craft, illustrators of narratives and metaphors for good and bad.

Form, Metaphor, Memory

Form, Metaphor, Memory showcased works by the awardees of the Goan Artists’ Grant, instituted by Serendipity Arts Foundation in 2019.

Space 340

THE STORYTELLERS: A Course Exploring Zines, Comics and Video

The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) organised a session titled The Story Tellers in September 2018. This session engaged with art practices that have histories of working outside the confines of the art gallery or related sanctioned ‘white cube’ spaces, seeking more direct and immediate contact with their audiences.

THE MOVING IMAGE: A Course Exploring Light, Movement and Narrative

The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA), in collaboration with Serendipity Arts Foundation (SAF), organized a month long course, titled ‘The Moving Image: A Course Exploring Light, Movement and Narrative’ that ran from September 11 to October 13, 2017, culminating in an Open Display of the resulting artworks on October 14 that continued till October 27, 2017.

ON-SITE

Organised by the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) in 2019, this course was designed to explore site-specific practice and its relation to process, research and experimentation.

CINEMA C340

A series of informal film screenings to be held annually in March at C340, Defence Colony.

People’s Music: A Reconstruction

People's Music, an interdisciplinary exhibition exploring the intersections between community, resistance and music, was first showcased at Serendipity Arts Festival 2017. A reconstructed version of it was brought to Space 340 in April 2018.

PHOTO PESHAWAR BOOK LAUNCH

A book launch and discussion around Photo Peshawar by Lukas Birk & Sean Foley, published by PIX and Mapin.

Education & Accessibility

DANCE OUTREACH WORKSHOP

The five-day workshop at GHS Keri reached out to middle school students from GHS Keri, Morlem and Surla. It was conducted by a classical dancer and a martial artist, combining perspectives from different kinds of traditional practices and ways of relating to daily life and nature.

THE WEDDING OF THE FROGS

Camarabhat located in Talegaon, adjoining Panjim, is home to a vibrant third-generation migrant community. The 3-month project brought together children aged between 10 and 13 years into a continuing engagement with theatre, music, and movement.

FICA Art for Children

The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) and Serendipity Arts Foundation (SAF) will came together to collaborate on two exciting art workshops for children, held in Goa – Anatomy of a Dot, conducted by Nilanjana Nandy, and Stories on the Wall, conducted by Ruchin Soni.

Arts Encounter with Keli

In collaboration with Junoon, Arts Encounter was brought to Goa for the first time in November 2017. To conduct this workshop with a school in Goa, Junoon brought on board Keli a Mumbai-based organisation that introduces Kathakali to children, and works to support, sustain and encourage this classical heritage.

AFTER EVENT: PERFORMANCE ART AND ITS MEDIATION

Serendipity Arts Foundation, Asia Art Archive and HH Art Spaces collaborated to present three new platforms that stage performance art.

SENSES LEAD UP WORKSHOPS

SENSES introduction SENSES has focused on incremental inclusion and access for varied audiences. SENSES is India’s first-ever ‘accessible and inclusive outreach program’ curated for persons with special needs, for a multidisciplinary arts festival. Over the span of four years, Access For ALL has been able to reach out to over 700+ children with special needs […]

Beyond Serendipity

Serendipity Arts Foundation in collaboration with Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents Photo-Copy

photo-Copy in Kolkata In collaboration with Kolkata Centre for Creativity We have arrived in Kolkata with a sneak peek into South Asia’s largest celebration of the arts across disciplines and genres – Serendipity Arts Festival 2023.   Photo-copy is a commissioned theatre piece that explores themes of grief, loss and reconciliation. A troubled family of four grapples with […]

Sufi Night with Mukhtiyar Ali

Presenting Mukhtiyar Ali Live in Pondicherry! We have arrived in Pondicherry with a glimpse of Serendipity Arts Festival – South Asia’s largest celebration of the arts across disciplines and genres. Join us for a mesmerising evening with Mir Mukhtiyar Ali as he dives deep into the Rajasthani folk idiom to sing the poetry of Kabir, Mira, and Bulleh Shah, among others. About Mukhtiyar […]

India Art Fair 2023

India Art Fair 2023 Image courtesy – Serendipity Arts Foundation at India Art Fair 2022 Projects FOOD LAB the cases of missing vegetables Project by Akash Muralidharan COOK AND SEE The concept for the ‘Cook and See’ challenge arose from the desire to find out why several vegetables from Samaithu Paar (A Tamil vegetarian cookbook […]

India Art Fair 2022

India Art Fair 2022 Image courtesy – Serendipity Arts Foundation at India Art Fair 2020 Information A dial flicks within, clouds move in the sky and there’s a sense of time that has vanished reappearing in small droplets from the sky. For the team at Serendipity, the long and circular arc of the pandemic has […]

INDIA ART FAIR 2019

Serendipity Arts Foundation participated for the first time ever at India Art Fair in 2019 with an institutional booth focussing on performance and research.

Sandhi

An evening of Rajasthani Sufiana tradition featuring Mir Mukhtiar Ali

DHAMAAL

Dhamaal, a celebration of drumming traditions from India was first showcased at SAF 2018. As a launch event to SAF 2019 in the heart of Delhi's Central Park, Dhamaaal kickstarted the lead up to the festival in December with an evening of drums and music.

LIVING TRADITIONS

The launch event for SAF 2017 which took place at the beautiful Royal Opera House in Mumbai showcased a unique classical music performance, reinterpreting archival information both in terms of its musical format as well as its visual presentation. The music renditions pay tribute to the manner in which artistes adapted their presentations for emerging formats like recording technology. Living Traditions was first performed at SAF 2016.

THE CHARPAI PROJECT

A part of The Charpai Project, showcased at Serendipity Arts Festival 2017 was brought to India Design & Home Décor Week 2019.

Serendipity Arts Festival – 16in17

Those who missed out on the Goa edition of 2016 got a glimpse of it in the Delhi edition in 2017. An intensive schedule of exhibitions and performances was programmed for audiences throughout the 11 days of the festival at Bikaner House, Delhi.

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