Serendipity Arts Festival London 2027
19–27 June 2027 | London, United Kingdom
Serendipity Arts, the not-for-profit cultural organisation behind South Asia’s largest multidisciplinary arts festival in Goa, will launch Serendipity Arts Festival London from 19–27 June 2027. Presented in partnership with the Great Exhibition Road Festival, led by Imperial College London, and leading cultural institutions across South Kensington, the festival will bring together artists, audiences and ideas from South Asia, the UK and beyond.
Spanning visual arts, new media, dance, music and culinary arts, the programme will take place across Exhibition Road and the surrounding South Kensington Culture Quarter. An intergenerational, all-women curatorial team will bring established and emerging artists from India and its diaspora into dialogue with London’s cultural institutions, communities and public spaces.
The festival marks a new chapter in Serendipity Arts’ international engagement, building on collaborations in Birmingham and London to create a platform for sustained artistic and institutional exchange between India and the UK.
A New Chapter in Cultural Exchange
Serendipity Arts Festival London builds on the organisation’s commitment to creating spaces for artistic experimentation, exchange and public participation across geographies. Rooted in the multidisciplinary approach of its flagship festival in Panjim, Goa, the London edition will allow this work to develop in conversation with the city’s institutions, histories and communities.
Treating Exhibition Road as a cultural laboratory, the festival will connect South Asian artistic practice with the collections, histories and expertise of its partners across art, science, music, film, design and education. Internationally recognised figures will appear alongside a new generation of artists, performers, musicians, filmmakers, designers, craftspeople and food practitioners.
From galleries and concert halls to foyers, cafés and outdoor spaces, the festival will invite audiences to experience familiar places in new ways. London’s South Asian communities will be central to this exchange, alongside audiences from across the city.
Serendipity Arts in the UK: A Growing Journey
Birmingham | 2025
In 2025, Serendipity Arts took a travelling showcase beyond India with a special Mini Edition in Birmingham, presented in partnership with Birmingham City University. Hosted at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Symphony Hall, the programme brought together poetry readings, performances and exhibitions, extending the festival’s multidisciplinary approach to a new audience.
A highlight of the edition was a special display of the Zakir Hussain Maquette by photographer Dayanita Singh, honouring the life and legacy of the legendary tabla maestro.
The Birmingham Mini Edition formed part of a series of travelling showcases organised in the lead-up to the tenth edition of Serendipity Arts Festival. Across these initiatives, the organisation brought artists, audiences and ideas together through performances, exhibitions and conversations, creating opportunities for cultural exchange beyond Panjim.
London | 2026
In June 2026, Serendipity Arts brought two public projects to London in collaboration with the Great Exhibition Road Festival and the Science Museum, introducing its work to audiences across South Kensington.
नैनन की ठगी / Eyes Shall Deceive
Created by composer Sneha Khanwalkar and artist Sudarshan Shetty, नैनन की ठगी / Eyes Shall Deceive brought together 16mm film, live music, sound and visual storytelling. Premiering at the Science Museum’s Innovation Lates programme, the work drew on musical folklore and contemporary urban India, bringing together recorded imagery and live performance in an immersive experience.
Giants on the Move: A Puppet Street Parade
Directed by puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee and presented with the Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust, Giants on the Move transformed Exhibition Road into a moving procession of giant puppets, sculpture and live percussion. Moving among the museum façades and pavement cafés, the parade brought a public encounter with Indian puppetry into the streets of South Kensington.
Together, these projects explored how artistic experiences can move between institutional and public settings, bringing contemporary artistic practices into contact with new audiences.
London | 2027
The forthcoming Serendipity Arts Festival London will build on these collaborations through a nine-day multidisciplinary festival developed with leading institutions across South Kensington.
The programme will extend the exchange between India and the UK, connecting South Asian artistic practices with the collections, histories and expertise of London’s cultural institutions. The collaboration will also extend to India, with UK partners contributing projects to the eleventh edition of Serendipity Arts Festival in Panjim, Goa, from 13–20 December 2026.
Together, these initiatives establish an ongoing conversation between artists, cultural organisations and audiences across the two countries.
A Partnership Across South Kensington
Serendipity Arts Festival London will be presented in partnership with the Great Exhibition Road Festival, led by Imperial College London, alongside leading cultural institutions across South Kensington.
The collaboration brings together organisations working across art, science, history, music, design and education, creating opportunities for artistic practice to encounter different collections, disciplines and audiences.
Led by Imperial College London, the Great Exhibition Road Festival brings science, arts and culture into public spaces across South Kensington. Its collaboration with Serendipity Arts builds on the 2026 programme, when artistic interventions connected the festival’s public setting with contemporary Indian artistic practice.
The Science Museum explores science, technology, innovation and their place in everyday life. In 2026, it hosted नैनन की ठगी / Eyes Shall Deceive as part of its Innovation Lates programme, providing a setting for the encounter between film, music and live performance.
The V&A brings together art, design and material culture through its collections and exhibitions. Its participation creates opportunities for South Asian artistic practices and material histories to enter into dialogue with wider questions of design, making and cultural exchange.
The Natural History Museum explores the natural world through research, collections and public engagement. Its involvement connects the festival’s multidisciplinary approach with wider conversations about nature, knowledge and the relationship between people and the world around them.
A major venue for music and performance, the Royal Albert Hall provides a context for encounters between artists, performers and audiences across musical traditions and contemporary practice.
The Royal Geographical Society advances geographical knowledge through research, education, collections and public engagement. Its collaboration with Serendipity Arts forms part of a wider exchange connecting archives, moving images and cultural histories between the UK and India.
The Royal College of Music is an international conservatoire dedicated to music education, performance and research. Its participation brings another perspective to the festival’s engagement with music, performance and artistic practice.
The Royal College of Art is a postgraduate art and design university whose work spans contemporary artistic practice, design, research and experimentation. Its relationship with Serendipity Arts includes an artist residency developed with the Serendipity Arts Foundation, extending the exchange between artists and institutions across the two countries.
The Curatorial Team
An intergenerational, all-women curatorial team will shape the London programme across five disciplines, bringing distinct perspectives to the relationships between artistic practice, material culture, movement, sound and food.
Veeranganakumari Solanki | New Media
Exploring how images connect disciplines and shape the ways we see and interpret the world.
Latika Gupta | Visual Arts
Bringing Indian art and material cultures into dialogue with new contexts and perspectives.
Preethi Athreya | Dance
Rethinking movement and the body through contemporary approaches to dance and performance.
Sneha Khanwalkar | Music
Creating experimental compositions from local sounds, instruments and voices.
Elizabeth Yorke | Culinary Arts
Exploring the potential of food to shape a more sustainable future.
Nancy Adajania | New Media
Examining the connections between media art, cultural exchange and public life.
Across these disciplines, the curatorial approach will bring different generations, ideas and forms of expression into conversation.
An Exchange Between London and Goa
The London festival forms part of a wider programme of collaboration between Serendipity Arts and cultural institutions internationally.
In December 2026, the eleventh edition of Serendipity Arts Festival will take place in Panjim, Goa, from 13–20 December. The programme will include the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition from the Natural History Museum, London; a moving-image and archive project developed with the Royal Geographical Society and British Film Institute; and work arising from the Serendipity Arts Foundation and Royal College of Art artist residency.
These projects will extend the exchange beyond a single city or festival, bringing UK institutions and their work into dialogue with audiences in India.
The London festival in June 2027 will continue this engagement, creating a platform for artistic exchange between India, the UK and the wider world.
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