SERENDIPITY is ready to roll out its red carpet for the ninth edition. The Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) returns anew to Goa with yet another edition, bigger than ever. It will feature over 1,800 Goan, national, and international artists and 200-plus projects, panels, workshops and public art interventions across 22 venues. It promises to celebrate creativity and culture one more time in Goa.
SAF has become South Asia’s largest multidisciplinary arts festival taking place in vibrant capital city Panaji. From December 15 to 22 various venues in the city will buzz with amazing artistic endeavours and creative pursuits…
Says Sunil Kant Munjal, founder-patron of Serendipity Arts, “We are proud to host the ninth edition of SAF 2024. It’s become a popular part of Goan culture and a fixture in Goa’s December calendar. SAF returns on a much grander scale, aiming to strengthen community engagement through relevant conversations, further enhance accessibility in the arts and make the festival an exciting, immersive experience for all.”
The festival enjoys the support of the government of Goa in partnership with the Entertainment Society of Goa and the Corporation of the City of Panaji, along with the Directorate of Art & Culture, Goa Tourism Department, Kala Academy, Forest Department and Imagine Panaji Smart City Development.
SAF 2024 takes place at the Art Park, the Excise Building, the Old GMC Complex, ESG Building, Santa Monica Jetty, Samba Square, Mala Pump House, the Arena at Nagalli Hills Ground, Kala Academy, Azad Maidan, Directorate of Accounts, Caranzalem Beach, Dona Paula Parking Lot and some more venues. Since its first edition in 2016 the festival has made the varied art forms popular and accessible to all visitors from India and abroad.
And to quote Smriti Rajgarhia (director, SAFG), “As we unveil the 9th edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival, we reaffirm our belief in culture as a transformative soft power that can invigorate economies and bring meaningful change to society. Over the years, symbiotic relationships, collaborations, and partnerships have been at the heart of our journey, creating a multiplier effect for communities.”
This year’s SAF has 13 expert curators breathing life into various disciplines. Bickram Ghosh and Zubin Balaporia are curators for Music; Veeranganakumari Solanki and Thukral & Tagra come together to curate Visual Arts; Theatre is curated by Quasar Thakore Padamsee and Sankar Venkateshwaran; Geeta Chandran and Jayachandran Palazhy are curating Dance; Culinary Arts is being curated by Elizabeth Yorke and Anusha Murthy of Edible Issues; Kristine Michael and Sandeep Sangaru are curating Craft; Salil Chaturvedi is heading the Accessibility quotient.
SAF visitors may explore sustainable food alternatives, delve into climate-conscious craft practices, and engage with multisensory exhibits as part of the Visual Arts curation. They can also groove to global music beats, experience a somatic symphony through Dance programming, and reflect on human experiences in Theatre, all while participating in accessibility and sustainability endeavours in the art space. AI interventions, curated by Mathieu Wothke (Somewhere Arts) and Joel Ferree (LACMA), will be prevalent across the visual, culinary, and performance disciplines, adding a layer of innovation and exploration to the festival.
Additionally, special curators like Preethi Athreya for Performance Art, Comedy Wagon for Stand-up Comedy, Gaya Tideman for Music in the Art Park, Zainab Wani (Zequenx) for the B-Side Project, and Damian Christinger for Ghosts in Machines bring fresh perspectives to this edition. Key exhibitions such as Eternal Echoes: The Resonance of Heart with Heritage, curated by Helen Acharya at Azad Maidan, and Carbon, led by Jahnavi Phalkey in collaboration with Ravi Agarwal, promise compelling and thought-provoking experiences.
Prioritising Goan and Goa-based artists there is The Goa Familia – Archive of Potential (Goan) Futures project, curated by Lina Vincent and Akshay Mahajan, an offering of heartfelt exploration of Goan heritage through oral histories, photography, and archival materials. Eminent names include Assavri Kulkarni, Shankar Turi, Divesh Gadekar, Manashri Pai Dukle, Aldona Video Club, Bookworm Goa, Prashanti Talpankar and others.
SAF patron Pallavi Dempo firmly believes that the festival plays a pivotal role in nurturing creativity and talent, “The festival has become a most sought-after cultural event in Goa, and we are truly fortunate to host it here. My heartfelt gratitude and congratulations to Sunil Kant Munjal for gifting Goa this incredible festival!”
The festival is free to all visitors upon registration but due to popular demand and limited seating, some projects charge a nominal fee. For more details on curators and projects readers may visit https://www dipityartsfestival.com/

SIX INTERNATIONAL ARTWORKS MAKE THEIR DEBUT AT SAF….

Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei, American independent filmmaker James Benning, Ethiopian-born Indian artist Sheba Chhachhi, Argentine contemporary artist Tomás Saraceno, and the late Indian artist Zarina Hashmi have their works displayed on the walls of a building that is arguably one of urban Goa’s lifelines.
Olafur Eliasson’s exhibit ‘Deep Cosmological Constant Collective’ (2019) is a collection of glass spheres that mirror the environment in which they are installed, reflecting the colours yellow and black when viewed at different angles, symbolising the day-night and seasonal cycle. The art installation weighs over 1.5 tons. The piece was exhibited only once in Delhi over three years ago and is being showcased now in Goa.
Captured in thousands of vibrant Woma blocks – a Chinese brand similar to Lego, Ai Weiwei’s interpretation of French Impressionist Claude Monet’s dreamlike series of paintings, “Water Lilies,” is a visual wonderland, that highlights the digitisation of imagery and the modern dissemination of visual information.
The Excise Building will be the temporary home of the exhibition ‘Geographies of Yourself’ for the festival’s duration. This special project which has been put together with the help of curatorial advisor, the Berlin-based Gallery neugeurriemschneider, has the six eminent artists showcasing contributions to the arts that have left an indelible global impact.
All this and much more to make for a veritable feast for the senses and to help enthusiasts and connoisseurs engage with whatever catches their fancy in profound and transformative ways. Visit www.serendipityartsfestival.com