Serendipity Arts residents' tryst with chance, artistry and transformation

Time of India

3 days ago

The Open Studio is not just a showcase of artistic output, but a celebration of dynamicity, vulnerability, and artistic companionship
The Serendipity Arts Foundation is alive with the energy of emerging artists and lovers of artistic experiments, as it kicked off its Open Studio, a weeklong showcase for the Serendipity Arts Residency 2025, running through August 8.
Billed as a 'constellation of images, ideas, textures and emotions,' the Open Studio offers more than a glimpse into the minds of six residents, Anishaa Tavag, Anshumaan Sathe, Malavika Bhatia, Ningkhan Keishing, Valia Russo, and Programmer-in-Residence Harshada Vijay, who have immersed themselves in a three-month journey of experimentation and collaboration in the eighth edition of the Residency, which is an annual flagship for cultivating new artistic voices.
Open Studio offers more than a glimpse into the minds of six talented residents - Ningkhan Keishing, Malavika Bhatia, Anshumaan Sathe, Anishaa Tavag, Valia Russo and Programmer-in-Residence Harshada Vijay
Behind this curation was the theme: chance. 'Chance became the quiet anchor of the residency,' shares Harshada Vijay, Programmer-in-Residence, reflecting the spirit of risk and openness that united this cohort. Over shared meals and studio walls, artists meandered between disciplines, letting materials and serendipity guide the way.
'The Residency programme has always been a space for discovery for the artists and for us,' says Smriti Rajgarhia, Director, Serendipity Arts.
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'This year's residents remind us that artistic practice is as much about vulnerability and generosity as it is about creativity. What emerges from their work is not just individual expression, but evidence of a thriving creative ecosystem. The Foundation hopes to nurture: artistic practices that are brave, generous, and deeply rooted in context.
"
Here's what took form in the past three months:
Come Play With Me by Anshumaan Sathe
Anshu's project is equal parts intimate and unapologetic, a series of tender portraits created in dialogue with fellow trans folks.
Emerging from letters, oral conversations, and sketching workshops, these portraits aren't merely visual studies, they're love letters that reclaim joy, desire, and the act of being seen, infusing the space with humour and honesty.
Archive of Impossible Exologies by Malavika Bhatia
Archive of Impossible Exologies by Malavika Bhatia (as MycoDyke)
Teaming up with the resilient fungus Schizophyllum commune, M has created living installations, decomposing, responsive to touch, breath, and time.
Their project weaves together a Punjabi riddle about mushrooms, colonial archives, living fungal cultures, and the displacement of ancestral memory. The centrepiece was a 'mycelial book', made of agar agar and mycelium, which grows and rots. About the installations and the work, they say, "All of this started with foraging.
It (Fungi) really has a mind of its own. I haven't done this alone," quipped M, while interacting with curious visitors.
Come Play With Me by Anshumaan Sathe
Hi Bi Kadlekai by Anishaa Tavag
Through dance, Tavag explores the play and performance of masculinity—a shapeshifting exploration inspired by Bollywood heroes and personal longing. Vulnerable yet playful, her movement-based installation asks: What does masculinity look like, and who gets to inhabit it? Her performance blurs the line between fantasy and embodiment, prompting viewers to reflect on their cultural scripts.
"I look at what makes the male star, what actions create that aura around the male star.
This was not about disavowing femininity, but embracing what is masculine. I feel masculinity is not limited to men," she remarked, while interacting with the audience post her performance.
Hi Bi Kadlekai by Anishaa Tavag
Phunga Wari (Lusivi) by Ningkhan Keishing
Rooted in his Tangkhul Naga heritage, Keishing's large ceramic installation reimagines the traditional three-legged wood stove of his childhood, each leg symbolising a parent and the spirit.
With stories passed down from his mother, the piece becomes a vessel for memory and intergenerational wisdom, dynamically blending indigenous practice with contemporary abstraction.
Pédiluve by Valia Russo
French artist Valia Russo draws us into the anxiety of digital excess with an installation that fuses photography, urban waste, and botanical matter. Named after the French ritual of cleansing before entering sanctity, his work is a poetic filter for our image-saturated lives, generating hybrids that float between ruin and renewal, and challenging us to question how we process today's visual overload.
Pédiluve by Valia Russo
One can expect work in process, performative experiments and dialogues with artists. Visit, don't miss the
chance
!
Pics: Serendipity Arts Foundation