21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Chennai's Mixtura Vizha brings art to you
Unlike most art festivals or street performances, Mixtura Vizha doesn't offer a tightly packed agenda. It throws open various global art forms, placing them squarely in public spaces for people to experience them with an open mind. Curated by Shreya Nagarajan Singh under her banner SNS Arts Development Consultancy, along with KM Music Conservatory, in partnership with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) and Uptown Kathipara Urban Square.
'This year, we chose three prime locations — Central metro station, Thiru Vi Ka Park, and Urban Square at Kathipara. The idea is to bring the arts into public spaces, and take it outside the traditional space of a sabha or an auditorium,' said Shreya. 'We want to make the arts accessible for everyone — be it someone taking the metro home or someone walking through a park.' With a total of eight performances ranging from classical music and dance to drama and koothu to techno and jazz, the city's spaces transformed into a platform for artistes.
What makes Mixtura Vizha unique is its inclusion of art forms that general audience rarely witnesses live. At Central metro, the performances kicked off with KS Thejal's voice shifting between soft French compositions and soulful Indian classicals. The blend of beats — of modern and traditional instruments — attracted the passersby. People leaned on barricades, stood in clusters with their backpacks and luggage, some filming and others simply pausing to listen.
It was during the setup for the next act that I spotted Adam Greig, artistic director of KM Music Conservatory. Reflecting on his collaboration and performance, Adam shared, 'I'm one of the co-founders and co-inspirators of Mixtura Vizha. Shreya and I were discussing back in 2021 about this idea of doing a festival in Chennai and Shreya came up with this concept of incorporating all the different types of art forms.' As he gearing for his first piano solo at the festival, he gestured toward the crowd and said, 'It's quite an exciting concept because the audience never know what they're going to get. They know who's playing, they know where it is happening, but they wouldn't know who's playing in which of the listed locations. It's fun for them too,' he exclaimed. Charumathi Chandrasekar also took the stage by storm with expressive Bharatanatyam movements.
