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This weekend, another unprecedented cultural bonanza erupts across the pocket-sized capital city of Goa, with a sensational banquet of options in multiple venues. For some while it has been clear that during the months of November and December, right until February, each year end, no other place in India rivals Panaji as cultural capital. But, in 2017, everything has been taken up yet another notch with converging landmark events, including the mammoth, extraordinarily ambitious second edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival. Even for a city that has seen so very much across its remarkably storied history, this ascension to globally significant arts hotspot is something new. A big part of the reason this precise moment is special is the emergence of unique venues, hosting wonderfully innovative ventures. For instance, for several years now, the sole consistently excellent art display in Panaji is the stunning Antonio Trindade archive that is permanently housed in the Fundacao Oriente premises in the heart of Fontainhas’ beautiful heritage district. But, at the moment, there is a lovely bonus alongside of an intimate selection of artworks by Vamona Navelcar that has been passionately curated by the US-based academic and writer R Benedito Ferrao along with other members of the Al-Zulaij Collective. Taken as a whole, the paintings of Trindade and Navelcar trace a singularly Goan trajectory from the villages of Portuguese Goa to colonial-era Bombay and Mozambique, and back to what is now the smallest state in the Indian republic. Wander briefly up the atmospheric neighbourhood streets to the centuries-old Patto bridge (stretching on one side, the Ponte de Linhares causeway was by far the longest in the world when it was completed in 1635). Here there is another brand new novelty — the heritage buildings that used to house the city’s public works department have been vacated, and elegantly repurposed into art galleries and a performance venue. This new exhibition space is debuting with a truly outstanding group exhibition curated by Riyas Komu, the Kerala-born artist and sculptor who co-founded the Kochi Biennale that has spectacularly turned around the fortunes of that city’s oldest neighbourhoods. Panaji’s own routinely thoughtless city authorities should consider retaining these buildings as arts infrastructure. Just a minute’s walk up the waterfront, the privately-owned and very recently attractively rebuilt Bento Miguel building is spilling over with a wealth of twenty-first century Goan art, contributed by over thirty artists who span three generations, from nonagenarian Laxman Pai (one of the last exemplars of the seminal Progressive Artists Group of Bombay in the 1940s and 50s) to twenty-one-year-old Siddharth Kerkar (who himself represents three generations of outstanding family artistic talent). The group exhibition called ‘Now You See It: The Invisible River of Konkani Surrealism’ (this writer is the curator) addresses some of the lacunae of Indian art history and understanding, where individual artists from Goa have long been acknowledged and celebrated, but the ties that bind them to one another (as well as so many others) are either not recognized or denied outright. There is much more happening, including a highly intriguing arts barge moored on a prime stretch of the city waterfront, where cutting-edge performance art will be curated by the brilliant Nikhil Chopra and Madhavi Gore of the Goa-based H H Art Spaces. Nearby, in the splendid confines of the Adil Shah palace, there are several superb exhibitions running concurrently, including an exposition on the origins of the traditional Goan ‘pano baju’ garment by Wendell Rodricks, a super-cool virtual game based on Mapusa market by part-time Goa resident Orijit Sen, and a premiere of (also part-time Goa resident) Dayanita Singh’s ‘Master Ji’ photographs of legendary Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan. In another section is ‘The Music Stopped But We Were Still Dancing’ curated by Moira-based Prashant Panjiar, and featuring extensive research on Goan jazz musicians by Naresh Fernandes. All this is great fun, but also an excellent reminder that Goa was exceedingly smart about art long before big-budget events, and deeply dubious “smart city” shenanigans appeared on the horizon. Way back, at the turn of the 20th century, the city’s residents built an almost unbelievable modern art collection for their own enjoyment. What is now Institute Menezes Braganza amassed original work by Renoir and Pissarro, and many others. The very first public library in Asia housed impressive collections in six languages. The cultural roots of Panaji are precisely what make the city so hospitable to fantastic art, as is being confirmed throughout the city right now.
