Someone ring up Oxford and Cambridge because they got the word of the year so wrong. If 2025 has a personality, it is undoubtedly ‘decision fatigue’. And December wears the weight of this feeling heavier than any other month. Between end-of-the-year deadlines, Secret Santas, and a limitless (but exciting) flurry of culture and art biennales and festivals, the overarching mood is overwhelm.
Well, we feel you and we are here to help. We spent the last few days scouring through the 10th edition of Goa’s Serendipity Arts Festival, the unofficial diamond of the season, to determine exactly what demands your time and attention. No more navigating glitchy PDFs or making Notes app lists, no more overstimulus. Whether you’re a tech girlie or a crafts bro, here are five things that you have to do at the ongoing SAF. And it is totally, completely, utterly okay if this is all you do.
1. ‘Goa is a Bebinca’
Today countless spaces brand themselves as immersive dining but no one does it like theatre troupe PaChaak. Every story integrates the audience into the plot, making flavour the main character. After journeying through Mumbai and Bengaluru, the group arrives at SAF with a special collaboration with chef Manu Chandra to present Goa is a Bebinca. Through an hour-long drama, you watch Mary, a firecracker of a woman, push her father’s boundaries with what’s on the menu at their taverna and what is considered Goan.
“There are so many layers to Goa beyond what meets the eye,” explains director Divya Rani. “Beyond the shacks and the calamari, there are local ingredients and pride in culture.” Employing the migration of kokum and vinegar, and chorizo and crostinis, with the timelessness of the layered bebinca and the Goan poder, the show becomes a living, breathing feast. Every act unfolds how tradition and innovation can coexist, all while you sip on spiced feni, giggle, and sing along.
Don’t miss: A celebrity chef often attracts famous friends. Keep an eye out on the crowd; maybe if you’re lucky you will spot a wild Naar.
Timings: 11 am to 12 pm, 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm, 4 pm to 5 pm, and 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm; everyday until December 21
Venue: Casa San Antonio
On going performance by the PaChaak
2. ‘Goa’s Smallest Big Tradition: The Mini Narkasur Archive’
For years, Hindu mythology has recognised Narkasur as the powerful demon king who was defeated by Lord Krishna. A day before Diwali, on Narak Chaturdashi, Goans parade effigies of the evil great, burning him to the ground as a reminder of the good surpassing the bad. Yet in the recent past, this fantastical tale has been freed from rigid religious connotations to transcend into the realm of creative expression. Multidisciplinary artist and educator Diptej Vernekar’s curation is a bold statement of this shift.
To be clear, this is nothing like stepping into a spiritual shrine. If anything, it is watching art and costume collapse into one. Picture Spider-Man’s six-pack abs brushed up to resemble a wicked king. If you’re feeling participative, pick up a remote control and challenge someone in a Narkasur wrestling match. Paper, wire, and pigments are crafted to build miniature structures that highlight the maker’s prowess. Such is the precision of these badass sculptures that if you stare too long into any of their eyes, the hair on your arm inadvertently prickles up.
Don’t miss: The chandelier of Narkasur heads dancing on the ceiling—super eerie but so worth it.
Timings: 12 pm to 7 pm; everyday until December 21
Venue: Directorate of Accounts
No pre-booking required
A scene from the remote control Narkasur wrestling match
3. ‘Hands, Tools, and the Living Thread: From Kashmiri Craft Ateliers’
Even if you’re no art enthusiast, you’d know it’s hard to miss Kashmir’s deep influence on Indian craft. Most often, though, we see these objects far separated from their context. An intricately hand-carved walnut box may be placed alongside paraphernalia from around the country, erasing the climate and culture that informs it. With an aim to narrate the story right, artist and maker Sandeep Sangaru has built an immersive documentation of traditional Kashmiri practices, complete with the generational artisans who keep the craft alive.
In the first room, master artisan Mehraj Ud Din Pir bends, splits, and weaves wicker from the bark of willow trees, spraying mist to shape the wood to his liking. Beside him, autumn in the mountains comes to life: the craft of namda (felted wool) is employed to create rugs with rich maple leaf motifs. Step into the next space where Mohd Maqbool Jan effortlessly carries forward the tradition of fine-line naqashi painting, mirroring dense landscapes onto wooden trinkets worthy of heirlooms. The final room sees papier-mâché, copper craft, walnut carving, willow wicker, and more come together to create an installation of Kashmir that is bound to take your breath away.
Don’t miss: Conversing with the masters about their practice. Shy at first, they love storytelling and, if caught at a good moment, will let you touch and play with the tools.
Timings: 12 pm to 7 pm; everyday until December 21
Venue: The Old GMC Palace
No pre-booking required
Artisan working on a fine line nakashi painting
4. ‘Not a Shore, Neither a Ship But the Sea Itself’
No one can deny that Goa holds an inimitable spirit; a salty, slow zest that is hard to find anywhere else in India. Sculptural artist and curator Sahil Naik pays homage to this feeling of Goaness, exploring the space as a sensation more than a geographical limit. Working with artists from the state as well as diaspora, the exhibition sees Goa from the lens of maritime worlds, colonialism, internationalism, and a complex cosmopolitan modernity.
Artist Shivanjani Lal’s installation ‘Yaad Karo’ looks at the history of migration—personal and political—through India and the Pacific. She uses woven threads to create visible links that record the journeys made by her labour community. New media artist Afrah Shafiq urges you to repaint Mother Mary, challenging the White, domesticated, and maternal identity that the West has sold us. Two mosaic nicho boxes and a series that studies Mary’s hands deconstruct the making and unmaking of a feminine icon.
Don’t miss: Shafiq’s interactive digital installation lets you title your own hyperlocal Mother Mary. Yes, don’t miss it even if there is a queue. Click on the colourful tiles to see how POC artists have long imagined the virginal goddess as more than pure and spectacular. Take your time here.
Timings: 12 pm to 7 pm; everyday until December 21
Venue: The Old GMC Palace
No standalone booking required
A visitor admiring the painting at the Old GMG Palace
5. ‘Multiplay 02: Soft Systems’
If there was an Overheard at SAF sleuth account, you bet there would be a number of posts on Thukral and Tagra. Any room you enter seems to be whispering about just how good their curation (titled ‘Multiplay’) is. The core ideology is simple: traditional boundaries between the host, the artist, and the audience dissolve at every installation. Step into what feels like an inflatable world to experience Australian dance troupe Chunky Move defy genres. Breathe, meditate, lie down, and lean into the woo-woo with them.
Then see Jayasimha Chandrashekar transform printmaking into performance. In an endless act of repetition he prints and stamps newspapers, allowing you to make one your own and become part of the archive. Meanwhile, spatial artist Teja Gavankar invites you to her breathing wall, where you can sit and share weight. Here, rest is seen as collaboration, the softness quite literally making the hay wall pulse in and out. (I promise this all makes sense when you’re there.)
Don’t miss: Doctor Bwanga’s AI powered phone booth. Inspired by Zambian healers and witch doctors, the tech-powered voice on the other end draws inspiration from the Global South instead of capitalistic billionaires. Go ahead, ask that question that has been burrowed in the back of your mind. You will be rewarded.
Timings: 12 pm to 7 pm; everyday until December 21
Venue: Directorate of Accounts
No pre-booking required
The 10th edition of Serendipity Arts Festival in Panjim, Goa, is on till December 21. Register online here
