The Night Market of Stories

curator

Preethi Athreya

Commissioned by Serendipity Arts Foundation for Serendipity Arts Festival 2024

For a few hours in the dead of night, The Night Market of Stories celebrates the freedom of women and queer artists to be unproductive, unapologetic and gloriously present. Taking off from the idea of the market as a space designated for exchanges and transactions between people, the project invites one-on-one conversations with ten radical and experienced artists who tell their stories through a selection of objects from their everyday life. Each object brings to life a particular anecdote, memory, song, small dance or story that is meant for one audience member at a time. The languages spoken by them range from Konkani, Marathi, English to Hindi.

Conceptualised as part of The Labour and Leisure Chronicles.

The Labour and Leisure Chronicles sets out to map the dynamics of chosen public sites in the city of Panjim by introducing performative interactions in response to their characteristics. It places at the forefront the idea of space as a changing phenomenon, defined not only by geographical terrain or architectural detail, but also by the actions it witnesses. In four distinct propositions, The Labour and Leisure Chronicles capture the overlap between functional life and the play of leisure.

(At the show, volunteers would assist you to meet each of the artists. On meeting them, please introduce yourself briefly, and choose one object on display to hear a story. In case you have any questions or wish to have a longer chat with any of the artists, please wait till the end of the session to approach them.)

CREDITS:

Artists:

Arundhati Chattopadhyaya

Padmashree Josalkar

Antara Bhide

Sandy Sal’aura’

Mamata Verlekar

Prashanti Talpankar

Debi K

Prajakta Kavelekar

Imapana Kulkarni

Tallulah De Silva

Visual and Technical Design:

Pravin Kannanur

About the artists:

Padmashree Josalkar, a Goa-based theatre designer and educationist, has been the Director of Kala Academy's School of Drama for 18 years.

Arundhati Chattopadhyaya, a theatre maker, facilitator and performer, conducts theatre workshops using voice, body, imagination, and space around Goa.

Debi K is a queer storyteller, writer and anti-caste activist currently based in north Goa.

Impana Kulkarni is a Bharatanatyam performer, teacher, and founder of the Vyomi Arts Centre in Goa.

Tallulah D’Silvais an architect who specialises in cost effective and sustainable building practices.

Sandy SalAura, a popular drag artist, is an actor, model, dancer trained in contemporary, ballet, jazz, ballroom, kathak, and hip-hop dance forms.

Theatre practitioner, researcher, and teacher, Antara Bhide has written, directed and acted in plays in many Indian languages.

Prashanti Talpankar is a writer, translator, playwright, and actor. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for her work in Konkani

A young Goan poet, Mamata Verlekar is an assistant professor of Hindi at Goa University and has recently published a book of verse titled ‘Dhag’.

With 34 plays, films, and web series under her belt, Prajakta Kavlekar is an actor, dancer, costume designer, and teacher.

Founding member of the Tamil theatre company, Magic Lantern, and the art collective Basement 21, Pravin Kannanur is a multidisciplinary artist, working predominantly in the visual arts, theatre and contemporary dance.