This Week In Culture: A Halloween Pre-Party, An Art Exhibit You Can Touch, & More

Coming back from the Diwali break feels like waking up slowly. The world is still glittering with leftover lights, my kitchen is heavy with the scent of sweets. The work week is mercifully short. I loved this in-between time, when life hasn’t quite accelerated yet and there’s space to loiter around in thought, in art, in the small things.

I count myself lucky that my work allows me to stay inside that feeling — to keep finding beauty, joy, and meaning in what people create. Every week, I get to witness the strange and hopeful ways in which art insists on existing: a museum that lets you touch what’s usually untouchable, a rapper tracing the rise and fall of ego, a century-long dialogue between Mumbai and Miami, an artist painting dignity into the faces of the working class.

It’s a good reminder that even as the world spins back into motion, there’s always art waiting to slow us down. Here's what we have for you this week:

Art Deco Alive! Unites Mumbai & Miami Through A Century Of Design

Art Deco Alive! is a twin-city festival taking place from November 6–25, 2025, in Mumbai, with parallel programming in Miami. It marks 100 years of the Art Deco movement by tracing its shared architectural and cultural legacy across both cities. Through exhibitions, symposia, guided walks, and community programs, the festival explores how design, heritage, and civic imagination intersect. Art Deco is a living conversation between preservation and modern urban futures.

Read here.

A Homegrown Casa Bacardi Halloween Pre-Party At A 77-Year-Old Cinema In Mumbai

Halloween is the best holiday of the year, letting us dive into alternate universes by dressing up and getting down on the dance floor. You can escape your everyday life and lose yourself in the extravagant costumes and vibrant energy of the ghostly night. Its sole downside is that it happens only once a year, cutting the fun short way sooner than we’d like. This year, we’re extending our favourite holiday season with our Halloween pre-party. Join Homegrown and Casa Bacardi at the iconic Liberty Cinema.

@Home Brings A Sampling Of The Best In Art To Kolkata

@Home is a bimonthly series offering a sampling of art, dance, music and food hosted by and for art lovers in Kolkata. The series takes local artists into the cosy comfort and hospitality of peoples’ homes, where small audiences can meet an artist’s process and work up close. After 6 editions since September 2023 in homes across the city, @Home returns on Sunday, October 26.

Get your tickets here.

KNMA’s Ongoing Exhibition Lets You Touch The Art

Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi presents 'please touch gently', a showing of zines, comics, ephemera that redefine what a museum can be. Showcasing works by over a thousand artists in 22 languages, the exhibition celebrates India’s zine, comic, and self-publishing culture. The exhibit captures both personal and collective memory, turning the museum into a living, participatory archive of independent voices.

Read here.

Rapper shauharty’s Record ‘Farookh’ Examines How Egos Build & Fall

'Farookh', a sophomore mixtape by Delhi-based artist shauharty, uses the story of Egypt’s King Farouk as a metaphor for ego, excess, and self-confrontation. 'Farookh' redefines masculinity in Indian hip-hop, blending jazz-influenced production with introspective lyricism to explore vulnerability, belonging, and the tension between ambition and staying true to oneself.

Read here.

Artist Muhammed Sajid’s Portraits Spotlight Working Class Heroes

In his new art series, illustrator Muhammed Sajid celebrates India’s working class — from postmen to street sweepers — as vivid, dignified figures. There’s a political act at the core of this series. In a country where class and labour often decide visibility, Sajid’s choice to frame working-class people with the same care and visual attention given to those in power is deliberate. Each artwork reclaims dignity for those who are usually invisible in our cities and in our imagination.

Read here.

An Alternative School Redefines Education Through Architecture

In the remote Satmala hills of Maharashtra, the Hiwali School, designed by architect Pooja Khairnar, redefines education through architecture and community engagement. Inspired by Louis Kahn’s philosophy of “To and Through” spaces, the Hiwali School makes education joyful for first-generation rural learners. Constructed using exposed brick, local materials, and flowing courtyards, it blends seamlessly with the landscape while nurturing creativity and a sense of community.

Read here.

If you enjoyed reading this, here’s more from Homegrown:

Inside The Feminist, Anti-Caste, & Queer Heart Of India’s Goth Movement

Masks, Myths, & Memory: The Queer Cinematic Legacy Of Rituparno Ghosh

Aksomaniac's New Single Turns Queer Self-Discovery Into A Playful & Poetic Ritual