This Week In Culture: The Mayurbhanj Residency, One Night In Toki-O, A HGM Showcase, & More

I spent the last weekend of June at The Belgadia Palace in Baripada — an 18th-century Victorian mansion now functioning as a boutique hotel and the home of the Bhanj Deo family, former rulers of Mayurbhanj. I was there with a group of journalists, art writers, and curators to cover the closing of The Mayurbhanj Residency. This project, a partnership between Art + Charlie and The Mayurbhanj Foundation, seeks to bridge contemporary art with the region’s long-standing craft traditions.

For the first edition of The Mayurbhanj Residency, multidisciplinary artist Kumar Misal spent the entire month of June at Belgadia Palace. Coming from a farming family in Kohlapur, Misal’s art is deeply connected to the agricultural cycle. He creates sheets of handmade paper from banana, corn, and sugarcane fibres, which he then uses to produce autobiographical images. During his residency, he collaborated with a sabai grass craft group from the nearby village of Rangamatia and worked closely with local women weavers to develop a new series of works exploring the impact of mining on the region’s communities and environment.

As I look back on my time at Mayurbhanj, I can’t help but think about how some of the most exciting cultural work today happens in the interstices between art and craft, tradition and reinvention, and personal expression and collective experience. In this week’s Homegrown Culture Bulletin, we are looking at stories that inhabit these liminal spaces. From The Mayurbhanj Residency, which bridges the gap between art and craft, to Tarsem Singh’s ‘The Fall’, which questions the line between storyteller and listener, to One Night In Toki-O — our own experiential event series that celebrates the timelessness of Japanese culture, existing between tradition and modernity — here’s what we have for you this week:

A New Art Residency At The Belgadia Palace Is Challenging The Artist-Artisan Divide

Hosted at the historic Belgadia Palace in Baripada, Odisha, The Mayurbhanj Residency is a collaboration between Art + Charlie and The Mayurbhanj Foundation that connects contemporary artists with local craft communities. Through Kumar Misal’s collaboration with sabai grass weavers in Rangamatia, the residency raises important questions about authorship, craft, ecology, and the long-standing distinction between artists and artisans. Read more here.

Few films have inspired as much retrospective re-evaluation as ‘The Fall’. Although the film failed to find its audience when it was released in 2006, it has since acquired the status of a cult masterpiece. Part fantasy epic, part meditation on storytelling, and part inquiry into the relationship between artist and audience, I think ‘The Fall’ — a film less concerned with plot than with the act of imagination itself — is one of 21st-century cinema’s most extraordinary achievements. Learn more here.

Agaahi Is An Indian Urdu Rap Project Anchored In Community & Political Consciousness

Agaahi is an independent rapper, songwriter, and co-founder of Bengaluru’s hip-hop collective, Wanandaf, whose music blends Urdu poetry, hip-hop, and melodic songwriting. After first gaining attention for politically charged tracks on caste, communal violence, and Muslim identity, his work has expanded to include themes of love, faith, ambition, mental health, and personal struggle, with his latest EP, ‘Manzar’, reflecting a more intimate, community-driven approach to storytelling. Disha profiles the artist here.

Thrice As Nice: One Night In Toki-O Returns To Three Cities Across India

One Night In Toki-O, a one-of-a-kind celebration of timeless Japanese culture, returns with an expanded three-city edition, coming to Bengaluru on August 1, Hyderabad on September 12, and Mumbai on November 22. Presented by House of Suntory’s Toki whisky in collaboration with Homegrown, the immersive cultural experience promises a vibrant convergence of music, food, art, gaming, and nightlife inspired by Japan’s enduring ability to reinvent tradition. Learn more here.

We’re Bringing MC Couper, Raj, & Viepsa To The Humming Tree For A Homegrown Music Showcase

After the resounding success and acclaim of its first edition, which featured Reble, Rae Mulla and two exciting up-and-comers in Mehr and Kabir, Homegrown Music is back a second time for its one-of-a-kind showcase series on the 18th of July at the Humming Tree in Bengaluru. The showcase promises an evening that captures the breadth and diversity of contemporary independent music. Headlined by South Indian hip-hop sensation MC Couper, the event also features genre-bending singer-songwriter Viepsa Arora and producer-guitarist Raj. Learn more here.

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

Viepsa Is The Sound Of A Lovesick Delhi

The Stuttgart Indian Film Festival Brings Regional Indian Cinema To The Global Stage

Thrice As Nice: One Night In Toki-O Returns To Three Cities Across India