St+art Hyderabad

For its 6th edition, the St+art Festival began operations in the city of Hyderabad for the first time. Capital of the most recently formed state in the country - Telangana, Hyderabad is one of the oldest cities in India. With a growing urban population, it is also the fourth-most populous city in the country. Salient for its rich cultural heritage, which coexists with growing modernisation in a rapidly developing metropolis, the city presented itself as a fertile ground of opportunities for artists. Working with a mix of established and upcoming artists - local and international, the festival created interventions across the city over a period of one month.

Work for the festival, in collaboration with Art @ Telangana and Krishnakriti Gallery, began in the MS Maqtha neighbourhood of the city. Situated next to the Hussain Sagar lake - located in the heart of the city, the neighbourhood is an urban village, home to a close-knit community with a strong self-dependent nature of living and working. It became the setting for work to begin in what was to be India’s second public art district.

Additionally, in continuation of our efforts to enable local artists and encourage them to engage with public spaces, the festival held an open call-out for native artists. 13 Telangana-based artists were then chosen to showcase their work on the boundary wall surrounding the Maqtha neighbourhood.

After work in the Maqtha neighbourhood was completed, separate interventions in the forms of an installation by artists Daku and Dia Bhupal and a typographic sculpture by artist Rocky and designer Hanif Kureshi were also done for the festival.