A range of set designers Shirin Naveed, Shankho Chaudhuri, and Esha Sikander work together to create a dedicated South Asian stage at this year's Glastonbury festival, functioning like a small nightclub. It is a space that only plays music from South Asian Artists and it is made with cultural collectives Dailled In, Going South, and Daytimers.
All of the efforts aim to create a space for upcoming musicians across the diaspora. Chaudhuri speaks to Dezeen about the design process, stating "Orientalism is bedded into sci-fi. What if there existed a canon of sci-fi that centred the South Asian experience? This was a way to reclaim and recontextualise a lot of those references through our own community."
Image Credit: Yushy
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Cultural Heritage Stage Designs
- Stage designs that incorporate cultural heritage and unique artistic influences to create immersive experiences for audiences.
- Diaspora-focused Music Spaces
- Specialized music spaces aimed at showcasing the talents of musicians from diverse diasporas, providing them with dedicated platforms.
- Reclaimed Narratives in Design
- Design practices that reclaim and reinterpret narratives, offering fresh perspectives through culturally-informed aesthetics and themes.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Event Production
- Opportunities for the event production industry to create culturally rich and exclusive experiences for diverse audience segments.
- Music and Entertainment
- The music and entertainment industry could see new avenues for promoting underrepresented artists by developing dedicated platforms and stages.
- Cultural Design and Architecture
- Potential for cultural design and architecture industries to innovate by integrating traditional artistic influences with contemporary venue designs.
