Histories of Goa – OPEN CALL

The open call invites artistic responses that explore the intersections of Goa’s people, landscape, cultural practices, environment, and memory. The collection brings together paintings, sculptures, installations, and mixed-media works that reflect on Goa not as a static historical site, but as a living, growing cultural landscape shaped by layered histories and present-day realities.

At the Museum of Goa (MOG), we understand Goa as a place of multiple, overlapping histories, formed through centuries of exchange, movement, influence, and adaptation. Goa’s identity is neither singular nor fixed; it is one of mixture and continuity. This hybridity is visible in everyday life: in the languages spoken, the architecture and domestic spaces inhabited, the clothes worn, the rituals practised, and the food consumed. These elements are not relics of the past, but active expressions of how history continues to shape contemporary Goan life.

MOG’s curatorial approach foregrounds objects, spaces, and narratives that are deeply rooted in Goa’s local context. From the layered surfaces of Goan houses, where coats of paint reveal stories of time, migration, and material exchange, to traces of Portuguese maritime journeys and the cultural forms they introduced, the Museum examines how global histories become integral to local environments. These histories are read not only through monumental events, but through intimate, everyday objects and instances that remain uniquely Goan.

This open call encourages artists to engage with Goa’s past while critically reflecting on how these histories persist, transform, and resurface in the present. The works selected will collectively consider how memory, environment, and cultural inheritance continue to influence contemporary identities in Goa, positioning the Museum as a space where history and the present moment remain in constant dialogue.

Who can apply:
– Applications are open to anybody interested in creating.
– You do not need to have any formal training in art.
– Accepting submissions of sculptures, paintings, digital prints, video art, and installation art.

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