Villa Swagatam at ¡Viva Villa! 2025
21 October 2025
Villa Swagatam was honoured to be invited to join the cultural programming of the 2025 edition of ¡Viva Villa!, the renowned network of French residencies abroad that celebrates artistic creation and international dialogue.
Founded in 2016 by the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid, Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto, and Villa Médicis in Rome, and joined in 2023 by Villa Albertine in the United States, ¡Viva Villa! was conceived as a collective platform to showcase the diversity and vitality of French residencies around the world.
The 2025 edition of ¡Viva Villa! was held on 21 October at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, a venue known for its engagement with contemporary creativity and new media. The event brought together artists, researchers, and authors who had undertaken residencies across the globe, along with professionals from the cultural sector, institutional representatives, and the general public. Villa Swagatam’s presence reflected the diversity of voices that have emerged from its residencies in India since the programme’s inception.
The festival featured several highlights showcasing the work of Villa Swagatam alumni:
A participatory workshop led by artists Martha-Maria Le Bars and Pauline Guerrier, both former residents of Villa Swagatam, invited participants to explore the intimate connections between colour, textiles, and traditional craftsmanship. Rooted in their experiences in India, the workshop offered a sensorial reflection on material culture and shared creative processes.
A roundtable discussion titled “Residency Spaces and the Psychogeography of Creation” brought together Ada, Corinne Morel-Darleux, and Antoine Mouton, in conversation with Rafael Pic, editor-in-chief of Le Quotidien de l’Art. The discussion explored how residencies can shape artistic perspectives, influence creative geographies, and redefine the artist’s relationship to space, time, and community.
Lauren Januhowski’s Passage of Transfer, a work conceptualised during her 2024 residency at the Kalhath Institute, was presented at Villa Swagatam’s pavilion at La Gaîté Lyrique. Also featured were the zine Land of the Lama by Simon Lamouret, developed during his residency at Rachna Books, and the recently published book Fruit Salad by Chiara Armellini, created in collaboration with Tara Books.
The screening of The Goddesses of Faridabad by Saba Niknam offered a poetic and immersive conclusion to the day. Composed of fragments filmed during her residency at the Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust, the piece weaves together images and impressions gathered from the everyday life of women working in a street market in Faridabad. Amidst the noise and dust, Niknam finds a quiet form of grace, a sense of divinity that emanates from their gestures, resilience, and unspoken strength.
Through its participation in ¡Viva Villa! 2025, Villa Swagatam reaffirmed its mission to foster dialogue between artists from France and India and to create spaces where artistic research, traditional know-how, and contemporary experimentation converge