Ragbag 2025 in Thiruvananthapuram, to feature curated performances, food and craft

Experience Ragbag 2025, a unique performing arts festival in Kerala combining imagination, technology, crafts, and diverse cuisines.

“Ragbag is a metaphorical expression,” says Sasikumar V, one of the curators of Ragbag 2025, a six-day long performing arts festival combining imagination and technology, set to take place at the Kerala Arts and Crafts Village (KACV) at Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram, from January 14 to January 19. “It is a bag of rag, everything here is reused, reimagined, revisited and so on.”  

A first-time festival that has been in the pipelines for over 10 months, Ragbag was only possible with the help of Sreeprasad TU, COO of KACV, who “sensed” this festival, says Sasikumar.

The gala boasts a line up of international artists from Italy, Chile, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Netherlands, France, Poland and India. Aiming to bring a twist in its idea and execution, stepping away from purist tendencies, the festival is expected to be an “immersive experience”, says Sasikumar, who was a former coordinator of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala.

“None of the acts mentioned are purely theatre gigs.  It is a mix of theatre, music, technology and even circus and puppetry,” points out Sasikumar. “Performances work on a different scale now as we live in a digital era, where imagination and technology come together and so many new performances are born.”  

Ragbag explores the idea of “oceanic circles”, a metaphor introduced by Mahatma Gandhi, emphasising the need to build nonviolent structures in the world as observed through different ecosystems or circles in the ocean. Sasikumar says, “There is biological and sociological interconnectedness, and this festival is about the interrelation of social existence.”

The festival is further divided into four segments. Performance Bag refers to the theatre and staged acts, opening with The Manganiyar Seduction, directed by Roysten Abel from Kerala with over 40 Rajasthani musicians, sitting in glowing pods, stacked in a four-storied structure on January 15. There is another segment called the Idea Bag, which includes three panel discussions set to take place from January 17 to 19, both curated by Sasikumar.

Chef Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar, founder of Edible Archives, Goa, curates the Ragbag Feast bringing together chefs from different parts of the country such as Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Delhi and West Bengal. Activist and author, Jaya Jaitly curates the Craft Bazaar, set to feature 33 artisans showcasing their crafts indigenous to their parts of the country.