W.I.P Labs

Our flagship festival · Created and produced by W.I.P Labs · Next edition 2027

W.I.P alt.FEST

A festival of alternative, experimental and critical arts: music, film, performance, puppetry, installation and talks, in the rooms and streets where culture already lives, not only the ones built for it.

Visit wipaltfest.com (opens in a new tab) Partner with the festival
Cities
Delhi and Bengaluru
First edition
December 2024
Artists presented
700+
Shows
300+
Two bare-chested performers kneel together on a dark stage as a plume of white powder falls beside them.
Bali by Adishakti, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024

The festival

W.I.P alt.FEST is where everything W.I.P Labs does comes together for a few weeks a year.

It brings alternative and experimental work in music, film, performance, visual art and movement to audiences across the city, in theatres, galleries, courtyards, studios and public space. The festival holds that innovative, alternative art can and should be accessible to everyone, and that breaking barriers starts with reaching across communities.

The first edition ran in Delhi and Bengaluru in December 2024, with film screenings, music, dance, puppetry, theatre, exhibitions, workshops and panel discussions across both cities. Several W.I.P productions, including Orange Juice and the Dilli Improvisers Orchestra's Bengaluru shows, were made for or premiered at the festival.

Our productions at the festival

These are W.I.P Labs productions and installations that premiered or played at alt.FEST 2024.

The full Dastaan LIVE band on a low stage under pink and blue light, seated singers in front and guitarists standing behind, the audience in silhouette

Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein

A rock opera by Dastaan LIVE on the songs of Bhisham Sahni's play on Kabir. 50+ stages in 15 cities.

Created and conceptualised by Baan G. Produced by W.I.P Labs.

A bass player in a white shirt mid-performance, with a drummer and keyboard player behind him

Dilli Improvisers Orchestra

India's first improvisers' orchestra. Synths, code, noise boxes, guitars and voices, composing together in real time.

Created and conceptualised by Baan G. Produced by W.I.P Labs.

Vaibhav Batra seated on the floor, patching a modular synthesiser

Playground

Where modular meets Carnatic. Charu Hariharan and Vaibhav Batra in a live improvised performance.

Created, conceptualised and produced by W.I.P Labs.

Glove puppets with orange heads seated at a table under a spotlight

Orange Juice

A glove-puppet murder mystery for adults, about who decides guilt, and how fast, when everyone is watching.

Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust and W.I.P Labs. Produced by W.I.P Labs in association with Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust.

Giant woven bamboo ears lit from within at night, the dome of Vidhana Soudha behind them

Bamboo Ears

Public sound sculpture · Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru

Giant ears of woven bamboo, lit from within, set outside the gates of Vidhana Soudha: a listening sculpture for the city, made for W.I.P alt.FEST.

A W.I.P Labs installation

Twisting woven bamboo forms arching into a gateway on a dark platform inside the airport terminal

Chayaa'r Dwaar (The Shadow Door)

Installation · Bangalore International Airport, Terminal 2

A gateway of twisting woven bamboo forms, glowing amber inside the airport terminal, made for W.I.P alt.FEST.

A W.I.P Labs installation

Visitors standing among the lit bamboo ears outside the gates of Vidhana Soudha at night
Bamboo Ears, a W.I.P Labs installation, Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru, December 2024
Looking up a woven bamboo column glowing amber
Chayaa'r Dwaar, a W.I.P Labs installation, Bangalore International Airport, Terminal 2
A nine-piece band with singers, guitars, bass and drums performs in front of a projected city image, audience heads in the foreground.
Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein by Dastaan LIVE, a W.I.P production, Depot 48, W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
Close view of hands playing a wooden five-string bass guitar under purple stage light.
Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein, a W.I.P production, Depot 48, W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024

Watch

Play: W.I.P alt.FEST, montage (YouTube)
W.I.P alt.FEST, montage

Presented at the festival

Most of the programme was the work of invited artists and companies, which W.I.P Labs curated, hosted and presented. They are not W.I.P productions, and all credit for the work belongs to the artists named.

Delhi, December 2024

A dancer in an orange sari holds one foot behind her head in a classical pose, facing a dressing mirror ringed with bulbs, a rack of clothes behind her.
Goodbye to Alarippu, Lilanoor, W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
A performer in a draped sari gestures mid-speech under a lit Depot 48 sign, audience heads in silhouette in front.
Dil Dilli Dehleez, Depot 48, W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
Lines of live code glow on a projection screen above a performer at a laptop, with listeners in silhouette.
Algorave, Depot 48, W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
A man stretches a white rope across the stage to a performer in shorts who winds it around her waist.
Goodbye to Alarippu, Lilanoor, W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
A musician in a knit beanie works a laptop and small electronic devices on a table bathed in violet light.
Algorave, Depot 48, W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
A performer in black with a red headscarf holds a pale mask out at arm's length on an almost dark stage.
W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
A performer in a green silk sari bends over a stool to tie ankle bells onto her foot.
Goodbye to Alarippu, Lilanoor, W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
Two dancers in black crouch beside a figure in a carved mask and pink dhoti holding a bow against a warm lit curtain.
W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
A performer flings both arms up and sings with eyes closed before a yellow wall hung with small frames, an audience member in silhouette.
W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024
A dancer in a white kurta, washed red by stage light, clasps both hands over his head on a dark stage.
Lilanoor, W.I.P alt.FEST Delhi, December 2024

Bengaluru, December 2024

A live coder's face lit by projected lines of code in purple and white light.
Algorave, BCC, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
A performer leans back and drums on a large wooden barrel drum as others watch close behind.
Taala Tamte, Panchavati, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
A storyteller in white kurta and cap raises both hands mid-story, candles glowing along the stage edge.
Gharwali and Mughal Bacha, IIWC, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
An actor seated on a chair against a saturated blue backdrop presses his hands to his stomach.
Asymptomatic, Alliance Francaise, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
A black and white image of a dancer in a wide stance on a dark stage, cloth lying at his feet.
Kokoprak, Rangasthala, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
Participants sit on mats in a leafy open courtyard during a daytime workshop.
Diya workshop, BCC, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
Three dancers move against the arched doors and pale walls of a heritage hall, one in a handstand.
HOOA, Sabha, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
A masked performer in white wrapped in strings of flowers is lit from the side against black.
Garbha, Courtyard Koota, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
Colourful leather shadow puppets are pressed against a glowing cloth screen.
Gunduraju shadow puppetry, Shanthi Road, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
A performer in a red costume and headdress stands on a red carpet inside a ring of light trails.
Daklakatha Devikavya, Jagriti Theatre, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
People sit and lie on a carpeted floor around laptops and cables in a dim, warm room.
Code Drift Stunt Night, IME, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
A crowd gathers behind a large bamboo and cane structure in a parking level turned performance space.
Taala Tamte, BIC, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
A singer in white sits cross-legged on a low platform before a microphone against a deep blue curtain.
Dastaan-e-Sahir, Alliance Francaise, W.I.P alt.FEST Bengaluru, December 2024
Actors on a dark stage gathered under a makeshift tent of patterned cloth
Rihla by Aagaaz Theatre Trust, W.I.P alt.FEST, Bengaluru
Poster: a dancer in a pink sari mid-step on a dark stage beside a drummer, with the words Art for the sake of life in large black letters below.
Art for the sake of life, one of two pull-out A3 posters from the book

Take the festival home

The W.I.P alt.FEST 2024 book has every show, every artist and every space from both cities, with two pull-out A3 posters.

Order the book Posters

More

The full festival archive, artists and programmes live on wipaltfest.com (opens in a new tab). For partnerships, venues and artist enquiries for the next edition, in 2027, write to info@wipcollective.in.

See also our other festivals and platforms: Moving Otherwise, Listening Otherwise and PORTALS.