The Angular Festival blurs lines between art and music, opening Chennai’s galleries to new audiences

Most music festivals give you one thing and do it well. The Angular Festival is trying something more interesting. Curated by Focus Group Radio, the event takes over four spaces at Palomar by Crossway, splitting itself across two music stages, an art gallery, listening sessions, artist installations, and a makers market.

This multi-stage programme invites new audiences to experience art and music as one

The DNA of The Angular Festival is that art and music are not divided but genuinely intertwined—the way they actually are when left to their own devices.

“We are very critical of the way art markets and galleries in Chennai generally function. The bar for entrance is so daunting to a lot of regular everyday people. By clubbing with a music festival, it opens doors to people who wouldn’t otherwise step into a traditional gallery,” says Rhea Fabian, co-curator and creative director.

Among the art gallery, five artists are showing work across painting, sculpture, installation, and film. There’s Arya’s archival-influenced paintings, Poorvaja Rathi’s acrylic canvases, BVS’s installation about growing as an artist, Sasithar’s sculptures about the human condition, and Rhea’s own short film about memory, screened on a CRT television.

Vidyuth Subramanian, a musician as well as the festival producer and curator further takes us through the musical side of it. Stage one goes loud —Komododo’s live electronic and house-inspired set, CDV performing covers of punk legends The Stooges and The Ramones, The Broadway Addicts, and a closing techno set from 47K. Stage two is quieter but no less interesting—Folk Machi, Madladi’s bass-heavy electronic hip-hop experiments, and The Dipshit Ladies, making their debut.

The listening sessions — curated by non-musicians including a South Indian folk music researcher, a graphic designer, and a filmmaker — run alongside everything else. Vidyuth describes them as music discovery in its purest form: "We want to show what the world is listening to, all the varieties, all the genres from across the world."

Outside the gallery, Television Dust's interactive installation invites human touch to complete its circuit. Abhishek Jayaprakash's LED panel simulates dappled sunlight through code.

Has Chennai's appetite for experimental work grown? Both Vidyuth and Rhea think so, with caveats. "People are way more interested," says Rhea. "They're picky about what they do. And that's a good thing for all of us."

Vidyuth puts it plainly: "It's definitely on the right track. But it definitely needs to be faster."

INR 1,200 onwards. On May 16. 3 pm onwards. At Palomar by Crossway, ECR.