22-23
AUGUST
DELHI
EDITION

ABOUT THIS EDITION

Join us for an extraordinary exploration of how worldbuilding can transform heritage preservation. This edition brings together artists, technologists, and cultural practitioners to imagine new futures for our shared past.

Through symposiums, workshops, and immersive experiences, we'll explore how XR, gaming, and speculative design can create new pathways for cultural memory and community storytelling.

DAY-WISE SCHEDULE

DAY-1

AUGUST 22

VENUE

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE DELHI

TIME

9:30AM - 7PM

SYMPOSIUM

Worldbuilding for Heritage Futures

10:00
GAMIFIED NETWORKING
11:00
Crafted Continuities
Speakers

Ritu Sethi

Ritu Sethi
Ritu Sethi is an award-winning Canadian author renowned for her suspense, mystery, and crime novels, notably the Chief Inspector Gray James series set in cities like Vancouver and Montreal. Born in India, she is also a self-published author who manages all aspects of her books, drawing inspiration from classic psychological mystery authors.

Avinash Kumar

Avinash Kumar
Recipient of an EPIC Megagrant, Antariksha Studio is an intergenerational Indian collective that reimagines and globally showcases Indian culture through transmedia projects.

Mrinalini Ghadiok

Mrinalini Ghadiok
Coming Soon
Making the Past Playable: A Game Developer’s Approach to Preserving Cultural Heritage
Speakers

Abraham K.

Abraham K.
Forged from grit (and a few maxed-out credit cards), Abraham K is the powerhouse behind Ayelet Studio’s “Unsung Empires: The Cholas II”—bringing South Asia’s epic legacy to life in Unreal and pure ambition.
Worldbuilding through Classical Dance
Speakers

Avinash Kumar

Avinash Kumar
Recipient of an EPIC Megagrant, Antariksha Studio is an intergenerational Indian collective that reimagines and globally showcases Indian culture through transmedia projects.

Jayalakshmi Eshwar

Jayalakshmi Eshwar
Jayalakshmi Eshwar is a Bharatanatyam performer, choreographer, author, and teacher based in New Delhi. With over five decades of artistic exploration, she connects tradition and innovation, bringing classical dance into the future through interdisciplinary work and experiments with motion capture technology.
12:20
Lunch Break
13:20
Heritage in Motion: Classroom to Community
Speakers

Tanishka Kachru

Tanishka Kachru
Tanishka Kachru is a Senior Faculty in Exhibition Design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, specializing in design histories and digital heritage interpretation. She is a co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Craft and Sustainability in India (2024) and a contributor to Women Graphic Designers: Rebalancing the Canon (2025).
Designing the Future: How VR Brought a Fort Back to Life
Speakers

Kabir Punde

Kabir Punde
Kabir Punde is the founder and director of Studio Griot, specializing in VR, Arch Viz, and Unreal Engine development since 2017. His studio, known for INVRSE Cricket and virtual production for live events, also co-founded The Happiness Room, an Unreal Authorized Training Center.
Protecting the Future of the Past: A Phygital Approach
Speakers

Hitesh Kumar

Hitesh Kumar
Hitesh Kumar, co-founder & CEO of Varaha Heritage, is a visionary entrepreneur at the forefront of cultural heritage innovation. He leverages advanced technologies like 3D digitization, AI, AR, and VR to create immersive experiences, ensuring the preservation and empowering the monetization of museums globally.
Bringing Heritage Inspired Environments to Life in Unreal Engine
Speakers

Karan Parikh

Karan Parikh
Karan is a leading immersive technologist and India's first Unreal authorized instructor, having served as virtual production leader for over 20 films and shows. As a member of the Visual Effects Society and part of Green Rain studio, he empowers creative talent to blur the lines between real and virtual worlds through virtual production, animation, games, XR, and simulations.
15:00
Break
15:40
Building Historical Worlds: Writing About Life and Personalities from Ancient India
Speakers

Anirudh Kanisetti

Anirudh Kanisetti
Anirudh Kanisetti is an award-winning author, historian, and columnist known for works like Lords of the Deccan and Lords of Earth and Sea. He shares his expertise through "Thinking Medieval" and "Echoes of India," bringing ancient Indian history to a wider audience.
AI Digital Humans: Bringing the Past to Life, Immortalising the Present
Speakers

Anant Haldia

Anant Haldia
from VolumX
Navigating Digital × Heritage
Speakers

Bhargav Padhiyar

Bhargav Padhiyar
With a background spanning new media, archaeology, and computer engineering, Bhargav Padhiyar founded Studio IF and teaches design at CEPT University, Ahmedabad. He now explores transmedia experience design to create sustainable futures for cultural and natural heritage using digital technologies.
17:00
Break
17:40
Storyscapes for a Shifting India: Artistic Interventions in Public Memory, Present Narratives & Future Imaginings
Speakers

Charuvi Agrawal

Charuvi Agrawal
Charuvi Agrawal is the animation film director and immersive artist whose festival-gracing films and gallery-worthy artworks blend interactive tech, design, and Indian mythology into truly transformative experiences.

Nostalgia for the Future
Speakers

Ayaz Basrai

Ayaz Basrai
Ayaz Busrai is a trailblazer in researching craft futures and building spaces that reflect thoughtful design. Through India Craft Futures, a collaboration with Taubman College in Michigan, he led researchers and students across Northeast India, studying local colony and natural architecture like living root bridges through experiments and observations.

DAY-2

AUGUST 23

VENUE

UNIQUE VENUE FOR EVERY SESSION

TIME

11AM - 5PM

WORKSHOPS

Engage directly with cutting-edge tools and narrative techniques in these hands-on workshops.

SESSION-1
venue

Ecole-Intuit Lab, Lajpat Nagar

Worldbuilding with Unreal Engine with Green Rain Studios

This workshop, led by UE Authorised Training instructors, will equip participants to start their own projects in video games, XR, or animation using Unreal Engine. The day culminates with level design and creating a cinematic sequence of a heritage environment. Green Rain Studios is India's first Premier Authorized Unreal Engine training center.

SESSION-2
venue

Alliance Française De Delhi

Narrative Building with Anirudh Kanisetti

Celebrated author and historian Anirudh Kanisetti will explore immersive narrative techniques in historical nonfiction. He will illustrate ideas using vivid examples from ancient and medieval India, such as 5th-century Ujjain and Chola-period South India, and include a mini-workshop on using Indian historical materials to build believable worlds.

Speakers

Anirudh Kanisetti

Anirudh Kanisetti
Anirudh Kanisetti is an award-winning author, historian, and columnist known for works like Lords of the Deccan and Lords of Earth and Sea. He shares his expertise through "Thinking Medieval" and "Echoes of India," bringing ancient Indian history to a wider audience.
SESSION-3
venue

Lodhi Garden

Scanning Picnic with Antariksha Studio (by invite-only)

This unique event combines a leisurely picnic with expert mentorship in 3D scanning. Participants will get hands-on experience using Reality Capture phone software to bring heritage objects from the historic Lodhi Gardens into the virtual world of game engines and cinematic entertainment.

DAY-2

AUGUST 23

ROUNDTABLE

This strategic, invitation-only conclave gathers leaders from government, technology, and culture to architect a forward-looking vision for India's digital heritage. The day is a two-part strategic exercise designed to transform high-level dialogue into a tangible strategic framework.

PART-1
Roundtable Discussion (11:00 AM - 1:00 PM)

Titled "Inheritance and Intention: What will we leave behind?", the morning session explores how India's cultural legacy is preserved and reinvented. Key themes include:

‍

  • Cultural Inheritance: Discussing what we intend to pass on and how to do it purposefully.
  • Empathetic Design: Investigating how immersive storytelling can drive heritage preservation.
  • Access and Agency: Examining how technology and new patronage models can democratize cultural heritage.

Invited and confirmed participants include moderators Mrinalini Ghadiok and Avinash Kumar, alongside experts like Ayaz Basrai, Charuvi Agarwal, Anirudh Kanisetti, Tanishka Kachru, Ritu Sethi, Bhargav Padhiyar, and representatives from organizations like Epic Games, GreenRain, CEPT, and NID. 

‍

PART-2
Foresight Workshop (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)

The afternoon features "Heritage Horizons 2040: Scenarios for India's Digital Heritage Legacy," an interactive foresight workshop. Participants will navigate critical uncertainties and co-imagine the future, evaluating multimedia scenarios to map actionable pathways for India's cultural legacy in the digital age. 

PARTNERS

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PRODUCED BY

POWERED BY

CULTURAL PARTNER

  

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