ABOUT US

W.I.P Labs was born out of a desire to create a platform for underground, alternative, experimental, critical, and political arts—and for the artists shaping these vital scenes in Delhi.

It all began with the rehearsal space of Dastaan LIVE, a political arts collective founded by Baan G. The collective had a small space in Lado Sarai that was being underutilised. Baan envisioned opening it up to other artists for gigs, work-in-progress sharings, and workshops—that’s where the name W.I.P Labs (Work-In-Progress Labs) comes from.

Around this time, Anant joined, bringing his background in filmmaking to the table and sparking a new line of programming focused on film. This marked the beginning of W.I.P Labs 1.0, which launched with a bamboo workshop led by Rahul Jigyasu. Over the next two months, Baan and Anant organised around 15 events at the barsaati in Lado Sarai—ranging from gigs and film screenings to performances, masterclasses, jam sessions, and more.

Then the pandemic hit. Like many collectives and artists across the city, Dastaan LIVE had to give up the space. Baan and Anant tried to keep the momentum going through online initiatives, but it quickly became clear that nothing could replicate the energy of live performance: the spontaneous connections, the collective presence, the spark of ideas in a shared physical space. Those digital experiments eventually faded into the vastness of the internet.

Fast forward to 2023—Baan and Anant reconnected, determined to relaunch W.I.P Labs with a renewed focus. They assembled a small team and began programming performances, workshops, and film screenings in alternative spaces across the city. This marked the beginning of W.I.P Labs 2.0, with Kirti being the first to join the team.

W.I.P 2.0 reimagined what alternative art spaces could be, working with venues such as Kunzum Theatre, Lilanoor, Remakery, TCLP, KhwaabGhar, Mool, and others.

Since then, we’ve come a long way—having programmed over 500+ events across disciplines: theatre, dance, music, puppetry, film, workshops, installations, and exhibitions. We've also produced two major festivals: Little Stint, co-produced with OddBird Theatre Foundation, and W.I.P altFEST—our most ambitious project to date—India’s first large-scale, completely independent alternative arts festival, held across 30+ venues in Delhi and Bangalore in December 2024.

What started as an open rehearsal room has grown into a movement—one driven by collaboration, resistance, and artistic risk-taking. We’re still a work-in-progress—and proud of it.