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Art enthusiasts at the Public Library take a close look at one of the exhibits at the Colomboscope's interdisciplinary festival themed “Language is migrant” which opened yesterday and will concurrently run at six different locations in the city till 30 January – Pic by Ruwan Walpola
Colomboscope Artistic Director Natasha Ginwala
Geoffrey Bawa Trust Curator Shayari De Silva
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka Chief Curator Sharmini Pereira
John Keells Holdings Head of CSR Carmeline Jayasuriya
Saskia Fernando Gallery Director Saskia Fernando
Barefoot Gallery Colombo Manager Puja Srivastava
By Daniella Fernandez
Six of Sri Lanka’s leading arts organisations have teamed up to unleash a slew of initiatives to turn Colombo into a thriving destination that fosters and celebrates art, architecture and design captivating the city’s residents and tourists.
The six trailblazers are Colomboscope, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA), the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, the John Keells Foundation in partnership with the George Keyt Foundation, Saskia Fernando Gallery and Barefoot Gallery Colombo.
Kicking off the initiative is Colomboscope which on Friday opened a 10-day seventh edition of its interdisciplinary art festival themed “Language is migrant.”
“This edition of the festival will bring together over 50 Sri Lankan and international artists, especially fostering South Asian dialogue and encounters with cultural practitioners from the diaspora with exhibitions and events spread over six locations in Colombo,” said Colomboscope Artistic Director Natasha Ginwala.
The six locations are Colombo Public Library, Lak Café at Viharamahadevi Park, Rio Complex, W A Silva Museum and Printing Press, Barefoot Gallery and Lakmahal Community Library.
The second event will be by The Geoffrey Bawa Trust spanning from 1 February to 3 April at The Stables at Park Street Mews in Colombo 02 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Titled “It is essential to be there”, design and architecture lovers can get up close and personal with archives of the world-famous Geoffrey Bawa. The exhibition will comprise of four themes: ideas, drawings, buildings and places. Over 120 files from the archives will be on display, many of which have not been seen before including a section on unbuilt work and Bawa’s own photographs from his travels
Although Bawa’s work has been exhibited at multiple venues in the UK, USA, Australia, India, Brazil, Singapore and Germany, this is the first exhibition on Bawa’s work to be shown in Sri Lanka. The exhibition is curated by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust’s specialist Shayari de Silva, and includes new photographs and video works by Sebastian Posingis, Dominic Sansoni and Clara Kraft Isono.
The multi-lingual exhibition is accompanied by an extensive public program of talks, tours and workshops as well as a website with additional digital content to enhance accessibility of the works on view. This exhibition has received the financial support from the primary partner Kohler, local partners Nations Trust Private Banking, Crystal Property Group, JAT Holdings and the venue partner, Park Street Mews.
Third in the lineup is the MMCA Sri Lanka’s exhibition titled ‘Encounters’ from 11 February to 28 August at the Crescat Boulevard which was reopened recently following an upgrade. ‘Encounters’ brings together 56 artworks as part of an exciting series of changing displays that draw from the art collections of the George Keyt Foundation and John Keells Holdings as the starting point.
MMCA Sri Lanka Chief Curator Sharmini Pereira said: “We are delighted to work alongside such a stellar lineup of arts organisations in Sri Lanka to promote art and architecture in the country. We hope this drive creates awareness about the high calibre and diversity of art activities taking place in Sri Lanka.”
The exhibition will include work by 18 modern and contemporary artists and will include a six-month trilingual public program that is free and open to everyone. ‘Encounters’ is generously supported by the John Keells Foundation, the European Union and the Foundation for Arts Initiatives. Artworks have been loaned to the exhibition from collectors in Sri Lanka and internationally.
The MMCA Sri Lanka was launched in 2019 as a not-for-profit organisation and receives local and international funding. Its first exhibition attracted over 3,500 visitors. In addition to hosting 37 school and university groups from across the country. The museum hosted 165 free public events, 11 kids’ workshops, and 12 trilingual talks by artists, educators and curators during the course of the exhibition.
The famous open-air Kala Pola will be held in August/September 2022 by the John Keells Foundation, the CSR entity of John Keells Group, together with The George Keyt Foundation.
John Keells Holdings Head of CSR Carmeline Jayasuriya said last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Kala Pola went online for the first time on www.srilankanartgallery.com hosted by John Keells Foundation, and following its success and to continue to empower artists during the pandemic, Kala Pola went online once again in the form of a Christmas Edition in December.
She recalled Kala Pola has evolved as an eagerly anticipated event in the arts and culture calendar of Sri Lanka providing a platform for over 300 visual artists to connect with over 30,000 visitors from around the world each year, as a launch-pad for emerging artists and a forum for artists and art professionals to network and learn while promoting public social dialogue through the powerful medium of art.
John Keells Foundation also noted that the Gratiaen Trust – which it partners as primary sponsor – will be organising the annual Gratiaen Prize event in late June/early July and is also planning a series of events to mark its 30th anniversary this year.
For the first quarter of 2022, in addition to the monthly calendar of exhibitions, Saskia Fernando Gallery (SFG) Director Saskia Fernando announced the participation of artists Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Saskia Pintelon in the forthcoming Venice Biennale 2022, Italy.
The installations by both artists will be a part of the Personal Structures Exhibition presented by the European Cultural Centre Venice. This January, SFG is also kicking off the first projects of the A4A Production Fund, established in 2021 in collaboration with the Udayshanth Fernando Foundation, with the aim of lending support to emerging contemporary Sri Lankan artists. The fund will support three Sri Lankan artists in the creation, exhibition and publication of their selected project.
The #SupportLocalArt Talk Series supported by the Nations Trust Bank Private Banking, established in 2021 with the intention of creating a much-needed platform for conversation on the developments of the Sri Lankan art industry, will establish an independent YouTube channel as an archive of previous talks and in keeping with the objective of the talk platform to engage the entire industry, SFG will be passing the baton to the MMCA for the next round of conversations.
Barefoot Gallery Café Manager Puja Srivastava announced the opening of the area above the Gallery to be known as the “The Barefoot Loft” this year. The goal of this opening is to expand and showcase more artwork and artworks and all other forms of expression – turning this intimate loft into a working area. The Barefoot Gallery Colombo will be exhibiting the works of Nalin Indrasena on 8 February. Nalin is a Sri Lankan artist based in Switzerland, who works with cold wax and oil mixed media – this will be his second solo exhibition at Barefoot Gallery Colombo. The Gallery has an exciting lineup for 2022, including artists Dushyant Patel, Anoli Perera, Dhanushka Amarasekara and Nelun Harasgama.
FT Quick take
Events lineup
