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| Saturday, 16 October 2004 |
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Artlink 2004 by Nadira Gunatilleke There are two beautiful 'Punkalas' and, in the middle lies a red carpet which leads to closed old faded doors of a small room which looks like a shrine. The red carpet is full of pieces of broken bottles. Nobody can walk on the red carpet. This is what I want to, said Arjuna Gunaratne, a participant of artlink 2004, the International art workshop held in Sri Lanka.
This type of creation can speak a thousand words. "The traditional belief of the people about the 'red carpet' is in a mess today. A situation has been created where no man can walk on it. This is the theme of my creation", he said. Arjuna's speciality is 'miniature painting'. After completing his higher education at Vibhavi Academy of Fine Art (VAFA) he underwent a one year 'miniature painting' course at the Becon House University in Pakistan, which he received as a scholarship from the SAARC Association. The foreign participants are Michael Cross and Julie Mathias, product designers from UK, Otto Boll, a sculptor/visual artist from Germany and Marie Arnaudet, an architect from France. The Sri Lankan participants are Sarani Anushka Weragama, Dilukshi Fernando, Rangi Basnayake, Samith Kulasinghe, Sashi Prabha Wickramarachchi, Semini Wijesuriya, Sumanthri samarawickrema, Ruvini Buddhika Jayasekera and Buddhika Niroshan from the University of Moratuwa, Arjuna Gunaratne, Chandana Wasantha and Anura Krishantha from Vibhavi Academy of Fine Art. Artlink 2004 International Artists Camp is a joint art venture by the British Council, German Cultural Institute, the Alliance Francaise and VAFA in partnership with Lunuiganga Trust and Hotel Serendib. This year's theme is 'space; in/on/within/between'. The 10 day residential camp took place at surroundings of Geoffrey Bawa's Lunuganga residence, Bentota with the participation of 14 young talented Sri Lankans from the University of Moratuwa and VAFA along with four artists from France, Germany and UK. Architect Prasanna Liyanage, co-ordinated the project. The main objectives of the camp are exchange of expertise and vision between Sri Lanka and Europe which is focused on design, while offering radical yet practical ideas for re-creating 'space', to encourage creative new uses of diverse material found at the workshop site. The title, 'space; in/on/within/between' is derived from the idea of redefining the concept of 'space' in such a way as to encourage the participants to utilise their limited technical capacities and experiment with the possibility of using manual labour and skills. The final creations/exhibits will provide a benchmark to encourage raising the current status of 'design' in Sri Lanka. The work of the participants will be exhibited at the British Council from October 9 form 10.00 a.m. onwards. The exhibition will continue till October 16 daily from 9.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. and thereafter scheduled to be held at the German Cultural Institute and the Alliance Francaise. |
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