Serendib Gallery International Art Exhibition Project

First major exhibition of Sri Lankan art in mainland Europe:

An Exhibition Project organized by the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Vienna and the Serendib Gallery, Sri Lanka; with the Serendib gallery being the coorganiser and the sole representative in Sri Lanka for this venture, had its preview at the very impressive Museum fur Volkerkunde (Museum for Ethnology), Vienna on November 17, 2008 amidst a large and representative gathering of art lovers from both Vienna and Sri Lanka in spite of a bitterly cold winter evening.

This exhibition of paintings, graphic art, installations, sculpture and photography by 33 Sri Lankan artists with 75 artworks;

This first major exhibition of Sri Lankan art in Continental Europe by established artists as well as by emerging voices in the vibrant and diverse Sri Lankan art community created much interest; some of these exhibits were provided by the Museum fur Volkerkunde and the Serendib Gallery from their permanent collections.

The substantial survey of Sri Lanka's as yet little known contemporary art production, presented a range of creative expressions and of current themes in the work of these artists to a larger broader international audience.

Conceived as a travelling exhibition, this exhibition aims to include Sri Lankan art into a global discourse on contemporary art and culture.

The artworks which will be exhibited till March 2, 2009 at Vienna, will then move to other centers in Europe.

The gathering present at the preview were addressed by the co-organisers Professor Dr. Christian F. Feest and Mohan Daniel. The other speakers included H.E. M. M. Jaffeer, the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Austria and the curators Dr. Sylvia S. Kasprycki and Dr. Doris Strambau, who had spent much time in Sri Lanka gathering background information for this project

The Serendib Gallery has for the past few years instrumental in organizing exhibitions of Sri Lankan contemporary art abroad, which again is a new phenomena where Sri Lankan artists have had opportunity of displaying their talent and genius beyond the shores of Sri Lanka. The Serendib Gallery operates on a non commercial basis in organizing these exhibitions abroad and bears a portion of the expenditure involved and does not charge any fee or commissions on artworks sold; so as to ensure that the artist receives the full value at which he has priced the paintings.

The Museum fur Volkerkunde (Museum of Ethnology) Vienna, is one of Europe's foremost museums representing the cultures and traditional arts of Africa, Asia and the Americas, based on collections assembled in Austria since the 1500's.

By now the Museum of Ethnology houses and administrates more than 240,000 ethnographic artifacts, 72,000 historical photographs and 136,000 books. The museum's artifact collections also include about 750 ethnographic objects from Sri Lanka, half of which were acquired before 1900.

Mohan Daniel mentioned that an exhibition of this variety and magnitude has never been attempted abroad and surpasses past exhibitions organized by him. It is also the first major exhibition of Sri Lankan art in mainland Europe. The curators of this exhibition are Dr. Doris Stambrau and Dr. Sylvia Kasprycki who share a long standing interest in non-Western arts and years of experience in exhibition making, together they organized two internationally successful shows of contemporary American Indian art:

The artists taking part in this exhibition comprise of artists who have participated in international exhibitions abroad, namely Sanjeewa Kumara, Jagath Weerasinghe, Anoli Perera, Kingsley Gunatilleke, Sarath Kumarasiri, Pradeep Chandrasiri who won the Commonwealth Award for Art in 2005, Chandragupta Thenuwara and Wijelatha Edirisinghe and others who had not exhibited in exhibitions abroad earlier.

This exhibition will move to other European cities after its four month stint in Vienna. Mohan Daniel laid down the blue prints to promote our unique dance culture too, this venture dealing with traditional Sri Lankan dance forms.

A talented troupe of Sri Lankan dancers and drummers performed traditional and folk dance forms of Sri Lanka at the preview and two other occasions, the last of which was a well attended and much appreciated 80 minute concert.

The dance troupe was led by Suchintha Weerawardena.

This is the first occasion that a dance troupe from any nation has performed at this prestigious museum.

The exhibition of art and the dance performances received wide publicity in Vienna.

Daniel stressed on the support given by of H.E. M. M. Jaffeer our Ambassador and Counsellor of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Austria, Satya Rodrigo and their advice which was much appreciated by the organisers both in Vienna and Sri Lanka.

This exhibition in its entirety is online on the www.artsrilanka.org web portal.

Accompanying this exhibition a comprehensive catalogue will be published within the next few weeks and is designed as a comprehensive reference work on contemporary Sri Lankan art. Fully illustrated in colour, it will have approximately 250 pages and around 160 colour illustrations.

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