An artiste's view of peace
Nipuni WIMALAPALA
Following the enormous success of the first edition, long awaited
Colombo Art Biennale (CAB) 'Imagining Peace' will be launched in
February, 2012.
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Key players
of the event. Picture by Sulochana Gamage |
'Becoming' means a lot. It is there to represent a deep meaning, the
theme of the event. It mainly reflects the social and political context
of Sri Lanka today as well as far wider issues. CAB tries to examine how
peace affects the country. It takes a peek into recent achievements of
the country. The theme of becoming asks artistes and participants to
consider the reality and concepts of becoming, the possibility of being
in a moment between two decisive ends. Becoming does not mean certainty,
but it explores transformation and potentiality.
Suresh Jayaram, one of the curators of Colombo Art Biennale 2012,
stated that this event will bring local and international artistes under
one roof for a period of five days with exhibitions, public art projects
and art outreach programmes. The multiple venues of public, private
galleries and venues will pay host to a multimedia works by best
talented artistes.
"In the post war situation, there are many unanswered questions:
reconciliation, rebuilding and establishing faith. The tasks are
challenging and need a comprehensive strategy that is democratic. It is
really good that the artistes of the country are addressing the social
issues through their works of art in a comprehensive manner and they
share their anxiety of a nation in transition. The memory of violence is
still there in some people's minds. So to heal their scarred minds, arts
can do a lot," added Jayaram.
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Scenes from
last year’s CAB |
CAB will strengthen the platform from which Sri Lankan artistes can
be seen, interpreted and understood both nationally and internationally.
The international presence will considerably increase this time compared
to 2009. There will be established international participants from
regional countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal as well
as from further afield: US, France, Australia, UK and Germany.
Annoushka Hempel, the Founder and Director of CAB, Jagath
Weerasinghe, Co-founder of CAB, an artiste and Archaeology University
lecturer, founding member and Chairman of Theertha International Artist
Collective and Curator, Neil Butler, Director of CAB, Artist, Director
of Glasgow Art Fair, Puja Srivastava , Project manager, Deneth
Piumaskshi, Project Coordinator and Knut Landsverk, Project Consultant
are the dedicated figures of this collective effort.
Roman Berka, one curator of Colombo Art Biennale in 2012, stated that
he is really honoured to be appointed as a curator and he has
longstanding connections with Sri Lanka, being project coordinator of
One World Foundation, Vienna office, which runs a free school for 1000
students in Ahungalla in southwest of Sri Lanka. "I take interest in
becoming aware of the changes going on in Sri Lanka, especially after
overcoming the conflicts. I have noticed that there are many very
talented Sri Lankan artists who are socially minded thinking of the
future and prosperity of country and its people.
Sri Lanka should be proud of having such a wide range of established
and emerging artists who practice their artistic talents with social
issues, disregarding whether they are painters, sculptors, performance
artists, photographers of film-makers," said Berka.
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