Old, sturdy walls bedecked in dynamics of art
By Rajitha Weerakoon
It was a “fast-forward” for contemporary art when Cinnamon Colomboscope commenced the week-long multidisciplinary art festival on Thursday. Titled “Testing Grounds,” the exhibition showcases the dynamic effects digital technology could have on art forms of South Asia and Europe and on urban practices of the modern generation. The liaison will extend to mobile phone-users, “googlers,” DJs, webdesigners and facebook users among others.
The fusion should be relevant for urban dwellers with Colombo city entering into a period of radical transformation. Its themes come under “Bill Board Technology,” “Catch the Light” and “Close to the Bone” (performances) and a series of thematic conversations between artists and specialists in the field of art, culture and technology. The sub-themes will offer perspectives of how society and contemporary art is responding to the shift to digital technology in Sri Lanka.
The imposing old GPO building in the Fort, a prominent landmark of the city which since the shift of the GPO from the premises is still being “brushed” and “dressed” is the venue this year for Colomboscope. The grand colonial building with its expansive wings and the impressive balustrade staircase has great potential as an art gallery. At the festival, its giant walls served as the ideal backdrop to display outsized graphic art on which rapidly moving digital rays played various forms of digital images.
Colomboscope’s curator Dr. Susanne Jaschko from Germany addressed a gathering of artists and art lov- ers on the opening night. The exhibition, the fourth of the series, has seen buildings such as the Rio cinema and the Masonic Hall in Slave Island being venues in previous years. The event is the brainchild of the EUNIC cluster in Sri Lanka comprising the Goethe Institut, Alliance Francaise de Kotte and the British Council with Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts as the title sponsor.