Experimental expressions
Susanne Jaschko: Exploring new ground
When Susanne Jaschko first walked in to the General Post Office, she knew this was the venue they had been searching for. The structure, though visually striking, was poorly maintained and was not, at first glance,what you would consider a perfect fit for a very modern exhibition. But Jaschko relished the contrasts. The new German curator of Colomboscope is well-known for her work in the field of media arts, and a fascination with digital technology. “I thought it was beautiful,” she says. “It was the place we wanted the exhibition to inhabit.” To her, the General Post Office represented the past of communication, whereas the event she was curating was going to be all about the present and the future.
With a new curator, and an entirely new approach, the fourth edition of Cinnamon Colomboscope kicks off on August 25 and will go on till September 1. Presented by EUNIC Sri Lanka together with Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, the festival comprises three thematic streams, including 13 new artworks and performances by Sri Lankan artists, a series of film screenings and discussions, as well as a roster of talks. Though Jaschko has a deep familiarity with electronic and digital media, she says that their title‘Testing Grounds: Art and Digital Cultures in South Asia and Europe’is a reflection of the experimental spirit of the festival.
On arriving in Sri Lanka a while back to begin speaking with artists and conceptualizing the event, Jaschko says it became evident that few artists here were truly comfortable with digital media. “That was a challenge,” she says, adding, “It was quite clear to me quite quickly that whatever we would do would be experimental.” In essence they were creating a kind of testing ground for new technology and forms of expression.
Currently, Colomboscope’s roster brings together some 50 international artists and speakers from Europe and South Asia. Jaschko explains visitors will be able to engage with audio-visual, responsive and interactive installations as well as image-based artwork. The series of talks that will happen around the exhibition and the film screenings allow for visitors to choose the degree of their immersion or the medium in which they want to encounter the festival. “You can use them as a kind of navigational tool,” she says.
For Jaschko, the Sri Lankan contemporary art scene is particularly interesting for how it keeps one eye on history. “I find it interesting that there is still a very strong connection to the past, in particular the traumatic past, and that the past is somehow still very present.” She notes however, that the local arts scene is clearly evolving and opening up. “I am very happy with the commissioned works that we are able to present in Colomboscope. They are fresh somehow, the artists really accepted that invitation to try something new and I am really curious to see how the visitors respond to that,” she says.
The festival is organised and produced under the umbrella of the EUNIC Cluster, the network of European national cultural institutions – the Goethe-Institut, British Council and Alliance Française de Kotte – based in Sri Lanka, with contributions from the Swiss Embassy, Dutch Embassy, Turkish Embassy, German Embassy Teheran and the Université Laval. This year, the festival is held in venue partnership with the Postal Department and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Research.Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts is the title sponsor of the festival for the second time.
| A peek at what to expectTen Sri Lankan artists and artists’ collectives have been commissioned to conceptualize and produce artworks in keeping with the theme. A festival release notes that among them will be the likes of DJ and electronic music producer, Asvajit Boyle, and technologist and entertainment designer, Lalindra Amarasekara. Their performance, (De)Generative Processes II, will transform the domed roof of the Colombo Planetarium into a digital canvas for an immersive live performance of light, sound and movement. (De)Generative Processes will take place on August 28 at 7 p.m. Also collaborating for Testing Grounds are actor, writer and director, Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke and experimental musician, Isuru Kumarasinghe who will present Close to the Bone – a theatrical production and sound art piece combined.Centred on a dinner hosted by a beautiful and young married couple for the husband’s difficult sister and her older girlfriend, and the events that unfold, Close to the Bone is an immersive performance. Through their phones, the audience will be able to enter the characters’ heads to hear their thoughts, memories and regrets. The performance will take place on all festival nights. Testing Grounds will feature the works of many notable Sri Lankan artists.Photographer, Aamina Nizar and journalist/photographer, Megara Tegal will present The Colombo Project. This installation portrays the neighbourhoods alongside the Kirulapone Canal and explores the role of social media in the lives of the people in Colombo, a city that still faces a huge social divide. Poet, rapper and singer-songwriter, Imaad Majeed’s installation, Revery invites the audience to reflect on the minority segment of the Sri Lankan flag. Visual artist, Kavan Balasuriya will exhibit Foundation, an abstract drawing that can be interpreted to the relationship between the individual and the increasingly dynamic virtual environment of post-war Sri Lanka. From Vendetta to Bend Data, a series of digital collages by independent filmmaker and artist, Muvindu Binoy depicts the paradox between Sri Lankan’s real- and virtual-selves. Other Sri Lankan artists and performers contributing to this year’s festival include: the Collective of Contemporary Artists (CoCA), The Ramadan Project, Isaac Smith and Sumudi Suraweera, Krishnapriya Tharmakrishnar, Malaka Dewapriya, DJ Sunara and sound artist, Dinelka.
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