Keeping track of Mother Earth in a creative way
Off the beaten track: The venue this year-Maradana’s old railway terminus
Cinnamon Colomboscope, the city’s multi-disciplinary contemporary arts festival launched its 2017 edition on Friday with an impressive mix of works from local and international artists.
Hosted by Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts with the John Keells Foundation and conceptualised by the EUNIC cluster of Sri Lanka (Goethe-Institut, British Council and Alliance Française de Kotte), the festival, is currently on over six days (September 2-7), at the former Colombo Terminus Railway Station – open to the public free of charge.
The festival theme ‘Re/Evolution’ signifies the need to relook at ways to act against the harm that our systems and ourselves are causing the planet. Through a programme of curated visual and performing arts, the hope is to highlight the importance of environmental sustainability and trigger progressive conversations on the topic.
With international artists from UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, India, Pakistan, Poland and Turkey, and a strong local representation of local artists, the 2017 programme combines art with technology and new media. With some established names in the local arts scene, Anomaa Rajakaruna and Kesara Ratnavibhushana, as well as new entrants like Lekha Edirisinghe, the festival has a cross section of talent. Filmmaker Rajakaruna shares her haunting images of abandoned buildings in war-torn areas in the North and how little by little, Mother Nature is reclaiming them while Ratnavibhushana’s ‘Healing State’ aims to highlight a holistic approach to healing. Edirisinghe’s piece ‘Inside a bottle’ captures the issues created by the bottled water industry.
International names such as Ackroyd and Harvey from the UK, Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky from Germany and Karine Bonnewal from France are also presenting compelling works in Colombo. One outstanding piece is the award-winning art work ‘Chlorophyll apparition’ by Ackroyd & Harvey which creates spectral images formed by a concentration of chlorophyll that directly corresponds to the quantity of light available to it. For Cinnamon Colomboscope, the artist duo has adapted their process – they have used ‘paddy’ for the first time. Overall, their approach is shaped by their concern with environmental degradation and socially engaged artistic practice.
The programme includes outreach education initiatives, talks, film screenings, music, dance and theatre performances. Talks on waste management, conscious consumerism, deforestation and development, organic food produce and green technology, among them a panel discussion between Heather Ackroyd, Dan Harvey, Kesara Ratnavibhushana and Channa Daswatte, moderated by Jagath Weerasinghe, a session on environmental advocacy moderated by Smriti Daniel and Pakistani artists Yasir Husain and Zahra Ali from Pakistan speaking on creative sustainability.
There will also be children’s workshops facilitated by Mind Adventures Theatre Co and Iridescence and an Eco-brick making workshop facilitated by Savera Weerasinghe. The programme has been designed and devised by a Sri Lankan team led by chief curator Menika van der Poorten.
Admission is free for all events.
Cinnamon Colomboscope will be held from September 2- 7 from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. at the former Colombo Terminus Railway Station, Maradana (Trace Expert City, Trace Lane, off Olcott Mawatha, Colombo 01). For more information visit www.cinnamoncolomboscope.com