Fifth edition of Colomboscope 2017 to get underway in September

In a move to draw in art tourism as a major component of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and bring in bigger benefits to the country’s business ecosystem, hospitality giant Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts is hosting the fifth edition of the popular arts festival, Cinnamon Colomboscope 2017 this September.

Cinnamon Colomboscope was founded by EUNIC Sri Lanka (Goethe-Institut, British Council and Alliance Française de Kotte) as a contemporary arts festival open to the public. The festival theme for 2017 titled Re/Evolution​, advocates environmental consciousness and signifies the need to re-look at our ways and mend them, by acting against the harm that our systems and ourselves are causing the planet. Environmentalists and climate experts constantly warn of the after-effects of harmful habits hardwired to our systems; the ever-growing use of non- biodegradables and chemical
pesticides; non-transparent contingency plans for disaster management and implementation of destructive ‘development’ programmes with no consideration of the long-term consequences; and the hundreds of concerns surrounding this issue, a statement from the organisers said.

Cinnamon Colomboscope 2017 aims to highlight these issues through arts, while triggering a progressive conversation on the topic of how toconserve planet Earth as we progress into new futures.

This year the festival  will be combining art with technology and new media through the works of over fifty artists, including respected names in the local art community such as Anomaa Rajakaruna and the CoCA Collective, and international names such as Ackroyd & Harvey from the UK, Eva Horn and Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky from Germany, Benoit Billotte from Switzerland, Karine Bonnewal from France and Elmas Deniz from Turkey along with several
more from Italy, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Cinnamon Colomboscope will be held at the former Colombo Terminus Railway Station in Maradana between the 2nd and 7th of September as six days of curated visual and performing arts.

Roshanie Moraes, Sadesh Paul, Nadija Tambiah, Udaya Nanayakkara, Sutheash Balasubramaniam, Dr. Petra Raymond, Menika Van Der Pooten and Sunimal Senanayake mark the collaboration for Cinnamon Colomboscope.

Dr Petra Raymond on EUNIC's involvement as initiater of Cinnamon Colomboscope