The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA Sri Lanka) opened its second rotation of ‘Encounters’ to the public on June 22, 2022.
Rotation 2 of ‘Encounters’ focuses on three bodies of work which envision, in different ways, how our relationship with the environment impacts us historically, ecologically, and psychologically.
Rotation 2 will be on until September 18, 2023, and MMCA Sri Lanka invites audiences to have multiple encounters with different pieces of art displayed at the Crestcat Boulevard.
The three main bodies of work showcased at Rotation 2 of ‘Encounters’ revolve around a large-scale installation of paintings by Gamini Ratnavira (b. 1949) originally commissioned for the Habarana Lodge (Cinnamon Lodge Habarana), designed by architects Ismeth Raheem (b. 1941) and Pheroze Choksy (b. 1942).
Ratnavira’s paintings are placed in conversation with a site plan of the Kandalama Hotel (Heritance Kandalama) by Laki Senanayake (1937–2021). While they both depict birds, they are also connected to hotel projects, which in their distinctive ways challenged the relationship between a building and its landscape.
As a counterpoint to the scale and contexts of Ratnavira’s and Senanyake’s works, Firi Rahman’s (b. 1990) semi-autobiographical drawings depict a bird and a cage to consider the emotional relationships between a home and its inhabitants.
MMCA Sri Lanka is at Crescat Boulevard, Colombo 3, and is open daily from 10am to 6pm, and until 8pm on Fridays. All events of the public programs at the museum are free-of-charge. ‘Encounters’ is generously supported by Asian Hotels and Properties PLC, the European Union, Foundation for Arts Initiatives, the John Keells Foundation, Nations Trust Bank and TNL Radio Network.
For more information, visitwww.mmca-srilanka.org or follow them on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/mmcasrilanka and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mmcasrilanka/ for updates.