Colomboscope’s eighth edition, titled “Way of the Forest,” is set to captivate audiences from January 19 to 28, across various venues in Colombo.
Featuring over 40 artists and collectives from Sri Lanka and around the globe, the festival promises an immersive experience with interdisciplinary programs, including conversations, excursions, performances, workshops, open-air cinema, and unique listening experiences in collaboration with cultural partners. The festival is curated by Hit Man Gurung, Sheelasha Rajbhandari, and Sarker Protick, under the artistic direction of Natasha Ginwala.
The curatorial introduction sets the stage for “Way of the Forest,” inviting attendees to explore artistic pathways that rekindle awareness of interdependence, custodianship, and restorative practices within rainforests, wilderness, mountain cultivations, and riverine wetlands. The festival encourages a deschooling mindset, shifting away from the curriculum of plunder towards active listening beyond human senses. The forest, represented by diverse terms across languages, holds rich symbolism and serves as a focal point for examining ecological histories, lost environmental wisdom, developmental agendas, and the ghosts of extraction.
The multi-chapter exhibition and accompanying events at Colomboscope 2024 delve into the complexities of eroding ecological histories, questioning ownership of forest lands, displacement issues, and restrictions on conservation sites. Artists navigate the mutating landscapes, challenging the legacies of resource colonization and hidden agendas. The festival aims to unravel the whispers of spirits within lands, rivers, and forests, drawing on folktales and mythologies that associate these spaces with mystical beings and forces beyond human control.
The diverse lineup of participants, including Anoma Wijewardene, Anupam Roy, Anushka Rustomji, U. Arulraj, Barbara Sansoni, Chija Lama, Dumiduni Illangasinghe, Fernando García-Dory, Jayatu Chakma Karachi LaJamia, Karunasiri Wijesinghe, Kieren Karritpul, Komal Purbe, Madhumala Mandal, Rebati Mandal and Selo Yadav, Krisushananthan Inkaran, Kulagu Tu Buvongan, Laki Senanayake, Memory, Truth and Justice, Mónica de Miranda, Müge Yılmaz Nahla al Tabbaa, Otobong Nkanga, Pankaja Withanachchi & Roshan De Selfa Pathum Dharmarathna, Pushpakanthan Pakkiyarajah, Rakibul Anwar, MTF Rukshana Ruwangi Amarasinghe, Sangita Maity, Sanod Maharjan, Saodat Ismailova Sarmila Sooriyakumar with Pirainila Krishnarajah, Shehan Obeysekera, Shiraz Bayjoo Soma Surovi Jannat, Spore Initiative with U Yits Ka’an, Colectivo Suumil Móokt’aan, Rafiki Sánchez, and Cecilia Moo, Subas Tamang, Sunita Maharjan and Sanjeev Maharjan Tamarra Jayasundera, Thava Thajendran, The Initiative for Practices and Visions of Radical Care with Myriam Mihindou, Tawfiq Sediqi and Elena Sorokina, Thujiba Vijayalayan Trent Walter, Venuri Perera and Eisa Jocson and Zihan Karim promises a rich tapestry of perspectives. The exhibition spans various venues, such as the J.D.A. Perera Gallery, SNAFU Project, Public Library Garden, Barefoot Gallery, and more, offering a unique exploration of art in different settings.
The guest curators, Hit Man Gurung, Sheelasha Rajbhandari, and Sarker Protick, bring their unique perspectives and practices to the forefront. Gurung’s work explores human mobilities and the frictions of history, while Rajbhandari’s art questions the positioning of women across time and landscapes. Protick’s photography captures the narrative of change and the elemental origins of a place.
Natasha Ginwala, the artistic director, brings her extensive experience as a curator, researcher, and writer to Colomboscope. Her involvement in Sharjah Biennial 16 and the Gwangju Biennale demonstrates her commitment to fostering artistic dialogue on a global scale.
As Colomboscope 2024 unfolds across venues such as SNAFU Project, Goethe-Institut Garden, Public Library Garden, BMICH Kamatha Open Theatre, Ex-Government Servicemen Sports Club, CoCa Symbiosis, Barefoot MMCA, and Beddagana Wetland Park, attendees can expect to embark on a thought-provoking journey through art, exploration, and a deep reflection on our relationship with nature and the environment. The festival is not just a celebration of artistic expression; it’s a call to action, urging us to reconsider our roles in the interconnected web of the natural world.
Here are a few of the events coming up:
Open Air Cinema:
Ghost 2561-2565 (with Korakrit Arunanondchai and Christina Li)
January 23 from 7 pm to 10 pm
At Goethe Institute
From the forest to the sea, from air to stone, a ghost dwells within and embodies a time which comes alive to us through fictions. These historical and emergent narratives transform individual experiences into shared realities that survive beyond the realm of the living.
The films brought together in this screening were selected from the two editions of Ghost, a video and performance art series that occurs every three years in Bangkok, Thailand. The first edition, Ghost 2561 (2018) was curated by founder and artist Korakrit Arunanondchai; the subsequent edition Ghost 2565: Live Without Dead Time (2022) was curated by Christina Li. In this collection, we witness how natural and manufactured subjects can haunt and possess novel forms of life, and knowledge. Intricately intertwined with our past and future, they exist alongside the silent breathing of the world, under the decomposing ground under our feet, and in the atmosphere of the sky above us — where spirit remains.
Wa’anak Witu Watu | Natasha Tontey | North Sulawesi, Indonesia | 2021 | 24 min. LHAI TORN | Chantana Tirapachart | 9 mins LUMAPIT SA AKIN, PARAISO (COME TO ME, PARADISE) | Stephanie Comilang | 25 min. MANGOSTEEN | Tulapop Saenjaroen | Thailand |2022 | 39 min. BLUE | Apichatpong Weerasethakul| Thailand/ France | 2018 | 12 min.
Trees in our Surroundings
Nature Drawing Workshop with Karunasiri Wijesinghe.
(Limited capacity, please register in advance)
January 28 from 10 am to 1 pm
At Public Library Garden
Leading artist and educator Karunasiri Wijesinghe invites a deep immersion with the life of trees in his workshop at the Public Library Garden. His constellation of practice involves daily observation of the sensory communication between fauna, seasonal transformations, and microclimate produced by old tree systems in the bustling metropolis.
Over the years, Wijesinghe has travelled and sketched in nearly every forest canopy, natural reserve, around hill landscapes and wetlands of Sri Lanka. In this workshop, participants will have the freedom to select their own drawing materials and be guided in composition techniques. Nature drawing is accompanied by collective reflection on principles of reciprocity and cohabitation of a healthier biosphere.
I am because we are
CoCA – Symbiosis Activation.
(Limited capacity, please register in advance)
January 27 from 10 am to 12 noon
CoCa, Collective of Contemporary Artists, is the first pioneering art organisation in Sri Lanka that focuses on ecology-based socially engaged, sustainable art forms and practices connected with mind, society, and environment. Local and international award-winning artists Poornima Jayasinghe and Chinthaka Thenuwara are the co-founders of the collective. The @cocaartanddesign activation at Colomboscope invites young minds to free roaming explorations using games based on ecological principles, journalling, and exercises around conservation, trust building, and reuse in everyday life — attuning to the eight senses from the auditory to the olfactory.
Codex of the Living:
Medicinal Herbs & Creative Connection
Two-day workshop with Cecilia Moo.
(Limited capacity,
please register in advance)
January 22 and 23
from 3 pm to 6 pm
JDA Perera Gallery
In this workshop we will merge knowledge about remedies with medicinal plants and art, through recreational activities. To compile this knowledge, Cecilia Moo @cecilia.moo introduces a format inspired by two historically significant codices: Badiano codex, made by indigenous Mexicans, the first document of Mexican herbalism and the Florentine codex that reflects the knowledge of the native people of Mexico and their proximity to nature.
Recommended age group: 15 years and above
Magic Maids
Creation-Workshop-Ritual with Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera
(Limited capacity, please register in advance)
January 20, 6 – 7 pm at BMICH Kamatha Open Theatre
This workshop-ritual is a way of researching and creating together, using ‘ritual cleansing’ as the overall framework for the workshop. We will explore – How can we sweep out and unsettle deep-seated issues related to women’s oppression? How can we begin to purge, purify, and cleanse the violence in a collective ritual?
Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera will be sharing the following tools from their ongoing research: BROOM: An axis that connects the image of the witch and the housemaid, a tool for playful morphing, physical exploration. What does it mean to extend oneself through the broom, to become broom, to become wild.
GOSSIPING: To reclaim it as a female practice of solidarity and knowledge building.
LAUGHING and HOWLING: To release, reclaim, rejoice, reconnect with the primal.
SPELL CASTING: Explore the power of intention, articulated through movement, sound, objects, words and collective chanting etc. For women and fem-identifying participants.
This workshop builds on the work-in-progress performance ‘Magic Maids’ by Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera. We advise registration exclusively for participants who have previously witnessed the performance.
