‘The Foreigners’, the third exhibition by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA Sri Lanka) is on view until 22 October 2023. Located at Crescat Boulevard, Colombo the MMCA Sri Lanka is hosting a series of programmes throughout July, which include ‘My Safe Haven’ with Aadhi Jayaseelan for ages above 16 years to discuss personal and political ideas of home and belonging. There will be Curators’ Tours throughout the month with a special tour by Sharmini Pereira, Chief Curator at the MMCA Sri Lanka on 16 July. On 28 July artists Danushka Marasinghe and K K Srinath Chathuranga will activate their performance titled ‘Text-ing Be-ing’ displayed in ‘The Foreigners’. This artwork explores how a language establishes a system of communication that is impenetrable to those who are foreign to it.
If you want to participate in these programmes, all you have to do is visit their website: www.mmca-srilanka.org; Facebook: facebook.com/mmcasrilanka; or Instagram: instagram.com/mmcasrilanka/ to register or get updates.
The MMCA Sri Lanka is an education-led initiative focused on building a museum of modern and contemporary art for the country and fostering learning and engagement for as wide a public as possible. Alongside its curated exhibitions and education programmes, the museum is the first publicly accessible trilingual venue of its kind in Sri Lanka. ‘The Foreigners’ is open until 22 October 2023, from 10 am to 6 pm on all days of the week except Poya and public holidays. Some special programming highlights in the month of July are:
| 15 July | Workshop: ‘My Safe Haven’ with Aadhi Jayaseelan (for ages 16 and above) 15 July Saturday, 3–5 pm Join Aadhi, an architect turned full-time artist and educator, in a workshop to reflect upon and express personal and political ideas of home and belonging through a variety of visual media. |
| 16 July | Curator’s Tour with Sharmini Pereira 16 July Sunday, 11 am–12 pm Join a tour of ‘The Foreigners’ with Sharmini Pereira, Chief Curator at the MMCA Sri Lanka. |
| 22 July | Exhibition Tour in Tamil 22 July Saturday, 3–4 pm Join a tour of ‘The Foreigners’ in Tamil led by a Visitor Educator of the MMCA Sri Lanka. |
| 23 July | Exhibition Tour 23 July Sunday, 11 am–12 pm Join a tour of ‘The Foreigners’ led by a Visitor Educator of the MMCA Sri Lanka. |
| 28 July | Performance: ‘Text-ing Be-ing’ with Danushka Marasinghe and K K Srinath Chathuranga 28 July Friday, 6–7 pm Artists Danushka (b. 1985) and Srinath (b. 1987) activate their interactive performance ‘Text-ing Be-ing’ (2019), currently on display in ‘The Foreigners’. Taking up positions on either side of a grid of red plastic tape on the floor, they slowly begin to write Sinhala letters in white chalk within the confines of each square. Their goal is to work their way from one side of the grid to the other. Meeting in the middle, each artist subsequently begins to erase the other’s writing, replacing it with their own. After repeating this exercise a few times, the artists invite the audience to participate, giving rise to a collective writing performance which introduces further disruptions to the grid. The work explores how a language establishes a system of communication that is impenetrable to those who are foreign to it. Within the rules of engagement of the performance, however, one language could be overwritten and erased by a foreign tongue. |
| 30 July | Exhibition Tour 30 July Sunday, 11 am–12 pm Join a tour of ‘The Foreigners’ led by a Visitor Educator of the MMCA Sri Lanka. |
