Art Lab

25/10 Tanthi Mawatha
Ethulkotte

Tele: 011 2865900
Contact person: Jagath Weerasinghe

Artlab was established in 2001 by group of artists to work towards expanding the awareness of Sri Lankan art within Sri Lanka and internationally. Within Colombo, a momentum has grown in visual arts, and therefore alternative opinions have surfaced representing different ideologies. The Artlab is a result of similar alternative opinions getting together to establish a certain methodology to bring current art knowledge to the public.

Objective:
To expand the awareness of Sri Lankan art practices among local communities and working at grassroots level on art and culture related programs

Activities:
Monthly workshops in the low income sector in the peripheral areas. Because of lack of opportunities to see or learn about art, the communities in the peripheral areas of Sri Lanka are affected the most when it comes to problems in art appreciation. To address this the Art Club intends to contribute in creating an art and art historical awareness among the peripheral communities in Sri Lanka. By doing a series of workshops focussing on low income sector, the Art Club intends to discuss issues on aesthetics and presentation within the broad context of the cultural politics of art.

The objective of the workshops is to make the participants aware of artistic methods and ways to do their everyday activities/ businesses in a more innovative way. This would in turn empower them to take independent judgements in terms of aesthetic and cultural politics.

The focus audience would be individuals who are non-artists and mature in age who are interested in art and willing to make art and artistic expression a part of their everyday life. One workshop has already been conducted in Hambantota where the audience consisted of auto rickshaw drivers, vegetable sellers, women homemakers etc.

Discussion groups: Regular discussion groups are conducted where invited groups of individuals and group members take part in critical discussions on current issues of art practices.

The publication of an art journal: A journal is planned to be published which would cater to a specialized as well as the general readership on Sri Lankan art.