Sure to both confuse and enrage overly-PC liberal arts professor from coast to coast, London-based installationist Christopher Kulendran Thomas has created a new exhibit where he re-interprets Sri Lankan artists for western audiences. Called When Platitudes Become Form, the exhibit hopes to rebrand the island's contemporary art in order to raise funds to "resist the oppression of communities displaced by civil war, channeling resources that are not under government control to the formerly Tamil-occupied territories of the North and East of the country."Purchasing artwork through Sri Lanka's more established galleries touting modern works, Thomas then essentially updates what's considered contemporary art in Sri Lanka to match the aesthetic views of the western art world (ie. adding lots of lasers and technology). By showing what we consider to be modern, and how it can sometimes border on cliche, Thomas looks to shine a light on the general ways in which we approach art buying and selling."Counter-manipulating the forces of globalization, When Platitudes Become Form attempts to undercut the parameters of Contemporary Art through a rigorous excavation of the ethics of humiliation. The patronizing openness of instrumentalised cultural exchange is explicitly perverted here by the colonial trading patterns that it usually masks, setting in motion a conspiracy of contingencies that extend beyond the work’s as yet visible horizons.”While we're still unclear as to whether the show pokes fun at the western art world or Sri Lanka's emerging art scene's attempts to westernize, either way these pictures are still hella cool. See below:One-way mirrored vitrine, fluorescent lighting, steel, expanding foam and ‘Universal Power’ (2011) by Jegan Weerasinghe (purchased from Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka)Acrylic, polythene and ‘Dawn’ (2010) by Jagath Ravindra (purchased from Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka)Video, sound, USB flash drive, portable media player, wood, poster print and ‘Unknown Woman’ (2011) by Ruwan Prasanna (purchased from Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka)Four-screen HD video featuring ‘Mother Love’ (2010) by Arun Senanayake (purchased from Arteria Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka)When Platitudes Become Form is currently on view at The Goldsmiths University of London GalleryPhotos courtesy of AKTNZ and Christopher Kulendran Thomas
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