by Sumugan Sivanesan // Feb. 13, 2026
Colomboscope, a multi-arts festival in Sri Lanka’s capital, presented its ninth edition, ‘Rhythm Alliances,’ at the end of January, and a Berlin–Colombo axis was evident throughout. Festival Advisor and co-ordinator and former Berliner, Jan de Saram, has been a driving force behind Colomboscope since its inception in 2013, while Artistic Director Natasha Ginwala joined in 2019. A curator-at-large, Ginwala recently relocated to Colombo from Berlin, where she was based for over a decade, notably as an associate curator for Gropius Bau (2018–2024). Guest curator Hajra Haider Karrar works at SAVVY Contemporary and several participating artists are based in Berlin, including Basma al-Sharif, houaïda, KMRU and Sasha Perera.
Colomboscope 2026 ‘Rhythm Alliances’ at Barefoot Gallery // Photo by Sanjaya Mendis
‘Rhythm Alliances’ assembled 50 artists and collectives, musicians, choreographers, filmmakers and cultural organizers in a free-to-attend “communal score of creation, resistance and alliance-building.” Sri Lanka has become a gathering ground for South Asian artists as citizens of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal can enter and meet, a difficult feat in these rival countries. While conflict still stirs in Sri Lanka, where minority ethnic groups and marginalized communities have long struggled for recognition, justice and equality, ‘Rhythm Alliances’ proposed to counter “normal” divisive and fractured state relations. As artist Seher Shah commented, alliances are tentative, fragile and precarious. Arguably, Colomboscope applied the soft power of cultural diplomacy to hold open a space for encounter, discussion, negotiation and collaboration.
Colomboscope 2026, ‘Rhythm Alliances,’ ‘Arka Kinar’ performance in Port City // Photo by Isira Sooriyaarachchi
One project that exemplifies ‘Rhythm Alliances’ is ‘Arka Kinari,’ a 24-meter-long, 70-ton and 80-year-old steel schooner, that was rebuilt, repainted and repurposed as a touring vessel, research and performance platform by musicians and activists Filastine and Nova. For the first six days of Colomboscope, I was a guest onboard the ship docked at Port City Colombo, a “Special Economic Zone” being developed on reclaimed land by Chinese interests. In a private dock in a securitized area, accessed via a confusing array of roads and with power supplied by fuel generators, this was neither an ecologically sound nor convenient location. Nevertheless, it proved to be a striking context for Arka Kinari to deliver its message of re-connection with the ocean and attunement with the natural world, promoting life after fossil capitalism.
Colomboscope 2026, ‘Rhythm Alliances,’ ‘Arka Kinar’ performance in Port City // Photo by Isira Sooriyaarachchi
Over 600 people arrived for Arka Kinari’s dockside audio-visual spectacle, in which the ship became a stage, its sails screens for projections and drums affixed to the rigging. Appearing as a silhouette, Nova invoked the ocean with song, before Filastine and crew arrived on a lifeboat. Wrapped in gold emergency blankets they fired a flare to announce the climate emergency, launching a concert that addressed themes of borders, toxicity and the inventiveness of life. Nova’s voice and guitar entwined with Filastine’s live percussion and digital production, reflecting a myriad of influences drawn from their uncommon routes.
At the merch stand, I met several people who had traveled to the capital for the festival, who remarked that there was nothing like Colomboscope in Sri Lanka. “Peace-building” is a term I’ve come across in my efforts to connect with family and peers after the 30 year civil war ended brutally in 2009. With snacks and soft drinks provided free of charge, Colomboscope’s organizers made considerable efforts to bring a program that was thought-provoking, novel and new to people who have persevered through political violence, natural disasters and economic crisis.
Tashyana Handy and Sakina Aliakbar: ‘For Private View and Public Disappearance,’ 2025, installation detail, Colpetty Town House, Colomboscope 2026 // Photo by Sanjaya Mendis
Over 10 days, the festival unfolded across several venues around the city. Its main exhibition, ‘Frequencies of Passage,’ occupied Colpetty Town House, a former multi-generational family home in the downtown area. Recently opened for exhibitions, domestic spaces set the scene for several installations. Tashyana Handy and Sakina Aliakbar’s ‘For Private View and Public Disappearance’ (2025) was a bedroom in the front window space, elaborating on their performance poetics played back over speakers. Jovita Alvares’ ‘Re: cite, member, sist’ (2025) was a lounge room of furniture covered in hand-stitched cyanotype fabrics. Layered images sourced from family archives pieced together memories of her grandmother’s migration from Goa to Karachi; connections ruptured by Partition. Natural light and a breeze animated curtains to make oceanic patterns in an elusive set piece soundtracked by rumbling waves and a conversation with the artist’s aunt.
Jovita Alvares: ‘Re: cite, member, sist,’ 2025, installation view, Colpetty Town House, Colomboscope 2026 // Photo by Sanjaya Mendis
Barefoot, a landmark shop in Colombo known for its distinct handloom fabrics, was the site of ‘Cosmological Recitations.’ On weekends, weavers working a loom in the popular courtyard cafe, emphasized the link to Mekh Limbu’s ‘Chotlung: traversing spirits, redemptive songs’ (2025). Hung through the gallery space were textile banners bearing slogans protesting cable car and hydropower developments in present day Eastern Nepal, embellished with geometric designs. The fabrics were incomplete and wooden loom frames used in their production remained attached, suspended from the ceiling. Limbu, who is of the Adibasi-Janajati Yakthung community, presented a video stitching together documentation of development sites, rallies and rituals. Extending out of the gallery and up a wooden stairwell, Limbu’s banners drew audiences towards a shuttered room where Saadia Mirza’s ‘A Phenomenology of Iceberg Collisions’ (2024) was installed. Withdrawn from the social milieu, audiences donned headphones to immerse themselves in Mirza’s somber digital aesthetics. The piece compresses two years of seismic recordings and radar imagery of massive iceberg B-15 calving from its ice shelf, into 10 minutes of abstract audio and image.
Mekh Limbu: ‘Chotlung: traversing spirits, redemptive songs,’ 2025, installation view, Barefoot Gallery, Colomboscope 2026 // Photo by Sanjaya Mendis
Colomboscope 2026, ‘Rhythm Alliances’ at Radicle Cafe and Gallery, installation view with 11.11 and Moe Satt, ‘F ’n’ F (Face and Fingers)’ // Photo by Sanjaya Mendis
A large fabric defined the entrance to ‘Tidal Tongues’ at Radicle Cafe and Gallery, housed in the colonial era De Mel Building in the lively port area, Pettah. Made of “indigenous cotton” by Delhi-based clothing label 11.11, it hung from the ceiling, forming a corridor between the gallery and cafe. Patterned with natural blue dyes, it evoked ocean waves and was reminiscent of ship sails. Here, Tissa de Alwis’ ‘Dhows’ (2025) showcased a number of miniature model boats crewed by individualized clay figurines, alluding to long histories of sea-faring trade, migration and conflict. As a model of how to survive on “spaceship Earth,” Arka Kinari demands its crew cooperate across differences. Nova observed that the ocean is not a border but a connector, that is nevertheless indifferent to human intentions. As melting ice caps and rising sea levels attest, it has the power to overflow.
