Queer Ecologies and Abundant Imaginaries in Contemporary Sri Lankan Art with Dr Edwin Coomasaru
Since the 1920s, a visual culture of queer ecological art has crafted an aesthetics of abundance in Sri Lanka.
Join art historian Dr Edwin Coomasaru for a look at the relationships between gender, sexuality, capitalism, and climate in recent exhibitions: Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran’s Idols of Mud and Water at Glasgow Tramway (2023-24), alongside Chathuri Nissansala in The Order of Nature at Lunuganga (2023-24) and Ritualising Mutant Encounters (2024) at Barefoot.
Drawing on Geoffrey Bawa’s own queer environmental framings, this lecture will situate Nithiyendran and Nissansala’s work in relation to contemporaneous events: from Aragalaya-Porattam protests and Jaffna Queer Festival’s ‘queer ecology’ theme in 2022, to ongoing attempts to decriminalise homosexuality as ‘against the order of nature’ under the 1883 British Penal Code. Where colonialism and ethnonationalism manufactured structures of social and environmental scarcity, Nithiyendran and Nissansala build imaginative worlds of abundance.
Dr Edwin Coomasaru is a Mid-Career Fellow at Yale University’s Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Visiting Fellow at University College London, and Reviews Editor for Visual Culture in Britain. Coomasaru is currently writing a book on Queer Ecologies and Abundant Aesthetics in Sri Lankan Art, 1926-2024.
From Font Files to Industry: Lessons from Emerging Type Communities in Thailand
Font files can appear quickly, but building a font industry involves shared understanding, professional value, practical goals, and long-term infrastructure. Join Bangkok-based designer and founder of Cadson Demak Studio Anuthin Wongsunkakon for an evening of discussion and insight on the font industry.
Specialising in typography and brand identity, Anuthin’s work spans custom typefaces, Thai adaptations of international type families, and typographic solutions for Southeast Asian scripts. Profiling case studies and lessons learned, Anuthin will map the three steps in meaningful font development: (i) building value; (ii) creating specificity; and (iii) enabling strategy.
This event is presented in collaboration with the Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo.
The Tower of Slowness with Rirkrit Tiravanija
Following a panel organised by Hans Ulrich Obrist at the Venice Biennale, Rirkrit continues to think about how people constitute architecture: through using, inhabiting, and moving through space; by spending time, associating, and simply being in it. Rirkrit will introduce these ideas through a presentation of his past and present work.
This event is presented in collaboration with the Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo.
Image: Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Anette Aurell.
Talk: House to Art Center: Reinterpreting the Jim Thompson Legacy Across Time
The Jim Thompson Arts Center in Bangkok is a four-story haven for all things creative, hosting some of the most exciting exhibitions, talks, workshops, and events in the city.
American architect and OSS officer James H. W. Thompson was an influential cultural icon in Bangkok in the 1950s, known not only for reshaping Thailand’s silk industry, but also for his reassembly of traditional Thai houses and collection of art and antiques from Thailand and Asia.
Join Artistic Director Gridthiya Gaweewong for a discussion how the Art Center—part of the Jim Thompson Heritage Quarter—builds on Thompson’s legacy to link historical memory with present artistic inquiry while opening speculative perspectives on future cultural imaginaries.
Gridthiya Gaweewong co-founded Project 304, an alternative space in Bangkok, from 1996 to 2002. She has curated numerous regional and international exhibitions across Asia, Europe and beyond. Gridthiya received the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence in 2025, and she currently works as the Artistic Director of the Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok.
Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge for Regenerative Futures
A regenerative future envisions thriving ecosystems and healthy communities that enrich the natural environment while recognizing humanity’s strong social, cultural and economic reliance on nature.
In this talk, botanist and ecological restoration expert Thilanka Gunaratne will explore how indigenous and traditional knowledge systems can offer valuable lessons for natural resource management practices that balance environmental conservation while also supporting livelihoods and economic development.
Indigenous and local communities hold deep ecological wisdom that can help to build a regenerative future. Refined over generations, traditional knowledge has maintained healthy, regenerative landscapes through the sustainable use and management of natural resources. However, one of the greatest challenges lies in the documentation and preservation of this knowledge, much of which is rapidly being lost.
Building a regenerative future will require the recognition and integration of indigenous and traditional knowledge systems across communities, to build strong, inclusive governance systems and management strategies that respond and adapt to local ecological, social, and economic needs.
Thilanka Gunaratne is a restoration ecologist and Professor of Botany at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. She holds a Ph.D. in Plant Sciences from the University of Aberdeen, where her research examined barriers to forest succession in the man-made grasslands of the Knuckles Forest Reserve. At Peradeniya, she leads the Restoration Ecology Group and has directed major projects on forest recovery in the Knuckles Conservation Forest and Hantana Mountain Range. Her coordination of a project to restore lower montane forests in the Knuckles Conservation Area earned a national CSR Sustainability Gold Award in 2018. Through long-term research on seed biology, forest regeneration, and applied restoration practices, engaging local communities in conservation, she aims to create innovative platforms that advance environmental education, research, and outreach, fostering environmental conservation for a regenerative earth.