CAB aims to strengthen the platform and enhance awareness of Sri Lankan contemporary art and culture both within Sri Lanka and around the globe.
CAB promotes local artists, both established and emerging through innovative programmes. The Colombo Art Biennale highlights the best of the best contemporary visual arts in its various mediums
The first edition of CAB �Imagining Peace� was launched to encourage peace between and within nations, communities, families and individuals. It was not so much about showcasing Sri Lankan art; but a project with a vision. The aim was to show the world that despite the fact that Sri Lanka being a seemingly politically, ethnically polarized society, artists can work together as collectives, a sign of peace in itself. �Imagining Peace�- Imagining that people can work together.
With the second edition of CAB 2012, �Becoming�, provided an international platform. The Directors wished to showcase the very best of Sri Lankan contemporary visual artists alongside regional and international artists. Curators were appointed from Austria and India to provide an outside eye for the selection of Sri Lankan artists and contextualise their works alongside artists from across the world.
CAB 2012, continued to provide a platform for the important role that artists have in society, reflecting and exploring its contemporary concerns. The theme �Becoming� was selected as a natural follow on from the theme of �Imagining Peace�. It acknowledged a point of time in the country�s history. �Becoming� is neither about the past nor the future. It is about the creative potentiality of the ever moving and changing present. In addition to the exhibitions, CAB explored the theme through a varied and well attended programme of seminars and workshops.
The CAB mission will continue to be honoured into the future. Extremely positive outcomes have already been manifested as a result of its mission. This has been seen in the form of international residencies, Sri Lankan artists being showcased internationally and even a Sri Lankan artist being selected as the winner of the Hong Kong based Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2010.
The CAB Directors are fully committed in their continued mission to create platforms and expose the excellence of Sri Lankan Contemporary art.