Curatororial Research Visit

Colomboscope Edition Nine

 

The Colomboscope team spent 10 days of venue visits, artist meetings, and planning conversations with our guest curator Hajra Haider Karrar about the festival's upcoming edition, scheduled for 21–31 January 2026. During this research trip, Hajra met a range of artists, musicians, community organizers as well as visited partner organizations, exhibitions, and artist-led spaces. Highlights included a trip to Jaffna organised in collaboration with Kälam, where Haider Karrar conversed with members of the vibrant creative community: educators, poets, artists who have participated in previous festival editions and recent graduates.

In a public lecture co-organized with Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka, Haider Karrar shared insights on artistic collaboration amidst dense urban spheres, long-term feminist and sonic projects as well as collective research methods evolving across her practice
between Karachi, Pakistan and Berlin, Germany.

Colomboscope remains committed to revitalizing peer-to-peer exchange among cultural organizers in South Asia and its diaspora, establishing sustainable cultural networks, engaging in site-responsive mentorship and resource sharing among grassroots arts organizations. Hajra Haider Karrar's research visit was supported by Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka.