Geoffrey Bawa centenary programme

2019 marks the centenary of Geoffrey Bawa’s birth and the Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts will celebrate this eminent architect’s legacy through a programme of events scheduled from July 2019 to July 2020.

The extensive programme will inspire and initiate work that spans geographic, generational and medium- specific divides, using the ideal contextual background of Geoffrey Bawa’s life and work. The public programme will be launched in July with the exhibition “Decorative Arts in the Geoffrey Bawa Collection” held at Lunuganga from July 13-21.

On July 22, the 5th cycle of the triennial Geoffrey Bawa Awards will be launched, to be followed by the 16th Annual Memorial Lecture on July 23, which marks Geoffrey Bawa’s 100th birthday. The lecture will be held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute and will be delivered this year by well known Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. The lecture will coincide with “Unknown Bawa”, an exhibition of photographs by Sebastian Posingis at Paradise Road, The Gallery Café from July 23-31.

The launch of “The Gift,” a series of site- specific installations at Lunuganga, will follow, featuring work by eminent architect Kengo Kuma (Japan) and artists Lee Mingwei (New York and Paris), Dominic Sansoni (Sri Lanka), Dayanita Singh (India) , Sarah Sze (New York) and Chandragupta Thenuwara (Sri Lanka). The launch will feature a panel discussion with the participating artists at the Barefoot Gallery on July 24, to be followed by the opening of Dayanita Singh’s exhibition “Bawa - Box 507,” also at Barefoot.

The exciting public programme of exhibitions, events, talks and tours will continue throughout the year; for the full programme see www.bawa100.com.