In this third talk of #SupportLocalArt: The Talk Series Edition Three, Dr. Sanjana Hattotuwa, speaks to distinguished Sri Lankan Art Educators & Artists Prof. Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Jagath Weerasinghe, and T.Shanaathanan.
#SupportLocalArt: The Talk Series is an initiative to create a much-needed platform for conversation on the developments of the Sri Lankan art industry. Edition Three of the Talk Series is organised by ARTRA in association with Saskia Fernando Gallery.
#SupportLocalArt Talk: Art Education
Machine generated transcript of https://vimeo.com/820231147
Only published to complement the video
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Vanakkam, āyubōwan, and good evening, my name is Sanjana Hattotuwa and I'm very, very pleased to welcome you all joining from Sri Lanka and the rest of South Asia and maybe even the world to this SupportLocalArt Talk on Art Education, organised by ARTRA in association with Saskia Fernando Gallery. I'm delighted that I'm joined by Shanaathanan, Thenuwara and Jagath Weerasinghe. Who needs no introduction, but for the purposes of, I suppose, some formality and for those who may be joining outside of the country, I will proceed to give you a brief introduction respectively. Shanaathanan obtained a PhD at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. His ouevre deals with subjects of home, displacement, memory and loss. As a resident of Jaffna, Sri Lanka's 30 year old war that took place predominantly in the north and east to the island placed him at the centre of or core of the turmoil. His art practice involves various discussios, documentation, memory recollection, stitched painted maps and intricate, unconnected jigsaws. I must note that all of this is sourced from the Saskia Fernando's Gallery website, which for those who are participating, I encourage you go visit as well. Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s interdisciplinary practice deals with politics of memory and violence, extensively confronting the glitch in Sri Lanka's obsession with beautification, even at the expense of erasing its recent history. His wider body of work involves sculpture, painting, drawings, public monuments, lectures, curatorial and collaborative projects, all of which are informed directly by his acting. There's a growing repository of leitmotifs such as barrels, barricades, lotuses, guns, soldiers and stupors. As an activist and artist, interventions are intertwined with the social political developments of Sri Lanka. Jagath Weerasinghe is pivotal to contemporary Sri Lankan art and has been a significant driving force in its development since the early 1990s. He was the catalyst for the critical inquiry into Sri Lanka Civil War and its political climate through visual art practices and is credited with coining the phrase 'the 90s art trend' to define the work and activities of his peers. Weerasinghe's work examines and critiques Sri Lankan anxieties and reflects on the island's painful history of political violence, national genocide and the horrors of religion and identity. So you can see the task ahead of me is an impossible one to, in a sense, capture the wealth of experience of these three gentlemen and artists in a half hour discussion, followed by what will be a 15 minute Q&A. For the Q&A all of you may be now very familiar with this, but just to remind us that your questions can be directed through the Q&A function on the zoom window in front of you. Alternatively, I suppose organisers would be too mad if you put in your question through the fact function. But I do encourage you to use the Q&A function for the purposes of this webinar and you won't be able to use your audio or video to pose a question. So with that welcome to our conversation. I suppose I could begin by asking or posing the question to all three of you, because in a sense, you do have unique perspectives and you are located in your art traditions as well. In three different, in a sense, complementary but different spheres. The question around and central to our topic today, insofar as when you think about art education, you know, going back to the consequential 80s, then of course the 90s and the post war. For those joining in, the war that lasted nearly 30 years ended in 2009. So if you're talking post war, I suppose the question to all three of you would be to your mind. How has art education changed in the country, given that all three of you are rooted in art education? I also would like to maybe hear from your experience of being art educators. So I have no particular order. So maybe Shanahan and I'll, I'll start with you to give a brief, but something to capture of an answer to that question.
T. Shanaathanan
Yeah. So, art education, actually, I think we are discussing about the art education at the university level. But art education also happening in the school level, so, and it's also a continuation of that in at the university level. So we have to separate it and see how these things are affected by the social circumstances and political and social developments in 80s and 90s. So as far as I'm concerned, our school education is not, not addressing all these issues and it's like totally isolated and they have some sort of an old British model and a kind of a degenerated model happening and our, the aims for art education at the school level. It's not identify the perfectly or at risk perfectly. At the at the university level, I think it's a major, major institution is the visual and performing arts University that I think Jagath and Thenu will give their inputs. So I just wanted to, what I wanted to say is like from 1976 that with a single only act and later on the development of the Tamil speaking, and the English medium course in the Visual Institute was actually. And then there were no avenue for English medium education in in, in art. So that actually from that to 1998 there was no avenue for the Tamil speaking community in Sri Lanka to learn art. So Jain Jaffna University started course and now there is also a particular university running a course. So yeah, so it's I think it's starting a course in Jaffna itself, a kind of a then it's also a kind of a response to what is happening and but how far that actually responded. Well, it's another question in in terms of content. Of the you are you. Are you? Are pedagogue so that is very important. Yeah, but we started a course. And mainly our even if you compare with all over Sri Lanka, it's like it's more than a kind of art bringing an artist into a kind of platform. It's more about bringing, creating teachers. Yeah, so now our College of Education and other institutions also catering these folks and creating our teachers. So now the whole question is now the question you're asking about the 80s and 90s and later on post war, but the whole thing is that all three levels and all three institutions, how they are dealing with whole this topic of art and education and art. Only education and not education and all kinds of things. Yeah, I'll stop there because others can also contribute, yeah.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
No, and that's fundamental because I think some of what you're touching on speaks to Pedagogy and syllabi within the larger questions of education in Sri Lanka, and the problems they're in. So I mean, maybe Jagath want to take a crack at that as well.
Jagath Weerasinghe
Yeah, I'm not going to talk about the general art education at school, but I was focus on the what we did at the OR what we were doing at the what we were supposed to do at the university level. So my experience is coming with working in the late 90s and early 2000s. But I'm not now with the Institute of Aesthetic Studies or which is now the University of Performing and Fine Arts in which they are still looking at, you see like when you look at that school which produced most of the artists today, you know, working in Sri Lanka, the OR the modern artists, you know it went through, but 44 phases, you know, beginning with this classical school like you know the British Academy kind of training and then it moved into modern art with an artist like Stanley that is in the 70s like or late 70s, it went into abstract expressionism where, like all the international modernism. Then in the 90s it took this, when you know, the after the war or with the war, during the war period.
Jagath Weerasinghe
Yeah, coming in this. But like for the narrative and the conceptual turn, that means, you know, we all of a sudden we realised you can also do really good art. Out of, well, whatever that means good art, you know. While telling a story that art and politics can work together, you and the artist open their biographies and their studios into the general common problems, you know, they become witnessing in the world as it is happening. So that is what happened in the 90s. And I think you know, most of us came into being through that. Within that period, you know, responding like you know Shaana and Sanath and Muhanned, who myself, Kingsley and the whole host of younger generation artists. I mean, now we are all. We are all storytellers now. You know that narrative and the conceptual betters are the best examples for that. You know, how could the barrel become an artwork?, you know which is of the skill of the artist. It's not the most paramount thing, but it's the concept, conceptualising things anyway, so this is what happened in the late 80s or the 90s and which is I think is still continued. Yeah, I'll stop there and then you can pick your night.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Yeah, and that's a good start.
Chandraguptha Thenuwara
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can come in so then I think yes, Art education, as Shaana said, is two Sections might be a school education and the University School is just preparing the students to enter the universities, but their levels are for areas just very we could. They are not discussion about the contemporary. And so something like that. Yeah, preparing for the skills, developing the basic skills. But when you are looking at the higher art education so till 1993 there was main university or main art school in Colombo. It was only the IAS Institute. Institute of Aesthetic Studies at that time it was affiliated to Kelaniya University, but in 2005 it became an independent university like University of Visual and Performing Arts. But in that period, I think 1993. I started but I initiated the Alternative Art school Vibhavi Academy of Fine Art and the not most of the 90s post 90s. Artists are coming from the university where we ones and from 1993 and same time the artists who studied and the alternative way of by the Academy of Fine Art. For example, take lot of names from contemporary artists. Some have a history of university, some has alternative art school like Academic Fine Arts, which offer anyone to come into without any paper qualifications, so that is a radical move. And I think Jagath also helped me to formulate those things initially. And so then I think we have a lot of art schools in Sri Lanka at that way. If you look at the whole map of the universities, and Jaffna University has Rafa. And then now it became a faculty of Visual Art and 2000. Eight 2004 actually started the biplane and then in Eastern University and Colombo we have the University of Visual Art. Other than that, there are faculties with the Peradeniya University and Catalonia and the three party campus. Those are the major points of. All out, all over the Sri Lanka, it's a highly offering art course in the. Yes, levels still the mainstream art education is going with the university visual of open law because it's a very old institute and still it's a kind of giving more educationally and everybody looking at the Visual and Performing Arts doing and other than that, I think the fact that you know that because of the Theertha organisation after came somewhere in 2000. So with that also the new kind of other theoretical discussion start with Jigarthanda theatre and then PJR involved with the artistry courses and something like that. So this is the then that's the way all aren't seen. Developed in Sri Lanka and somewhere in the 90s it will. Another people are coming into Sri Lanka. Not scene like Muhaned Cadder came from Chicago, and Sanathan also came from India to Sri Lanka. Nazim, not from Colombo and otherwise most of the Sri Lankan artists either studied in Colombo at the IAS or Haywood at that time called. Before 1978, it was called Haywood, or College of Art and otherwise. University of Visual and performing art. So then there were some art. People are coming from the Indian background and the European backgrounds are now coming up now. This is now, I think after. In 2009 and 10, you can see the more names are coming up and some are not having proper education and alternatively so they are practising with the galleries and that now they're coming up to that scene.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
So I mean, I know I can remember China from the 90s when we were just of Delhi almost contemporaries. I think you raised a number of very interesting issues. And I want to give you a choice. Mindful of the time as well, around 2 questions that I wanted to pose to all three of you. One is. What, if anything, has changed after 2022's aragalaya in terms of art education? What, if anything? And for those of those of you who are joining from the rest of South Asia, not from Sri Lanka, aragalaya is a singular term for struggle and refers to the socio-political movement that resulted in the oust of the Rajapaksa administration to whatever that we have today. And just to think about in your own practise or where you're located at universities or elsewhere, whether that resulted in any kind of discernible change or conversation, however embryonic it may be around art education. And then the other question, if that's a bit too much is. Kind of related to what Shaana was also hinting at, which is that art education in Sri Lanka is more about creating teachers around. What do you think is the single most pressing issue with art education today, and what do you think can address it in the context of a post? Player Sri Lanka, where you have a macroeconomic collapse, where social cohesion is in tatters, where the political establishment is what it is, where there is a lot of despondency where students may be moving abroad, where universities are being defunded so on and so forth. So it's two interrelated questions you know. Pick anyone, or you can maybe answer both mindful of time again. Maybe this time I'll start with Jagath. If you can share some thoughts to both or one particular question please.
Jagath Weerasinghe
Thank you for picking me for I tell you what about the Aragalaya. I'm not going to say much about it. I don't think it has entered our university discussion as such or it has any impact on the way that we think about our, our curriculums or whatever. But at the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology Teaching Art History, I sometimes bring the matter of the role of art? But, but I will not talk about that. But I like to answer. The what is our most pressing problem in art education. I'll speak about the universities. You know, I've been the director of the Institute of Archaeology for seven years, and I've been teaching archaeology, heritage, artistry and art as well for about several decades. What I'm going to say. I don't know if they knew and Shaana and Thenu would agree with. You know the pressing problem. It's not funding, it's us, it's. 80% of the people who are teaching art, not just art or archaeology, I can say, but I'm saying this with so much, taking the responsibility of this major statement that I'm going to make in public 80% or up to 90% of the people who are teaching archaeology, art history. Even Fine Arts in our university, then they have qualifications, but they don't know what they are doing today. They're not in power with the global trends or even the South Asian trends somewhere stuck in the 60s or if not. Almost everyone is stuck in the 1960s, so the main struggle is not the state. It's not the Vikram Singh, so Rajapakse it's the faculties teaching in our universities. They are not keeping them update with what's going on. So we are you asking about how to incorporate the sentiments or the political moods or the meanings of Aragalaya into a curriculum? You know. Problem is, no, we are not ready for that. Like you know, yeah, this is what I said. That's the until the until such time that we get rid of them. Which we cannot because we would be perpetuating mediocrity like they know they knows what I'm talking about, unless we have independent degree granting small universities smaller institute. You know, teaching archaeology, humanities and social sciences and Fine Arts outside of these major universities. We cannot keep up with the rest of the world the way we, the way we are changing. That's my very negative. Yeah, I'm saying that I'm 69 years old. I've been with, you know, I lost my I had more hair. I lost my hair. I, you know, teaching art, archaeology, heritage conservation and art history. I'm saying this with so much of responsibility. I know what I'm talking. I can give you examples. OK, I'll stop it there.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Shanaa, do you want to counter that or?
T. Shanaathanan
Yeah, yeah, I think I agree with JagatH. And also you can, it's also partly I'm also answering your earlier question because if you look at, if you look at the whole Sri Lankan artistry and if you look at artists, the amount of artists or the in the, the in the, the, the artists who produce a cutting edge kind of work in the whole history.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Would you agree? Yeah, exactly.
T. Shanaathanan
And where they came from and in with in what kind of situations they came from, from Sri Lankan institutions, they know for example that Thenu and Jagath. So who were the teachers and all these things. So these institutions were there. That threw out, but some teachers actually made these little shifts also, like even when you talk about 80s, when you talk about 90s and post war, it's not the institution actually it's not the syllabi, it's some particular personality is actually making changes that may be happening that if that is not possible in the government institution that may be happening in Theerta. That may be happening in in, in Diwali or something like. That's number one. The second thing is, so we have to look at individual teachers in that case and it's also connected to what jihad is trying to make and we are lacking teachers and role models and with contemporary knowledge. So that's number one. And second thing is like when we came out, we didn't have a kind of a like a curated exhibitions and commercial art galleries and all these things. So we are only having our own. The thirst and own struggle to be an artist, whether we are selling or not, it's also manipulated, handled by many other actors. So my whole thing is like, what is the role of the teacher now? Because you teach something and after that one curator will hijack the whole project and somewhere. So there, there is a real problem and the young students they are anticipating and they have their own different things. They are, they wanted to find some avenues. So this within this, so it's become very tricky business. This whole art education and like medical education like the economics, economic education it, it is changing every day. It's a very fast moving field and the definition of definition of art is changing every day. Hey so and if the teacher is not aware there if the judges is not aware the university is not aware. I don't know how we are going to tackle this whole drop. So the other layer I don't know, so that that's what Jagath is trying to make. So whether we whether we have that kind of a situation or a kind of background to react to these kind of things. So actually irregular actually showed us what is actually missing in our RV.
Chandraguptha Thenuwara
Yeah, yeah, I think not only are girl even the war not reflected in the our heart situation, especially the our whole our institute change because of the two or three names. I came to the teach there and Jagath also visited there and the Institute of Aesthetic study at that time, 1990. 80s, Early 90s after 1993 so that that then the discussion about the 1989 and who became the subject matter to the artist to explore, but curricula saying nothing about it and it is a very tradition, I think it's. Very old than the. Which system? Also because British England change, but Sri Lanka never change and it's very difficult to change with the one only the, you know, introducing the kind of critique programmes and discussions and you know, kind of artist centred or visiting artists coming into. The classes and you know they are. They can be happen cannot be happen because the system has to be destroyed otherwise it will be still remaining like that you know. So I know how it was difficult to change. And find the student centric education in Sri Lanka. Now we are trying but still it is teacher centric. Especially the art education, but some personalities change the system. For example 1960s and 70s. A cheque on that huge figure. So because his influence holds, abstract card movement came or amazing. You know, after 90s might be the we made the change. But now we can't see any changes because. The most. Of the faculty members are not practising. That's a very bad situation, you know? Yeah. Practising, but very old things, you know, sometimes very few are doing exhibitions or the sample for the for the students, you know, students otherwise not getting inspired. And so the now I'm it's not paint. Teaching painting at the my university, I resigned from the painting department. Now I'm doing the art history and so the so that is why the so I don't know what is happening in the Department of painting but I can't see any new paint. New figures are coming up but clear students are very talented. They are going to be destroyed within the university and they have no opportunity to express their. That's the problem we have. That is why the Aragalaya also, when artists might be the individual artist, respond to the Aragalaya and like the but university is silent about it. It nothing happened. You know, it's they don't know what is. Over and they don't know aragalaya. Was there nothing? Yes. And the only. Individuals might be the artists who are working on it. They are responding to those subjects.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
So that was a very bleak landscape that if I may coin a phrase, all three of you painted, and I think that's a good segway also into the first question that we have, I have a tonne of more questions, but I thought that in the interests of time, we will go with a question that I think responds to what? All three of you said as well. And this is from an anonymous. Cindy and I quote Thenu mentioned something called Proper art Education within quotes. What is it exactly? Is it available in Sri Lanka or is it just a utopian idea? So maybe they know. You should because it's a trust to you. Give a brief answer to that question.
Chandraguptha Thenuwara
Yeah, that there is proper means some kind of enrich the knowledge about how to practise and techniques and one side and other thing is the thinking about art and the critical thinking in art. That's the lack of an art education here. So they might be practising the techniques and other things, but they're not discussing about and that's the I think we don't have in school education, even though in. And have a higher education. Only the might be the individual artist or teacher or professor or something. Talking about the social issues and concerns. And then that will be the reflected the education system that but we are teaching art history. Yeah, but in the contemporary art until the 4th year. End of third year only that they are knowing about what's happening around the world, but even the if you are teaching the artist is contemporary way what is there. But they are just copying sometimes effects of the contemporary art, not the content. Why they are doing it and they are not questioning the why artists are doing those kind of things. They are trying to make the kind of copies of Allah, Allah contemporary find. Kind of the look like contemporary. Things. But that's the issues are coming with the art education here. So in the when we are looking at the some works but that that is the guidance problems also might be and that is why the we did kind of thing is with the art school education we are not training them proper way they are techniques. And you know. And that is why they are starting from the university. Start again techniques learning. So then there is no time for them to develop their vocabulary visual vocabulary and the thinking and discussing the subject matters. And you know the other spheres, they can't have no time to they can't think about it. That's the problem here. And we don't have master programmes. Also, if we have a masters programmes they are only on for the 52 weekends, one year Master, 250 twos. It will be the two year Masters and it's and they don't have studio practise. And so then that is the why we need the proper arts education. That means from school and to the how it transferred to the university. And how we have to do more chances? Yeah.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
We've got we've got a couple of questions coming in and maybe Shanaa, in relation to what you said earlier, I think this it says to address it to anybody, but I'm going to kind of direct this towards you. The question is as academics, when does the role of a curator enhance the work of an artist? And at which point should parameters be set to distinguish the voice of the artist and that of the curator during the respective exhibitions? In the presence of a strong curatorial perspective, and I suppose what this question is getting at is also what you hinted at in so far as what you said there. Are more players today? You know, how do you delineate and maybe navigate and negotiate these competing probably interests of curator and artist and art.
T. Shanaathanan
So the I think there is. So there are two things. One is like now curation is also become playing a role in terms of art education and also like this, this whole crisis of art education not only happening in Sri Lanka, it's also happening in other parts of the world and especially in South Asia like for example in India the commercial series and biennales and art fairs are doing well in terms of art education, so they have a component for art education and in the government is also funding for. So there the curation the curator should consider that the education part of. It not the commercial part of the art and things like that. So curators are coming with different agendas, so the educators are having a different agenda to make to produce some artists. And then when they come and started settling, then the whole game change and one thing is that so one thing is our education, our academics or our institutions are not addressing that game change at the same time the curators are not looking into that gap actually happening. So and their thing is like they have something in their hand, so they have to do an exhibition. So they see most of the cases. It's art artists become a kind of material for them, which is a kind of a problem for exhibition making.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
So it's no, no, I think.
T. Shanaathanan
It's like I totally like earlier question. It's also linked with earlier question like what is the better art education, so better art education is actually it's like dealing with the three C's one is creativity, other one is craftsmanship and third one is a critical thinking. So what is actually happening in Sri Lanka is that the creativity and critical thinking is missing.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
A lot of food for thought.
T. Shanaathanan
And when a curator come similar kind of thing also. Applicable to them. So there are exhibitions happening with different agendas and different emphasis.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Yeah. Yeah. No, that's all very, very good at it. You know, the more you speak, the more I hear the problems integral and structural and systemic to tertiary education. That are reflected in art education. Clicking and then ossified, you know academia, I mean it's so resonant with the media and journalism and communications as well. Jagath I think the next question maybe for you, I mean it's again not directed at anybody, but I'm going direct it at you and it goes artists are also not prepared for a career in the arts. Prepared or educated on how to continue their practise as professional? Is this not an important subject, if not an essential one?
Jagath Weerasinghe
Well, I'll answer that. I like that anyway. You see, like, you know, when you are a speaker, you always. Any question will be. Turned out you. You may turn it in to say what you want to say. That that's what. I'm going to say, yeah, no, you see, like listening to Thenu and to Shanaa, what Shanaa said. And I also have an idea about what kind of art education, how we should train artists today, because there are so many different players. They're different in institutions, you know, coming into the art world in a way, you know, interpretation, management of an art work has become a serious problem. You see curators. Have their own problems. You know, they are they. They are like, you know, they have to work with different anxieties anyway. So if you are going to train artists for today, there are few things that I think they must be taught. It says that you know, first thing is as soon as that is critical theory it is with critical theory you can understand. Certain things, and then social history. You know, I have students who doesn't know about 1983 or also 1948 Partition of India. How can you think of an artist or a citizen in this part of the world who doesn't know who has not heard about 1948 partition. Or 1983 for that matter you see social history. Of the 20th century, it's the 20th century is the most important centre. It is 20th century. We have free education, we speak, we have irregulars. We can do all that because of 20th century. And then there's social history. Then the history of ideas. You have to teach these young artists the history of ideas. Thirdly, literature. You know I have. I have my students who hasn't read Ramayana or Mahabharata. How can you make sense of these young people if they haven't read Mahabharata or compare for that matter you say no. We studied science. No, you have. You should have read Mahabharata and compared here and then computational thinking. You have to teach computational thinking. And then you have, you have to teach applied mathematics. How can you be a 21st century artist without knowing applied mathematics? You know, at Oxford they teach art in different department, not only in art department or in in many other universities. You know, art has become a major diversified field art education, so you need to teach applied mathematics and then? Properties of matter of environment and the universe. You need to teach them. It's not. See while then you teach life drawing and life painting and drawing and all that you have to teach the properties of matter and the and the universe and then project management. See, I cannot take use of my own students either. They are from archaeology or Fine Arts because they don't know. Don't think about project management time management. See, there are these. These are, you know, I think I answered that question as well. Of course, they should be taught that you should you have to make this artist first meaningful useful citizens. It's not only for archaeology, art, art, also for archaeology. Yeah, after four years, you don't become an artist. After four years, you don't become a linguist or an archaeologist anyway. I stop there.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Jagath, I think you've given a lot of food for thought that the person posing the question may not have even thought about when typing that in Shanaa, I want to come to you with this for a variety of reasons. I think that would make sense when I asked the question. The question is, has privatisation of universities and affiliation with universities abroad, maybe the closest being India being considered at any point of time. This will open up a whole new perspective on art education and can be a game changer, so I suppose that's both a question and a presentation of an opinion. What would your thoughts be, Shanaa on that.
T. Shanaathanan
I don't know whether linking with India as an Indian institution for art education is a solution because they are also having a similar problem in different levels, but they are also facing the similar problem. But yeah, linking in the sense not because it's also art. It's like it's also very socially rooted. So our problems are very cultural. So it's very culture specific, our art education. So it's not so, yeah, but. How? Like how? Like the way inclusive very can work? How we are going to do a kind of a like kind of an experiment with education with other institutions could be a kind of a role model and also understanding how these challenges are addressed in other countries and all these things may be. A kind of an interesting thing to look. Yeah, but I don't know. Privatisation is a kind of solution for this. Actually, and partly what we are trying to talk before also like what is actually liking is like we are not having a critical thinking. We are not having a kind of a social concern, all these things. So it's in whether this kind of approach will bring that to us, that's a real question. And even there are artists produced outside the system, and there are artists within the system doing this. So why these artists are so? I'm not saying Sri Lanka is resourceless why we are not using that. That's the whole question.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
No, I think these are fundamental questions that you've posed. You know, maybe because we don't have and Harshi or Saskia Fernando Gallery if anybody knows. OK. But me? The final question, which is kind. Of linked to all of what you said, but I want to leave on some note of hope. You know or the audacity of hope if you were to be given a magic wand and did one thing to change for the better art education in your respective spheres. At its university or wherever you stand and sit as an Emeritus professor or somebody still teaching and or as an artist. If you were given a magic wand and given one thing to do one with. That you had with that wand to strengthen our education, what would that be? And I'll start in the same order that I began with. So maybe Thenu briefly, what would you do?
Chandraguptha Thenuwara
If I have a magic wand, what I do, I try to demolish whole exam system. Yeah, we are ready to just answer the question, not accumulate in that knowledge to embedded, to knowledge, to yourself. That is why we have to demolish this system of education. That means testing and they are ready to answer the question, but they are not ready to. Apply what they learn. That is the problem of Sri Lankan total education, not from the art education. And if you ask any student what they wrote for the exam, they don't know. After this writing their exams, for whom they those papers need. I think the whole Education system has to change. We if we have a continuous assessment and you know various kind of different kind of education measures. There, maybe a lot of work for the teachers because they have to work with the students and you chance to the student. That's the magic wand I'm going to use.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
So before Shanaa, I want to go to next. There's a comment that came in most Sri Lankan students learn about the medium from the person who runs art shops rather than from institutions. Personally, I feel these institutions should restructure their entire education system, since even the current syllabus offered by some institutions like they. Those is inadequate or non existent, leaving students without proper guidance anyway, that's just a comment. So Shanaa, you have the magic wand. What would you do?
T. Shanaathanan
Yeah. So it's very complicated. I hope I don't have a kind of one. I can't do one magic for this. As Thenu said, it's also. It's also dealing with other government policy and education, education policy and other kinds of things, not particular to art, but what I found is like the basic thing is like in our school education, this is actually divided our aesthetic. Education is divided into drama, dance, music and only thing that should be one, and that should be based on some sort of a creative. Activity rather than specialisation and still and all kinds of things, those skill training and all these things should come because that it at that at that level student can't make a kind of a decision at basics you can't think about whether you wanted to become a painter or a sculptor or a dancer, so you may be inclined to some sort of a, you know, artistic this thing, but it's not defined. So I think in the school education, it should be a kind of a we have to rethink the school education in in total different yeah. And looking at looking at science through art and looking at art through science and all these art as science and that kind of approach we should have in the school level, kind of broader understanding of art.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Jagath briefly.
Jagath Weerasinghe
Yeah. If I have the have the yeah, the magic wand. This is what I would do. Cause it's like, you know, you cannot change the school teaching system without changing the university education because we produce our teachers. One of the things that we produce from our universities, other teachers.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Your last word.
Jagath Weerasinghe
So if you do not change, you see in our, you know, city education is at the core of all the most of the problems in this country. You see, this is how I say it, you know. They go to schools as teachers, they go to civil servants, you know, they become engineers, they become, you know. Yeah. So you know, so if I have this magic wand, I would change the curriculum upside down and do what I just said. You know, those eight subjects would be made compulsory. In addition to whatever the skills and mediums you know, all the technical aspects, but it is the thinking. That's what I would do. I would impose it. Yeah, changing the curriculum in the format that I just said, those eight compulsory subjects, I have actually proposed this too many people. Nobody believes in it. I need the one.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Well, I think to the minute we are at 45 minutes since the start of our discussion. And we have achieved somewhat of an impossible task, I suppose of covering a lot of terrain with the extraordinary experience and insights that we've got from Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Shanaathanan and Jagath Weerasinghe. I thank all three of you. I'm sorry that we can't entertain more questions. I personally can carry on talking, but I'm cognizant that the organisers wanted to keep this as 45 minutes. I think we've covered an mazing amount of ground and a very rich discussion that I suppose is the start for new conversations, particularly with the ideas proposed as well. I wanted to thank both Artra and Saskia Fernando Gallery for organising this conversation, and I also want to thank all the participants from Sri Lanka and South Asia for joining us today, whether it was on zoom or on Facebook, so a wonderful thank you. And maybe a virtual round of applause for our participants and speakers. And thank you for all of you for joining in as well. And with that, I conclude this talk on art education. Thank you very much.
