‘88 Acres: The Watapuluwa Housing Scheme by Minnette De Silva’, the first solo exhibition on the architect to be held during or after her lifetime, closed on 7th July at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA Sri Lanka). Curated by Sharmini Pereira and Ritchell Marcelline, assisted by Thinal Sajeewa and Nimaya Harris, ‘88 Acres’ was also the Museum’s first solo exhibition and architectural-focused exhibition. The show attracted 13,187 visitors including 856 students from across the country.
The exhibition focused on the 1958 Watapuluwa Housing Scheme in Kandy, designed by De Silva. The Scheme heralded a new form of social housing in Sri Lanka and was notably created with the participation of its users. ‘88 Acres’ explored how this sprawling hillside development was ahead of its time in providing affordable accommodation for a diverse ethno-religious community of government public servants in Sri Lanka. Alongside a specially commissioned artists’ film by Irushi Tennekoon (b. 1989), Sumedha Kelegama (b. 1988), and Sumudu Athukorala (b. 1980), ‘88 Acres’ looked back at the Scheme 65 years later to consider De Silva’s influences and the challenges of her design approach.
Looking back on the exhibition, Sharmini Pereira, Chief Curator at the MMCA Sri Lanka said, “The success of this exhibition underlines how critical it is to continue researching De Silva’s work in depth. Just looking at one project by De Silva has created so much interest and helped to challenge the status quo.” She further noted that “There’s still so much more research to be done, and we are excited about continuing this with World Monuments Fund,” adding, “The collaborative approach, especially working with contemporary filmmakers, animators, designers, and architects, is definitely something we will continue because of the immense research potential it brings about with all the different perspectives involved.”
‘is this an architectural documentary?’ (2023) by Tennekoon, Kelegama, and Athukorala interweaves animation, archival photos, film recordings, and witness testimonies to consider what the Watapuluwa Housing Scheme bears witness to in terms of the environmental, social, and political transformations of Sri Lanka since the early ’50s. The film is supported by the British Council Digital Collaboration Fund, which supports UK and overseas cultural partnerships to develop digitally innovative ways of collaborating. Commissioned by the MMCA Sri Lanka, the Research and Development support for the film was provided by Forensic Architecture, UK.
“The research process and the collaborative efforts in making our film ‘is this an architectural documentary?’ (2023) provided an incredible opportunity for learning about De Silva’s practice,” noted Tennekoon, Kelegama, and Athukorala, adding that “However, the most meaningful interactions came when engaging with the public through the series of Artist Tours and other public programmes curated by the MMCA Sri Lanka.” They also said that “Though the focus of the exhibition and film remained on one of De Silva’s important experiments with community architecture, the approaches we adopted invited those from diverse communities and disciplines to view ’88 Acres’ from multiple perspectives.” The artists added that, “The further we immersed ourselves in this project, creative collaboration and an interdisciplinary approach became essential in understanding a multifaceted figure like Minnette De Silva whose contributions spanned architecture, history, arts and crafts, writing, and more.”
‘88 Acres: The Watapuluwa Housing Scheme by Minnette De Silva’ was specially designed by Jonathan Edward, and the exhibition identity was created by Nia Thandapani. The exhibition featured photographs, publications, historical documents, installations, and architectural drawings and models alongside the artists’ film. “The exhibition design for ‘88 Acres’ drew from the extensive research produced by the artists and the prospectus put forward by the curatorial team of the MMCA Sri Lanka,” noted Edward. Speaking further of his design approach, he added, “Designing an exhibition that looks so closely at the groundbreaking work of a visionary architect like Minnette De Silva was no easy task. The approach taken was simple, with the core idea of ‘Unboxing the Archive’, with a singular focus on the Watapuluwa Housing Scheme.” Edward also said “The plywood used throughout the exhibition is a humble nod to Minnette’s ‘truth to materials’ approach.”
Reflecting on her identity design for ‘88 Acres’, Nia Thandapani noted how “The MMCA Sri Lanka’s distinct commitment to accessibility came through strongly in this process, both in terms of equal design standards across the museum’s three languages, and in terms of finding a visual language that was thought-provoking and understandable to a broad audience.”
Bringing a massive housing scheme located in Kandy to life within a museum in Colombo was an exciting challenge to Thandapani. “The intention behind the ‘88 Acres’ identity was to communicate the vast scale and achievement of the Watapuluwa housing project, in a way which would be accessible and evocative to a broad audience. With this in mind, the core of the identity was a grid of 88 aerial views of undeveloped landscape from the area that now surrounds Watapuluwa, creating a sense of the scale and land on which the project was designed and built,” she added.
Alongside the exhibition, the MMCA Sri Lanka offered a host of free public programmes and outreach activities aimed at the general public as well as students of schools and higher education institutions. These programmes included specially curated Gallery Talks, Workshops, Reading Groups, and Tours by the curatorial team, artists, and Visitor Educators.
The MMCA Sri Lanka also launched its first research publication ‘Second Volume’ to accompany ‘88 Acres’, offering readers unparalleled access to primary research and previously unpublished archival materials. Edited by Sharmini Pereira and Kaumadi Jayaweera, ‘Second Volume’ was designed by Nia Thandapani. “The design approach for ‘Second Volume’ sought to bring together three voices on De Silva’s Watapuluwa projects in an engaging and cohesive way. Containing remains of De Silva’s archive, the script from ‘is this an architectural documentary?’ (2023), and the curator’s reflections on Watapuluwa, the book intentionally stepped away from familiar approaches to an architect’s monograph,” noted Thandapani. She added that, “The design approach is intended to highlight and stay true to these different ways of considering the architect’s work.”
The success of ‘88 Acres’ was made possible with the generous support of British Council, with additional support from Art South Asia Project, Foundation for Arts Initiatives, Foto Design, Lite87, Rhythm FM, and Rock FM. Generous support was also provided by the museum’s major benefactors and funders: John Keells Foundation, Nations Trust Bank, Fairfirst Insurance, and the Founding Patrons of the MMCA Sri Lanka.
The MMCA Sri Lanka is an education-led initiative that aims to establish a public museum dedicated to the display, research, collection, and conservation of modern and contemporary art for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public, schools, and tourists. The museum is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm (except on Poya days and public holidays) on the ground floor of Crescat Boulevard, Colombo 3, and the entrance to the museum and all its public programmes are free. Information about the museum and its exhibitions and public programmes can be found via its website www.mmca-srilanka.org, or on Facebook at facebook.com/mmcasrilanka and Instagram at instagram.com/mmcasrilanka/.
