‘Manas Divi Seriya 2023’: Experience the Journey of the Mind through creativity

According to the Aggañña Sutta of the Digha Nikhaya prior to the formation of life, the Earth was just a single mass of water. The beings or life forms, Abhassara (lucid and transparent light) who existed at the time were bodiless and their nourishment had been spiritual joy acquired from previous births. But after a long period of time, a solid nectar curdled on this Mass of water which had been very tasty, like ghee or butter and one of the beings wanted to taste it. The Sutta thereafter explains how the sun, moon and stars were formed and how these bodiless life forms got stronger as they fed on various types of food that appeared on Earth.  

 ‘Manas Divi Seriya’, (Journey of the Mind) an installation art showcase by the Bakeriya Space in view of Vesak full moon day, sheds light on the conflicting ideas relating to the beginning of life on Earth as depicted in Buddha’s teachings as well as in science. “We are doing this project for Vesak but more than a Vesak lantern it is an installation art,” said Ajantha Wijewardena of the Bakeriya Space. “This involves video mapping, choreography, music and the entire space will be converted to a different mood to highlight the story that we want to tell. What we are trying to portray is the conflict of ideas relating to the beginning of life on earth as depicted in the Aggañña Sutta of the Digha Nikaya as well as how the beginning of life has been portrayed through science. This story will be narrated through video mapping.” 

On the other hand, the installation art is being decorated with many plastics to give a message about the need to recycle plastics. Explaining the reasons, Wijewardena said that they mainly used plastics to explain how the Aggañña Sutta talks about the beginning of life but to showcase what humans are doing in the end. Polythene and plastics are the main polluters in this world. At the moment the blue whale is one of the animals that has been threatened due to the irresponsible disposal of plastics. The blue whale feeds on prawns but it sometimes feeds on plastics as it cannot distinguish between a prawn’s shell and a plastic. This is why we have constructed a blue whale at the entrance to this showcase.” 

 The plastics have been collected since January and were collected via word of mouth, social media announcements and by placing collection bins at various locations. While collecting plastics they also found people who make decorative items using plastics. “We have an idea to continue this project until Poson and perhaps to take it to a location outside Colombo. In that case, we have to keep the plastic items for some time. If not we will separate the items again and hand them over to the people from whom we collected them.”

 The main objective of this showcase is to bring a different experience to viewers via an installation art instead of the everyday Vesak lanterns. The entire project comprises a team of around 100 people who bring in various expertise, talents and creativity. “The team includes those who do everything from lighting to sounds, the girls who are making the flowers and so on. Through our discussions, we try to get the inputs of everyone who have a knowledge about their individual fields. What we always feel is that art is a combination of lights, sounds, videos, photography etc. So this attempt is to bring all these creative fields under one roof and to portray its collective strength.”

 “The entire showcase will be done according to a script and it includes a section for sugandaya (smell) as well. Then it includes the visuals to the mechanical installation. The choreography will be done by students who attend the ‘Poth Nathi Iskole’, another concept that we have been continuing for a while, which happens every Sunday. The music for this project has been composed by Ven. Bibiladeniya Mahanama Thera,” Wijewardena added.

 Even though the team wishes to showcase the project for a month, they are unable to do that due to budgetary constraints. “The expenses for lighting to sounds, videography and music is quite costly. But we are still on the lookout for sponsors who are interested in sponsoring the daily budget which has been estimated at Rs. 300,000. The idea is to showcase it to as many audiences as possible from school children to the mature audience,” Wijewardena said while inviting the public to the Bakeriya Space to witness their creativity.