Sura Medura at Summerhall

An exciting new Sura Medura exhibition at Summerhall

3 Aug – 24 September

Presenting the work of nineteen European artists who have been resident at Sura Medura since 2006 including a focus on Insitu artists. The programme includes performances, installations, video and visual arts.

Featured artists:

Stephen Hurrel, Sita Pieraccini, Maria McCavana, Nichola Scrutton, Natasha Russell, Hannah Brackston, Ross Whyte, Lewis Sherlock, Kit Mead, Elisabeth Wildling, Sumit Sarkar, Matteo Lanfranchi, Steffi Oettl, Samson Ogiamein, Juri Cainero, John Rogers, Martin Janicek, Adrian Schvarzstein, Zoe Katsilerou, Chandraguptha Thenuwara.

Private View

You are invited to join us for a Private View on Wednesday 2nd August from 6pm – 9pm. There will be live performance, a first look at the exhibition, and the opportunity to meet many of the artists.

To join us for the Private view, please email us at info@uzarts.com

13 November 2015

New Residency in 2015

One week into the Sura Medura International Residency and 7 artists from 6 Countries are preparing for a series of presentations to students and artists in Colombo on the 17th November.

These presentations, which are organised with our partner Thenuwara Chandraguptha of the University of Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo, are a critical part of the residency, where Sura Medura artists share their artistic practise with their peers in Sri Lanka.

After the presentations, Matteo will lead workshops for students who will be invited to then join the residency and take part in a series of performances and exhibitions that will mark the end of the residency on the 11th and 12th December.

In the meantime, Juri is planning on building an orchestra of bamboo friction drums to emerge from the sea and Martin intends to turn a shipwrecked trawler into a musical instrument.

The tail end of the monsoon is creating waterfalls around our dinner, but the days remain dry-ish!

– Neil Butler (UZ Arts)

25 August 2014

Sura Medura Winter Residencies for 2014 / 2015 Announced

UZ Arts are delighted to announce that they will be working with IN SITU to bring six European artists to Sura Medura Internationation Residency Centre through their Europeans Abroad fund. The residencies, which will take place in the winter of 2014/2015, will give the chosen artists the opportunity to explore and develop new work in response to their environment.

The international directors are:

Adrian Schvarzstein

Since 1989, Schvarzstein has been working as a clown, actor and theatre director after studying ‘Commedia Dell’Arte’ in Italy. Recent projects include the street theatre performance ‘Kamchatka’ (Miramiro Prize 2008) and directing the opera ‘La Barca’ in Holland. A Catalan by adoption, but really a mixture of various nationalities whose formation took place all over Europe, Schvarstein has spent his life avidly accumulating experiences and it would be difficult to find a field of artistic activity that does not interest him

Kitt Johnson

Danish dancer and choreographer Kitt Johnson has beeb developing her unique artistic universe for more than 25 years. Her style is at one minimalist, expressive and innovative. She has been artistic director of the company Kitt Johnson x-act since 1992. With this company she has created more than 50 productions nationally as well as internationally – her trademark is solo performance, but her repertoire is wide and also includes ensemble works, Cirque Nouveau, site-specific work and children’s performance. Kitt Johnson X-act also mounts and curates performance festivals with the company, including the site-specific MELLEMRUM biennale, contributing to her ambition to create a platform from which Danish and international performance art can engage in dialogue and share experience.

Alex Rigg

Alex studied Fine Arts at Glasgow School of Art and at the University of Ulster and has since had a prolific career in practising various art forms. As well as having thirty years of practical experience in building large-scale structures in timber, steel, cloth and stone, he has also been creating and delivering live events since 1982. Particularly iconic are the large-scale willow, steel and timber fire-sculptures that Alex and colleague Trevor Leat create together for festivals and events, including the Wickerman Festival and many par Hogmanay events. Similarly, his incredible work in physical theatre, dance, sculpture and design has been shown internationally, and his company Oceanallover has created many innovative events, bringing new audiences to physical performance.

Europeans Abroad aims to create bridges with artistic and cultural partners outside Europe in the form of residencies or co-productions. Calling on its experience throughout the European territory, the IN SITU network offers its partners and artists the opportunity to enhance their practices by discovering the realities of other continents.

4 February 2013

Eagle House: 2nd Anniversary Party

UZ Arts director, Neil Butler, has just returned from his time in Sri Lanka visiting Kit and the Sura Medura Centre, the Sunbeach Hotel and Eagle House, the new home of the art classes set up in Hikkaduwa after the tsunami of 2004. The “Hikkaduwa Area Relief Fund” created Chandrasevana, an initiative that originally helped locals rebuild fishing boats and businesses, supporting the community and then went on to open the Chandrasevana Creation Centre that provided arts classes for children.

When the centre needed to move premises, it was housed in Sura Medura for a while but then found its permanent home in Eagle House with lead volunteer Eddi Piper steering the helm. They celebrated their 2nd anniversary at Eagle House recently with a day of creative fun and games with art workshops and “Bat the Rat”. No animals were harmed in the making of this party!