Colomboscope 2026, an invitation to move through Colombo differently
Colomboscope is back! The multi-disciplinary arts festival returns from January 21 to 31, unfolding across Colombo with an expansive programme of exhibitions, performances, screenings, workshops and conversations.
Titled ‘Rhythm Alliances’, this edition of the festival tunes into rhythm as a connective force, tracing how sound, movement, memory and ritual travel across bodies, geographies, and histories. Over eleven days, the city will become an active listening field, animated by artists, musicians, filmmakers, dancers and thinkers from Sri Lanka and across the world
The programme brings together live performances, curated walks, listening sessions, artist encounters, film screenings, and hands-on workshops that invite audiences into practices of deep listening and collective making. From experimental sound works and embodied performances to inter-generational dance, climate-responsive projects, and public processions, ‘Rhythm Alliances’ moves between intimate gatherings and large-scale interventions, highlighting collaboration, exchange and shared presence.
Journalist and DJ Attiyah Khan from Cape Town. Pic by Jacob Mawela
Barefoot Gallery, Colpetty Town House, Radicle Gallery, the Rio Complex, and Soul Studio serve as the primary exhibition and event spaces. Each site offers a distinct atmosphere, from gallery-based encounters and domestic-scale installations to performances staged within semi-abandoned or reimagined architectural settings. Complementing these are programme-specific venues, including Musicmatters, Liberty by Scope Cinemas, CoCA Symbiosis, and Kamatha at BMICH, which will host concerts, listening rooms, workshops and film screenings.
A central presence this year is Arka Kinari, the floating cultural platform docked at Port City, which will host performances, workshops and sustainability laboratories that reflect on life at sea, climate futures and alternative modes of living. On the final day, extending beyond enclosed spaces, the festival will culminate in a city-wide sound procession reclaiming public space through collective rhythm and celebration.
All exhibitions and most events are free and open to the public, with selected programmes requiring prior registration due to limited capacity.
Colomboscope 2026 offers an invitation to move through Colombo differently – to listen closely and experience how echoes gather and transform as they pass through people, places and time.
The full programme for the festival is available at www.colomboscope.lk/rhythm-alliances
A work by Josèfa. Pic by Ivan Erofeev
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