Carnival
This exhibition as 'carnival' because we see the same inactivity in people who go to carnivals in pursuit of pleasure, in the exhibition viewer as well. In carnival, it is not the viewer who drives the motorbike in the deadly well. On behalf of us the bike rider engages in the daring feat of riding. The viewer is inactive. Jokers show us how to enjoy the different shows in the carnival. We don't have to laugh. They themselves laugh on behalf of us. We have assigned the act of us enjoying, to be done by another. We see this in today's artworks too. When it is difficult for the artwork to provide enjoyment or satisfaction, the artist has become a speaker in social media like a joker in a carnival, supplying enjoyment. To reflect these characteristics of our society it have named this exhibition Carnival.

Global capitalism has entered our lives, and complex society is being created. Therefore, the materialistic culture is strongly connected to the individual's life. Amazing goods as well as consumption patterns have given our lives a comfort. Not being able to understand this complex consumer culture which brings comfort, has caused many socio-economic problems. Nevertheless, because we really like to embrace new products and goods, we have accepted this social system without any problem, raising no questions. We are being such consumers, our memories as well as our social connections have become ephemeral, or short lived. And we do not come together to do voluntary social work; that has disappeared. In such a world where memories and social connections are short- lived, people do think similar to making tattoos, to make permanent memories in a kind of a synthetic way. At present, we have lost the ideal human we want. Instead, a human that is only perusing pleasure has been created. Most people live in a meaningless, shallow pleasure created by themselves. Take for example the connection between people, and the television and social media. It is not useful for the common good or the society. Therefore, in this era, deep, strong social connections are hard to find. But on TV Screens and the social media such ideal connections do exist, and these connections are virtual and not real. They create pleasure for humans. But the social media is a space where people go behind the pleasures individually, not together. These media have given us the facility to assign the satisfying of our pleasures to someone or something else in a virtual or an abstract way. For example, instead of finding a sexual partner these have directed us to watch a blue film to satisfy sexual desires. Today, when a comedy film is watched, it is not the spectators that laugh, but the actors who act in the film. If not, recordings of audience laughter are inserted into the film itself. So, the job of the spectator laughing is assigned to the TV itself. This has created an unsatisfied, inactive individual. Today, people use social media to express their political opinions as well. This has displaced the real ideological confrontations and had taken the individual's responsibilities and duties into a virtual world. We name this exhibition as 'carnival' because we see the same inactivity in people who go to carnivals in pursuit of pleasure, in the exhibition viewer as well. In carnival, it is not the viewer who drives the motorbike in the deadly well. On behalf of us the bike rider engages in the daring feat of riding. The viewer is inactive. Jokers show us how to enjoy the different shows in the carnival. We don't have to laugh. They themselves laugh on behalf of us. We have assigned the act of us enjoying, to be done by another. We see this in today's artworks too. When it is difficult for the artwork to provide enjoyment or satisfaction, the artist has become a speaker in social media like a joker in a carnival, supplying enjoyment. To reflect these characteristics of our society today, we, Art Eon have named exhibition Carnival.

HARSHANA KUMARASIRI
Visual Artist
In building this artwork, all concepts and content created by society about polyethene have been discarded and polyethene's physical characteristics has been brought into a structure of artistic language. The connection of the contemporary human with polyethene as well as my wow reaction have created the context for this artwork. Polythene is lightweight and transparent. In this work meaning is created not by the content of the artwork, but by the structure and the process.

TERAN INDIKA
Visual Artist
Today, are there art lovers, or artists? No. There is only good consumers. In this capitalistic system where consumer goods are significant, artistic approaches are not generated in the society. "Fragile", "keep in a dry place" are the kind of valuable advice we get today. We can prevent consumer goods being broken. In contrast, our insides are so fragile, and they break easily and creates tensions. Nevertheless, we are good consumers. We buy goods standing in lines. And with hyper consumerism, our recent memories fade away quickly, broken into fragments. Historic events that were not close to us are inscribed as romantic memories in us by social media and the television screen. That has made social connections even more cynical. I have brought these feelings generated in me in such a context, onto the canvas.
