Performance: KUWENI DIAS MENDIS

Drop into The Condensery anytime on Saturday 17 October (10am – 4pm) to witness artist Kuweni Dias Mendis activate her exhibition through a special performance. 

The performance in Pulse of Place unfolds as a six-hour durational ritual of body, movement and drawing. Starting at the entrance to the gallery at 10am, Artist Kuweni will initiate the performance through a cleansing with incense, kumkum and mantra while surrounded by pahan (oil lamps), flowers and bulath (betel leaves), before carrying these ritual materials across the gallery threshold.

Within the space, watch the creation of a new large artwork. Through repetition, gesture, touch and movement, Kuweni will first create a ground of raw marks. Upon this ground, Kuweni will precisely draw a Vashi yantra (sacred diagram). The completed yantra remains in the gallery as a trace of the ritual: a drawing shaped not only by the hand, but by the body, its movements and its relationship to place. 

Attending the performance is free and viewers are invited to stay for a long as they like. Viewers are welcome to experience the exhibitions on display and create their own pigment drawing work in The Condensery’s Creation Station during their visit.  

IMAGE: KUWENI DIAS MENDIS, PULSE OF PLACE, 2026. STILL OF DIGITAL VIDEO.