Looking for a new pair of shoes? You’ve come to the right place. Tlejourn, an ocean-friendly brand of footwear, has unveiled creative new products made from waste recycled from the ocean.
Before and after. Nattapong shows his work, an old rubber flip-flop he found at a beach, left; and a new sandal after a complete makeover, right.
Tlejourn is the brainchild of Dr. Nattapong Nithi-Uthai of the Rubber Tech and Polymer Science Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, Prince of Songkhla University at Pattani. He’s co-founder of Trash Hero Pattani, an active environmental group in southern Thailand.
Trash Hero Pattani is the spearhead of a program that collects waste materials washing onto beaches every Wednesday. A lot happens from there. First, marine trash is separated into two categories. Then, non-recyclable items are put through the proper channels, while rubber parts from old shoes, boat fenders and side protectors are converted into reusable raw materials. The recycling process includes reducing them to fine particles and putting them through a heated press to make rubber mats. They become the raw material from which Tlejourne sandals and other products are made.
Dr. Nattapong Nithi-Uthai (left) and Dr. Singh Intrachooto (right) collect pieces of waste on a beach. Photo: Facebook Singh IntrachootoPieces of ocean waste are pulverized, mixed, and put through a heated press to make rubber mats, the first step in the recycling process.Recycled rubber mats from a heated press on their way to the assembly line.Recycled rubber mats are cut using die cutting tools, a step in the manufacturing process that’s passed on to cottage industries in the local community of Pattani.
Besides its in-house footwear industry, Tlejourn also supplies reusable raw materials to leading manufacturers, among them the Thai-American designer Pring Paris. Tlejourn footwear products are available at Soda, one of Thailand’s well-known fashion houses.
The brand also offers women’s shoes by means of co-branding with the designer group Muzina of Japan. Known as Muzina x Tlejourn, their joint products recently made its world debut in a fashion show that was part of the annual Tokyo Fashion Week. Tlejourn is collaborating with the shoe manufacturer Nanyang to offer the Khya brand of sandals made from recycled ocean waste and materials left over from the industry.
Ladies slippers with recycled rubber sole and fluffy hair from the Thai-American designer Pring Paris. Photo: PressA Muzina x Tlejourn joint product makes it world debut at the Tokyo Fashion Week. Photo: PressColorful Khya flip-flops, a joint product from Tlejourn and the leading footwear manufacturer Nanyang. The sole is a mix of recycled rubber and materials left over from the industry.Designed for everyday wear, Tlejourn casuals are made by co-branding with local footwear manufacturers.
On the future of the natural environment, Dr. Nattapong said: “We know that in the next three decades, ocean trash could be more numerous than marine life. In three months, Trash Hero Thailand volunteers collect more than 80 tons of trash washing onto beaches, of which about 8 tons are old shoes and other footwear that people have discarded.
“In the last four years we sold more than a hundred thousand shoes. As a result of that, a half of ocean trash have disappeared from local area beaches. but heaps of refuse remained. It’s an almost incredible tale of a waste crisis. Everything is on a grand scale. By making Tlejourn footwear out of recycled ocean waste, we join other environmental groups in a wider effort to rid the ocean of discarded materials. It’s a formidable challenge. Everyone can chip in to make the problem go away, and we are campaigning to turn those heaps of ocean waste into creative products, not just shoes.”
Tlejourn founder, Dr. Nattapong Nithi-Uthai of the Rubber Tech and Polymer Science Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, Prince of Songkhla University at Pattani.Flip-flops and keychains in lively colors are made from recycled ocean debris.
Needless to say Tlejourn has turned crisis into opportunity. As countries in the ASEAN membership struggle to cut down waterborne debris, each and every one of us must do our share of the joint campaign. Let’s make the sea beautiful again.
A pair of Tlejourn sandals with recycled rubber sole. Photo: PressTrash Hero Thailand volunteers gather for a good cause. Photo: Trash Hero Thailand
Once you get to know it better, you will find Pattani is really quite interesting. A design week aptly named “Pattani Decoded” took place from 29 August to 1 September 2019. Living ASEAN is on location to file this report.
“Pattani Decoded” is the perfect example of an esprit de corps among the city’s handpicked architects, designers and people in the community. It celebrates the richness of diverse cultural heritage and history that gives this southern town its character.
The show transforms the streets of Pattani into an outdoor gallery featuring design and architectural masterpieces. They rekindle old memories from the time of King Rama III to the Japanese invasion of Thailand during World War II and important events in recent history. The cool places to visit are on Pattanipirom, Anoaru, and Ruedi raods in Pattani Old Town, a melting pot where peoples of Thai, Chinese, and Malay descent are mixed together.
The Old Town that’s the historic heart of Pattani is alive and well today. People use their artistic abilities and creativity to liven up buildings and improve their neighborhoods. They give locals and tourists hope for the future. Favorite things to do include a journey on foot through the Old Town, a boat ride on the Pattani River, and a visit to the official residence of the first governor of Pattani.
The highlight event is an exhibition by a group called “Pattani Art Space”. Meantime, art enthusiasts have the opportunity of meeting up with luminaries such as Dr. Singh Intrachooto, Boonserm Premthada, and Saran Yen Panya. More fun events include an architectural design competition, Chef Table demos by famous restaurants, retail businesses, live music as well as workshops on shoemaking from waste materials by Tlejourn, Lepus fabric making by Benjametha, and discussions on great works of literature.
Why called it “Pattani Decoded”? Rachit Radenahmad, leader of the organizer group “Melayu Living”, replied: “We want locals to know that design is something close at hand, something within their reach. Meantime, this land abounds with good things. Going forward, people need to mix design with their beautiful cultural heritage. In so doing, they convert coded messages into intelligible language.
“We manage to get locals to participate in showcasing their homes or other places of residence. People are energized by the idea, and the show draws the biggest response both in Pattani and nearby provinces. We have so many good things here that people sometimes take for granted. The region may be known for violence, but art is always in the heart of everyone. That’s the message we are sending to the world outside.”
By all accounts it’s a well-thought-out design festival despite certain limitations. The show is giving talented architects, designers and students a chance to showcase the beauty, charm and adventure of Pattani to the world outside. At the end of the day, it’s about getting people to change their point of view, visit the historic southern town, and come away impressed.
The Bangkok Design Week that ended February 3 was a confluence of many great ideas, among them products of a collaboration between two homegrown designer groups, Thinkk Studio, and Studio 150. Their waste recycling ideas shone with excitement at a show called “City Materials”.
/// Thailand ///
A variety of interlacing designs made from strips of lottery paper waste.Thailand lottery tickets
The seat of government of Thailand, Bangkok is renowned for being a regional trade and economic hub, as well as home to many established and up-and-coming designers. Much of the large, densely populated city is not covered with forest. Nor does it have a wonderful richness of industrial materials. But, do you know this?
Every fifteen days, the number of lottery tickets and packaging material printed in Bangkok is enough to cover 173 football fields. Of that amount, a whopping 98.6% accounted for the tickets that didn’t win. Not only that, lottery tickets are printed on special grade, water-repellent paper that doesn’t break down easily. All things considered, that’s a whale of a job for paper recyclability.
A spinning toy for kids, the top, is made of a bundle of lottery paper strip.
Where most would see useless waste materials, the two designer groups see endless possibilities. Thinkk Studio creatives, in association with their design peers at Studio 150, have researched and experimented with lottery paper waste for some time. They succeeded in recycling it in ways that could answer specific design, art and craft and industrial needs in future.
“City Materials” showcased five materials the joint team has recycled from wood chips, plastic bags, incense sticks and ashes, coffee grounds, and discarded building supplies sold for scrap. For a glimpse into their design ideas.
A collection of papier-mache constructed out of QR Code sections of the lottery tickets. The malleable mixture, three-dimensional object becomes hard when dry.
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DEMARK AWARD 2018 / DESIGN EXCELLENCE AWARDPICTURES THAT TELL STORIES: BANGKOK ART BIENNALE 2018 (PHOTO ESSAY)IN NATURE’S PEACEFUL EMBRACE
Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 has now finished up. Here we’ll look back at some historic images illustrating what was behind the scenes of this important page of Thailand’s contemporary art world, which brought many world-class artists – Marina Abramović, Yayoi Kusama, Choi Jeong Hwa, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and many others – to exhibit at 20 landmark locations in Bangkok.
This is Tape Bangkok 2018, or “Adhesive Tape Tunnel,” by Numen/For Use Collective Design. The artists had a foreign team work closely with the Thai team to teach installation methodology during setup on the 7 th floor of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.
Zero, an 8.2-meter-tall installation art sculpture by Elmgreen & Dragset, required skilled Thai workmen using a crane to lift it into position in front of the East Asiatic Building.
Our team found that three pieces especially grabbed the public eye at Bangkok Art Biennale 2018. The “mother goddess of polka dots,” Artist Yayoi Kusama, sent a foreign work team to closely supervise the highly complex installation of her pieces after their arrival from Japan. The FAVForward/Lifestyle website in the Amarin Group, which monitored the installation, said, “The 14 Pumpkin balloons took a lot of days to set up, with meticulous attention to every detail by the Japanese team. Setting up “Inflatable Pumpkins Balloons” wasn’t simple: it required stringing electric lines and constructing beams and internal
supports to get the pumpkins to float high above.
I Carry On Living With The Pumpkins (Silver Pumpkin and Red Pumpkin), two large and heavy works composed of inflexible pieces with lots of angles, had a hard time making it through the door. It took the staff a big chunk of time, and they told us that putting it all together was no easy thing.
Your Dog, the work of Yoshitomo Nara, another Japanese artist, at BAB Box @One Bangkok, was in a single piece and didn’t involve difficult transportation or setup. The installation team simply lifted the 4.5-meter puppy, and in the clip below you can see the setup procedure.
Turkish female artist Canan’s Animal Kingdom involved installation of dozens of animals, large and small, at BAB Box @ One Bangkok. This animal kingdom took up nearly 10 square meters and was as tall as the 2-storey building itself. Installation required a work team to build scaffolding to fit.
The work 2562++, by Tay (Patipat Chaiwitesh), was exhibited at the East Asiatic Building. It’s full of fun, but that is blended with biting satire. The backstory here, Patipat tells us, is that the animals displayed here were all stuffed. He himself found them all in the market (not alive at that point, of course), and worked with lab experts at the Veterinary Department of Chiang Mai University to stuff them, preserving shapes and eliminating decay. After that procedure, Patipat left the lab and continued working on them in ways you can see in the video below.
On its very first day, Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 became an important part of world-class contemporary art history, with many stories of its own to tell. Today Living ASEAN will show you what this means, telling stories through pictures. Sometimes many written words can’t express the spirit of a thing as well as a single picture.
19 September 2018 – Minister of Tourism and Sport Weerasak Kovasurat gives opening remarks for Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 at BAB Box @ One Bangkok. The glass walls in back reflects the shadow of Happy Happy Project: Please Love Me 1, a work of synthetic fabric in the shape of a flying pig, 3.5 x 5 meters, by Choi Jeong Hwa | Photo: Soopakorn Srisakul
23 October 2018 – Marina Abramović, one of the most influential artists in the world of contemporary art, conducts her first full-length symposium in Thailand at Siam Pavalai Royal Grand Theater in Siam Paragon before more than 2,000 Thai and foreign audience members | Photo: Phukarin Phuangthong
8 November 2018 – A tour group from Korea and their translator, visiting The State of Suffering (Mental Therapy), an installation art piece by Ajarn Sunanta Phasomwong at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, serving as a case study showing how Thailand can use a contemporary art festival in a concrete way to promote tourism. | Photo: SinghanartNakpongphun
8 September 2018 – Ajarn Lakhana Khunawichayanon, former director of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, speaking informally with participants in the 16th BAB Talk seminar at Warehouse 30 on the topic “Beyond Bliss: Can Art Really Build Happiness?” | Photo: SinghanartNakpongphun
13 November 2018 – Inflatable sculpture Happy Happy Project:About being irritated, by Choi Jeong Hwa, an 8-meter-tall robot lying down between buildings in the heart of the city. Normally this can only be seen in a Japanese superhero film, but here visitors see the real thing close up, in a plaza connecting Siam Center and Siam Discovery. | Photo: SinghanartNakpongphun
17 October 2018 – Diluvium by Lee Bul, an installation art piece of silver light-reflecting tape set up in the 2nd floor of the East Asiatic Building. The picture was taken using double exposure to overlay three separate corners of this work. | Photo: SinghanartNakpongphun
24 November 2018 – Two Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 artists meeting without an appointment: Michael Elmgreen, creator of Zero – at the East Asiatic Building –came as a visitor only to become a special guest participant in Pichet Klunchun’s Bogus Séance Version Bangkok4.0, which deals with a mix of cultures and communication without words, national borders, or languages, through something known as “art.” | Photo: SinghanartNakpongphun
19 November 2018 – The venue of Geometry of Lamentation by performance artist Jihyun Youn, one of 8 artists from the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) who did continuous live performances eight hours a day for 3 weeks running from October 19th – November 11th, 2018 on the 8th floor of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. At first the room is white, as Jihyun Youn communicates sadness and the emotional complexity of a woman unable to use the spoken word. But then red colors are splashed all over the room throughout the performance. Even after the performance is long over, the venue itself speaks to visitors. | Photo: SinghanartNakpongphun
10 November 2018 – Phaptawan Suwannakudt and Jitsing Somboon during a special lecture (a TV program with Tiwaporn Thetsatit) outdoors in nature at the Crocodile Pond, Wat Pho, near where Phaptawan’s work is displayed. Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 has created happiness throughout Bangkok with about 200 art pieces in various locations – department stores, old buildings, or important Thai temples. | Photo: SinghanartNakpongphun
18 November 2018 – The grand old East Asiatic Building
In eventide, bathed in joy and light at the 20thBAB Talk half seminar, half very- special-pool-party with the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, who have a lot of world-class works behind them. | Methee Samantong, Post Process, Photo: Singhanart Nakpongphun
20 November 2018 – Taweesak Molsawat, in a live performance of Mis/placed: The Existing of Non-Existence on the architectural piece Moving System Pavilion by Vira Inpuntung and Pich Poshyananda, assembled by Bangkok Art Biennale and the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage. Here we see how beautifully architectural design and live performance can support each other. Taweesak has done other architecture-based performances as well, with installation art by Bea Vithayathawornwong of Beautbureau and Savinee Buranasilapin and Tom Dannecker of Thingsmatter. November 20-25, 2018 at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. | Photo: Singhanart Nakpongphun
26 October 2018 – BAB Workshop #2: Teaching printmaking at Baan Lae Suan Fair “Massclusive 2018,” with Ajarn Chakri Kongkaew, whose prints of H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej were distributed the previous year at Baan Lae Suan Fair 2017. Here you see him sharing his knowledge at “BAB Workshop #1” in the most recent Midyear Fair. We must express our thanks for all the support for such great activities from Thai Beverage, Pcl. and companies in the Amarin network, as well as the Ardel Gallery Of Modern Art and the Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation, who have jointly organized such wonderful, creative artistic activities as we see here, without any participant fees charged! | Photo: Sitthisak Namkham
A cup of tea in the afternoon is an excuse to share great thoughts with like-minded friends. Even better if the elixir of life is served fresh while live performance art is happening in real time. And right before your eyes, you fall in love with the show. It just goes to show the close-knit relationship between two artistic disciplines – visual arts and culinary talents.
“Knit” 2018, a performance art show visualizing hardships women face in society
Kawita Vatanajyankur, one of six must-see artists in the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, is renowned for using video art to raise concerns about major issues in society and the exploitation of women, more specifically women’s rights abuse. The young homegrown artist calls attention to the problems by putting her body through various situations in the workplace that involve real pain and suffering.
Through painstaking attention to detail, Kawita sends a strong message that women deserve respect for doing backbreaking jobs in society. Her works characterized by vivid colors portray a woman as part of weaving machines, dyeing processes in the textile industry, and unending house work that includes cooking, cleaning and laundry. Over time, the power of enduring unpleasant situations crystalizes into a style that’s her signature as we know it.
Like a shuttle on the loom, the artist puts her body in an imaginary knitting machine to portray real pain and suffering that women face in society.
Kawita Vatanajyankur, a rising star on Thailand’s thriving art scene, gave a live performance at an afternoon tea event hosted by the Peninsula Hotel Bangkok on January 11, 2019. Aptly named “Knit”, the show turned out to be quite a departure from her previous performances both in form and content. Only this time it focused on the power of visual storytelling as a means of highlighting hardship, solitude and experience that played a role in shaping people’s lives.
The artist likened human life experience to interlocking loops of wool or yarn knitted together to form an item of clothing. The stage on which she performed was bordered by 11 poles depicting an imaginary machine used in making knitted garments. Spun thread in bright red color twisted and wound around her evoked memories of a shuttle being thrown back and forth in the course of textile weaving. Only this time the shuttle was a human being – the artist herself.
Reports had it that the artist had gone through countless rehearsals to bring the show to perfection. The practice involved strenuous work, physical and mental fatigue, and many long hours. In the end, the audience responded with a big round of applause for the artistic talent, energy and strength that she displayed in the show that went on 60minutes.
Kawita makes art while afternoon tea is served at the Peninsula Bangkok.The Knit Afternoon Tea menu is made exclusively for the show at the Peninsula Bangkok
Nothing compares to an hour reserved for afternoon tea. With a cup of tea in their hands, audience members enjoy the best of both worlds – a tea culture that looks aesthetically pleasing, and an art show that’s impressive, powerful and thought provoking.
Pastry chef Nicolas Pelloie has every reason to be very pleased. | Photo courtesy of the Peninsula BangkokExecutive Chef Stefan Leitner, the face of leadership at the Peninsula Bangkok. | Photo: Singhanart Nakpongphun
Sharing his experience, the Peninsula’s Executive Chef Stefan Leitner said, “To get the inspiration that we needed in the course of designing the menu for the show, our team of chefs spent some of their time each day looking at rolls of yarn and stage props for weeks. It just goes to show that well thought-out themed menus can go hand in hand with visual arts shows, which include the live performance that’s happening today. The result is a perfect marriage of two artistic disciplines.”
Members of the audience are able to experience the performance up-close. The event is recorded on videotape and the guests who attend the Afternoon Tea all become actors and actresses for the day. Footage of the performance will be used in a video art production for future shows abroad. In the end, the show becomes a stage, and everyone plays a role, this writer included.
The artist said in a post-performance interview, “I want societies to appreciate the roles that women play especially in the textile industry, in which women account for between 80 and 85 percent of the sector’s workforce worldwide. When we buy an item of clothing, oftentimes we think of the brand name and machinery that goes into making it look good. We hardly ever think of the little people who work on the production line. The exploitation of women and girls must end. I want societies to turn their attention to the problem. My message is that everyone is worthy of being treated fairly, the little people included.”
The 2018 Bangkok Art Biennale’s CEO and Artistic Director Dr. Apinan Poshyananda addresses honor guests at the end of the “Knit” live performance by artist Kawita Vatanajyankur.
Speaking to honor guests at the end of the show, the Bangkok Art Biennale’s CEO and Artistic Director Dr. Apinan Poshyananda said: “I can feel for her. It’s hard work. And it just goes to prove the artist’s perseverance with, and commitment to, a purpose and everything she has stood for in a fight against gender inequality. It tires me out to watch Kawita try with everything she has, her hands, her feet, even her mouth. The artist puts her body through hardships and pain twisting and winding thread around the 11 poles that symbolize the machine used in making knitted garments. In a way, it reminds us of many challenges that we must overcome in our work life.”
“Knit” is the latest edition of Kawita’s live performance series known as “Performing Textiles”. The series also includes 4 video art productions, all of which are on show at the East Asiatic Building now until February 3, 2019. They are the following:
“Dye”, a live performance by Kawita Vatanajyankur | Photo courtesy of the artist“The Spinning Wheel”, a live performance by Kawita Vatanajyankur | Photo courtesy of the artist“Shuttle”, a live performance by Kawita Vatanajyankur | Photo courtesy of the artist“Untangled”, a live performance by Kawita Vatanajyankur | Photo courtesy of the artist
“Knit” has been dubbed one of the must-see art exhibits as part of the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018. The live performance by artist Kawita Vatanajyankur is held in the Lobby of the Peninsula Hotel Bangkok every Saturday in January from 1530 to 1630 hours. The show runs until Saturday February 2, 2019. Everyone is invited, and it’s free. But if you prefer to watch the show and enjoy the pleasure of Afternoon Tea service at the same time, the ticket is 1,400++ Baht for two persons. The Peninsula Hotel Bangkok’s Afternoon Tea service is in such high demands that reservations are required. To make a reservation, the number to call is 02 020 2888 or by email at diningpbk@peninsula.com.
Apart from the Peninsula Hotel Bangkok, amazing works of art by Kavita Vatanajyankur are also on show at the Central World Shopping Center, the Emquartier Mall, the Theatre of Indulgence, and the East Asiatic Building now until February 3, 2019
A large crowd of art lovers queued up to get into Siam Pavalai, the Royal Grand Theater at Siam Paragon. Like everyone else, I had my ticket to the event ready for inspection. I could sense the atmosphere was filled with enthusiasm and energy. People were excited about the prospect of a vis-à-vis with Marina Abramovic, the icon of live performance art and living legend. Dubbed one of the most influential personalities to date, the 72-year-old Serbian artist and writer apparently was doing extremely well.
Inside, the sound of Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy brought the Royal Grand Theater to life. As the beautiful piano music played, a slide show evoked the images of museumgoers taking it in turns to sit across the table from Marina Abramovic and look her in the eye. The artist was still and silent for the duration of the marathon live performance. The show brought a series of flashbacks of “Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present”, her solo exhibition hosted by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York back in 2010.
Taking a quick look around, I saw people both local and foreign gradually being ushered to their seats while dimming lights signaled that something was about to happen. Clair de Lune, French for moonlight, seemed quieter now setting the scene for the show.
Lights were back on as Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Chair and Artistic Director of the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, appeared on stage to deliver a speech making the opening of the show. He said the event coincided with one of the most important public holidays on Thailand’s calendar.
October 23, known as King Chulalongkorn Day, is observed nationwide in loving memories of the fifth monarch of the House of Chakri, who passed in 1910. The day also remembers his first official visit to Europe that took place 121 years ago. It was with mixed emotions knowing the journey also took him to Venice, Italy back in the day. Nowadays the “City of Canals” is home to one of the most celebrated art destinations in the world. La Biennale di Venezia, or the Venice Biennale, was founded in 1895 and have since become the model for other shows worldwide.
Out in the streets, it was raining heavily, but inside the Royal Grand Theater was filled to capacity to the point extra seats had to be provided to accommodate larger-than-expected crowds of art lovers. The Kingdom’s inaugural art festival, known as the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, began on 19 October and would run until 3 February 2019. The period saw more than 200 masterpieces by 75 renowned artists both local and international being on display at 20 landmark destinations throughout the city.
No stranger to Thailand’s artists circle, Abramovic was a visiting lecturer at Chulalongkorn University back in 2000 and since then has become fascinated with Thai culture. She was among the first world famous artists to accept the invitation to partake in the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018. Abramovic began her art career in the early 1970’s in Belgrade, in what was then Yugoslavia. Active for nearly 50 years, she won the Golden Lion Award for Best Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale for her video installation titled “Balkan Baroque”.
The 2018 art festival in Bangkok offered the opportunity of experiencing the amazing works of Marina Abramovic, which included “Standing Structures for Human Use”, a live installation exhibit that looked into the power of silent communication and invited viewer participation. The other show, known as “Method”, was an experimental piece about the state of being present in time and space. It was presented by a team of artists from the Marina Abramovic Institute (MIA), which focused on durational works.
“Standing Structures for Human Use” is a collection of five wood poles in the upright position and adorned with crystals, each one unique in its own special way. Intended for viewers to practice meditation, the live installation is happening daily at BAB Box @ One Bangkok on Rama V Road now until February 3, 2109.
The artist said that a lot of work had gone into the making of the exhibit. There was a time she traveled as far away as Brazil to search out crystals that would be the most suitable for a show, in which she wanted viewers to participate. She could still recall many long hours sleeping on a bench inside a remote Brazilian mine. She searched among the rocks looking for clear minerals believed to have healing powers. The rest of the time was spent searching out new ideas for future art making. In retrospect, the long, arduous travel into the woods has had far-reaching effects on her art. It was a spiritual journey that went beyond traveling to work.
The fun started here. The moment Marina Abramovic entered the stage, she asked people in the audience to close their eyes and breathe in and out normally in sync with the rhythm she was giving. After 12 times, she told everyone to slowly open their eyes. Like a wow moment, it felt like the beginning of a new day, one that culminated in a rendezvous with a celebrity artist.
“Welcome to the present,” said the artist. A succinct opening remark directed the audience attention to something like we’ve got far better things to do than dwell in the past. Neither would we think about the future still to come. Marina Abramovic proceeded to outline three activities she wanted to talk about in that evening conversation. As she spoke, eight young performers who had undergone training with MAI appeared on stage. Like a scene of walking meditation, they lined up one after another behind her and began treading very slowly without making a sound. And it went on for the duration of her talk.
Abramovic speaks as young performers tread the stage slowly and quietly behind her.
Abramovic said the eight performers had successfully completed training at an MAI workshop aimed at getting their minds ready for show. Like a long, arduous journey, they gave live performances eight hours daily and the exhibit continued for three weeks at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center (BAAC). It began on 19 October and ended on 11 November as part of the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018. From a wide field of hundreds of applicants, Abramovic handpicked only eight, among them Thai performance artist Thavisak Moolasawat.
The crux of the matter was a workshop on performance and material art, which the artist referred to as “Cleaning the House”. During training, participants went through different phases of intense activity. Some exercises involved the practice of walking very slowly that could go on for several hours. The focus was on breathing, motion, stillness and concentration of the mind, a method developed over several decades to prepare a select group of performers for long durational art exhibits.
Performance art is an exhibit presented to an audience within a fine art context. It can be performed live or shown via media. Abramovi said durational performances required a lot of physical and mental strengths and willpower to succeed. She said performance art, which could be art of any discipline, was different from acting or playing parts in stage or other productions, where actors and actresses assumed a different persona or put on a disguise. Quite the contrary, performance art was about living life and being who you were and what you stood for. A durational art performer was not performing a fictional role in any stage or screen production. The Cleaning the House workshop is about resetting the body, the fresh-and-blood living being, and preparing the mind to face the challenges in life.
Abramovic explains the idea behind the Cleaning the House Workshop.
The slow walking exercise soon changed to stillness where performers paired up and looked each other in the face. It was soundless, motionless and without response of any kind. They tried not to blink, because any shutting and opening of the eyes could result in losing a focus on the matter at hand. The show was modelled on a previous performance by Abramovic titled “The Artist is Present”, which was hosted by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York in 2010.
The work of a lifetime
Then came the moment of Abramovic’s work of a lifetime. A public declaration of her life and works appeared on the screen behind her. The artist said the formal announcement and listing of works she has performed from the past to the present has meant a lot to her. The same applied to any career, whether it be singer, songwriter, or authors and whatnots. Her life manifesto just went to show who she was and what she believed in.
After asking the performers to change from looking each other in the face to standing still with their eyes closed, Abramovic began reading her life manifesto clearly and slowly one item at a time. Some items were repeated many times over, especially ones that said an artist shouldn’t behave like a star, and that depression had no benefit for anyone pursuing an art career.
There was a big round of applause when she said: “Never should an artist fall in love with another artist.” She was speaking from life experience, subtly alluding to a romantic relationship with Uwe Laysiepen, also known as Ulay, her German partner and artistic collaborator. It was one of the most meaningful aspects of life and sources of deep fulfilment and companionship that had strong influence on her art during the 1980’s.
Abramovic reading her life manifesto
The meeting concluded with a Q&A session, in which the artist invited people to ask about anything. Sure enough, there were a lot of questions from members of the audience, both local and international. One of them harked back to a witty remark Abramovic had made earlier in the show, which said: “Never should an artist fall in love with another artist?”
To which, she answered from experience that apparently artists tended to have a lot in common. Their spirits and natural instinctive states of mind tended to be too similar. It was especially good from the get-go. Two artists could be ideally suited to each other, but rarely did it translate into living life together happily ever after. Exceptions were few and far in between. This writer thought the same applied to relationships in other professions, too. Don’t you think? Click this link to share your thoughts with us.
Without a doubt, Abramovic has been held in high esteem the world over. The long spiritual journey to respect and admiration must have taught her something. This writer finally got around to asking her what was it that had the most influence on her art.
This writer stands up for vis-à-vis with Marina Abramovic.
Abramovic answered: “It was Rhythm 0.” She was referring to a solo live performance she staged at age 23. She could still recall it was one of the most challenging performances in her lifetime as artist. It was a test of the limits of the relationship between performer and audience. Between the artist and members of the audience, there were 72 objects that she put on the table. People were allowed to use any one of them in any way they chose, among them a rose, a feather, honey, scissors, a knife, even a pistol loaded with one bullet. The performance last six hours, during which her body sustained several injuries that brought out the dark side of human nature. Needless to say she felt really violated. Since then, Abramovic has spent more than four decades researching and developing spiritual and material art as tools to promote the positive traits of humankind.
The inaugural art festival saw the icon of live performances work non-stop for more than three weeks in Thailand, the longest visit she has ever made to a country she has grown fondest of.
The Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 began on 19 October and runs until 3 February 2019. There are 20 locations city-wide that play host to more than 200 masterpieces from all disciplines. In all, 75 artists from 34 countries across the globe are taking part in a joint effort to turn Bangkok into one of the world’s most sought-after art destinations.
The moment this writer has been waiting for, the opportunity of meeting the artist up-close and picking up a book with her autograph on it. | Photo courtesy of the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018This writer’s most treasured possession
This writer told Marina Abramovic that he wanted more than just an autograph. He would really appreciate an inspiration, especially to do something creative. And the artist scribbled something resembling two mathematical expressions being equal. This writer then asked her what she meant by it. With a smile, she answered in a clever and amusing way: “Infinity plus infinity, then on one knows the answer.” Aha! I’ve got it.
Sometimes changing our perspective crystallizes our vision so that what we’re looking at appears entirely new and different. This definitely applies to certain exhibits at Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 international festival of contemporary art: there are quite a few you might want to visit, experience, and drink in not just during the day, but much later, at night. Here we’ve collected some of those you might want to spend some quality evening time with, and we’d like to pass on these suggestions to the people of Living ASEAN.
Let’s start in the heart of Bangkok with the SiamDistrict, which could be considered the trade center of the nation. There at night you can see art works from the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 international festival of contemporary art at either Central World shopping mall or the real estate development One Bangkok. These locations are neither terribly close to each other nor very far apart.
Name: 14 Pumpkins
Artist/Nationality: Yayoi Kusama (Japan)
On display at: Central World
In any discussion of outstanding contemporary artists it would be surprising if the name Yayoi Kusama were not mentioned. She is considered the “mother of polka dot art,” creating paintings, sculptures, installation art, and movies based on innovative arrangements of those quirky round spots.
Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 features numerous of her latest works, including 14 Pumpkins, giant polka dot pumpkin . . . sculptures, is that what they are? In any case, they are on display at Central World and have created an exciting transformation of the mall interior with a truly spectacular piece of pop art.
Name:Happy Happy Project: Fruit Tree
Artist/Nationality: Choi Jeong Hwa (South Korea)
On display at: Central Embassy
Happy Happy Project: Fruit Tree is a fantastic work by Choi Jeong Hwa, a leading contemporary artist from Korea. All his creations are inspired by materials encountered in daily life that are recycled and arranged to tell their stories in fascinating ways.
The Happy Happy Project is a good representation of Choi’s approach. These pieces explore the world of happiness, which is actually a very transitory and contradictory realm within each of us, and the project is made up of art works created as large inflatables, such as Fruit Tree, a giant plant that can’t help but bring a smile to anyone who so much as gives it a brief glance.
Name: Happy Happy Project: Breathing Flower
Artist/Nationality: Choi Jeong Hwa (South Korea)
On display at: One Bangkok
Happy Happy Project: Breathing Flower is one of this project’s most interesting works. Somehow, viewers just can’t escape feeling a rush of happiness as they pass this giant inflated flower which moves on its own.
Name: Happy Happy Project: Love Me Pig
Artist/Nationality: Choi Jeong Hwa (South Korea)
On display at: One Bangkok
Love Me Pig is another work from Happy Happy Project that calls forth smiles from visitors. How could it not? An inflatable pig with giant wings! And so brightly colored, dominating its space in the One Bangkok hall as it waits for viewers to come admire it.
Name: Animal Kingdom
Artist/Nationality: Canan (Turkey)
On display at: One Bangkok
The artist Canan calls herself an activist for women’s rights. She believes in the power of social activism and uses the female body to communicate her work in mixed media, handicrafts, painting, video, and installation art.
Her latest, Animal Kingdom, is installation art based in Arab and Persian cosmological concepts, made from a blend of materials such as sequins, fabric, fibers, and interwoven string. It suggests a scene in the land of heaven, which is full of all kinds of mythological animals such as the phoenix, dragons, snakes, and demons (djinni), and reflects the artist’s personal sense of supernatural creatures.
Charoen Krung is another area which, despite its economic growth, still retains much of its historical identity and culture. This preservation is clearly visible in houses and other buildings you’ll find here, which makes this district a favorite of artists and art lovers.
Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 exhibitions you can see at night in this district are at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and the East Asia Building.
Name: Lost Dog
Artist/Nationality: Aurèle (France)
On display at: Mandarin Oriental
This is a sculpture by famous French artist Aurèle Ricard, who uses art to reflect on environmental problems that humans worldwide have brought on themselves. One of his recent major pieces is Lost Dog CO2, a huge dog made of pollution-reducing plants, designed to encourage awareness of increasingly occurring negative environmental effects produced by humanity’s own skills.
His very latest is Lost Dog, a more than 5.9-meter-tall sculpture standing tall by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, one of the treasures of Bangkok Art Biennale 2018. Here Aurèle suggests an animal seeking a path leading to happiness in the midst of a world made confused by humanity’s all-too-clever accomplishments.
Credit Pic: Singnat Nakphongphan
Name: Zero
Artist/Nationality: Elmgreen & Dragset (Germany)
On display at: The East Asiatic Building
Zero is a thought-provoking sculpture by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, a pair of artists known for their installation art techniques who have exhibited at festivals all over the world, including at the Venice, Berlin, and Gwangju Biennale exhibitions.
For their latest showing, at Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, the pair have a select space on the riverfront of the East Asiatic Building where you’ll find Zero, a stainless steel “swimming pool” outline 8 meters high. Its form resembles a zero and symbolizes a connection between Bangkok’s large waterway, the Chao Phraya River, and the artists’ homeland on the Nordic Sea.
Besides the spots we’ve mentioned, there are quite a few Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 exhibitions that have been placed in temples, as, for instance . . .
Name: Turtle Religion
Artist/Nationality: Krit Ngamsom (Thailand)
On display at: Wat Prayunwongsawat Worawihan
Turtle Religion is a mixed media sculpture by Krit Ngamsom, which may have sprung from childhood memories brought back by the artist with new twists and interpretations to pique interest in the ordinary world.
Turtle Religion is found at Khao Mo in Wat Prayunwongsawat Worawihan where a moat home to an abundance of turtles and catfish is echoed above by these steel turtles, each of which holds something different on its back, suggesting a unity in religious faiths and cultures which are mixed and blended into a single substance here.
“If today were your last day of life, what good would you leave in this world?” is the question posed by What Will You Leave Behind? This installation art is designed specifically for this place by Nino Suwannee. It consists of more than 100,000 tiny ceramic skull bones spread down on the walkway surrounding the temple’s main chedi. The concept is to make visitors experience it with the soles of their feet, giving them sudden insight into the fragility of life.
Across the Universe and Beyond brings back to life a principle which has been lost and forgotten, with a design of space and light urging the viewer stepping into the space to stand in contemplation of himself, as in a moment of persistence, impermanence, and emptiness, this art piece carries a reminder for us to be aware of being mere particles in a vast universe.
“If you just look and never touch it, the product suffers.” Most of us probably know this Thai proverb, but wouldn’t think it applied to the art we’ll see at the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 international festival of contemporary art. However, you might be surprised! You really should visit this multi-venue event. Walk around, drink in the atmosphere, and actually reach in to the core of the stories and inspiration the artists have given us with these works.
Tape Bangkok 2018 Artist: Numen For Use Design Collective Location:7th Floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
Have you ever been afraid of things you couldn’t see? If, at the end of the tunnel, there’s nothing but emptiness and you don’t know what’s in front of you, how can you dare go in? And if the tunnel is full of breakable things and you have to walk with the greatest care?
We’re taking you to Tape Bangkok 2018, a giant tape sculpture at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Attached from walls to floor, it is not only like a tunnel, but when you walk inside, it feels like a silk cocoon. Experiences of light, sound, touch, and smell give the visitor a sense of being on a journey of self-discovery and rebirth. The creator of this project, Numen For Use Design Collective, is a group of artists and designers made up of Sven Jonke, Christoph Katzler, and Nikola Radeljkovic, whose work often experiments with large spaces and small-scale materials such as adhesive tape, glass, or aluminum.
WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE BEHIND? Artist: Nino Sarabutra Location: Wat Prayoonwongsawat Worawihan
If today were the last day of your life, what good would you leave behind in this world? Most of us probably don’t have our lives completely planned out. If tomorrow were to be the last day of your life, what would you do? We expect that more than 90% of respondents would say they’d spend as much time as possible with loved ones. Would it occur to anyone that perhaps we should instead use every breath remaining to make a better world?
WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE BEHIND? is a scattering of more than 125,000 unglazed white ceramic skulls that pave a walkway around the temple’s main chedi. The pieces are of different sizes, transforming the space and giving it a fragility that moves people to step carefully, and with each step there are reminders of death, calling for mindfulness, as the rhythm of the walk encourages controlled breathing, and perhaps also thinking about how each of us can bring some good into the world each day .
Paths of Faith, 2018 Artist: Jising Somboon Location: Wat Phra Chetuphon Vimolmangklararm Rajwaramahaviharn
The name Jitsing has long been well known in fashion circles for the artist’s being different and tearing up old rules: in this respect his identity is reflected here in a work that mixes art, spirituality, and fashion design. Besides his fashion design work, Jitsing also does paintings and sculptures.
For Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) 2018 Jitsing has produced a piece entitled Paths of Faith (2018). This is a collection of white robes with the word “faith” in Thai, English, and Chinese embroidered on the back. There is a pocket sewn into the shirt to hold shoes so that removing them to enter the Reclining Buddha sanctuary they don’t have to be left haphazardly outside. The robes are set where visitors can wear them inside as they walk around the giant sleeping Buddha, feeling heavenly while hearing the sound of coins falling into a donation bowl. Paths of Faith (2018) is on exhibit for the full 4 months of the Festival, plenty of time to come take part in this expression of faith.
Standing Structures for Human Use (2017) Artist: Marina Abramović Location: BAB Box @ One Bangkok
If you don’t participate in this art work, you’ll never understand how wooden columns can be related to crystals. This is the latest work of Marina Abramović, an artist who at age 72 is at her highest level of influence in the world of live media and conceptual art. This piece focuses on communication through the body. This glowing sculpture here is designed to treat injuries and heal the hearts of those who interact with it. Two people stand, each on a side, and use the crystal for communication through silence. Marina believes that if our hearts are still enough, they can send power to each other. Want to know what this is all about? Come experience it at BAB Box @ One Bangkok.
What makes Marina Abramović’s work interesting is the display of intention through performance, playing with the deepest states of the human body and spirit. The works that brought her fame were many, and one of the most interesting ones is Rhythm 10 (1973).
Marina Abramović’s fascinating performance art, revealing intention through an interplay of the human body and spirit, is at the core of the works that made her famous, one of which is Rhythm 10 (1973).
Rhythm 10, her first solo performance, features knife play. Spreading her hand wide, she slams the points of the knives rapidly in each in-between space, all the time recording the sounds. Using 20 knives, changing after each round, she then plays the recording and repeats the process in synch with the recorded rhythm. Spooky, no?
Marina says she’s neither crazy nor has a death wish. Even if many of her works appear life-threatening, she is simply testing the extent of the body’s powers: it isn’t so much the body, but more the mind that enables us to go beyond our limitations. For her, performing before an audience merely means pushing her own limits to be able to do things normally impossible.
The Check Point 2018 Artist: Nge Lay Location:7th Floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
Installation art often gives you something to stand staring at before passing by. You won’t understand it if you look only at its surface. The Check Point is an arrangement of multicolored, multipatterned fabrics into a beautiful work of art, but is much more than that. It communicates about both spiritual and physical women’s issues that reach all humanity, including saints, knights, philosophers, and sinners, as one and all, we are born through a mother’s vagina. Nge Lay poses the question of why for many reasons arising from society or belief systems there is a pervasive view of women as representing weakness and lesser ability. Yes, nowadays issues of equal rights are more at the forefront, but this piece harks back to the traditional. The artist uses numerous pieces of longyi, a fabric popular among 8 Myanmar ethnicities for skirts, to sew into a vagina-like shape. To really get inside this piece doesn’t mean simply daring to go through a cloth birth canal, but being inside and summoning a belief in the symbolism as if it were indeed true. Nge Lay says, “Creating this piece I felt both satisfied and dissatisfied, proud and sad at the same time, at being a woman. I want visitors to walk through this door and experience it as not a dirty or depressing thing, but as the value that comes with being at once mother, nature, and the land itself.
Shelter 2018 Artist: Marc Schmitz Location: Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
Shelter in public places enables escape from the outer confusion to a place of peace: This sculpture. Shelter, is created specifically for Bangkok, in particular for artists. The empty space provides an experience normally unavailable in urban life. Shelter lets us get away from decay, confusion, and spiritual gloom to look up at the sky and stop hurting each other for a moment. This Shelter is set in the middle of Bangkok, in front of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, in a location busy with people and crowded with cars. To experience this work of art is to feel peace and solitude as you are cut off from surrounding people. Walking out, creative ideas come quickly.
Across the Universe and Beyond Artist: Sanitas Pradittasnee Location: Wat Arun Ratchawaramahawihan
Here we take a lost and forgotten mountain path on a return to life, as the design of space and light brings visitors to look inward and contemplate their own being as they walk into the space and experience an instant of persistence, impermanence, and emptiness. This installation piece impels us to think about human identity: are we only particles in a vast universe?
Besides these art works we’ve just invited you to see at Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, you can visit many never-before-seen works at many more locations all over urban Bangkok and along the Chao Phraya riverside. The Festival runs from October 19, 2018 until February 3, 2019 at 20 landmark locations all over the City.
Passing by a futuristic real estate development on Wireless Road named “One Bangkok,” you’ll notice three large art works on the grass lawn, and not far away a boxlike two-storey rectangular building tagged with the name “BAB Box.” We’re seriously suggesting you check it out.
/// THAILAND /// Story and video: Taliw /// Photography: Wara Suttiwan
A lot of folks know that BAB Box is one of the international contemporary art festival “Bangkok Art Biennale 2018” sites, and indeed it is. But you might not know that BAB Box is more than simply an exhibition space.
“…We’d like everyone to have the time, space, and interest to come experience this that we call ‘joyous, energetic art,’ or ‘beyond bliss.’ Easy enough to hear us say it, but maybe harder to actually do it.”
—Professor Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Bangkok Art Biennale
BAB Box is the command center for Bangkok Art Biennale 2018. It’s a creative space for art lovers to stop by and swoon. It’s a place to meet, a tourist destination, and a location for amazing world-class art. Perhaps most important, BAB Box tells us Bangkok will continue to host of international contemporary festivals in the future. This last is true for at least two more events.
We were lucky enough to speak with Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, who told us, “Bangkok Art Biennale will be here at least three times: this one (2018-19), next year (2020), and again in 2022. Since this will involve continuity and long-term planning, I thought we should have a designated Bangkok Art Biennale location, and that’s how BAB Box came to be.”
After the first Bangkok Art Biennale showing pulls up stakes in February, art activities will continue: films, performances, workshops. This is to be a creative space, providing elements of knowledge to Bangkok communities. On looking around it became apparent that this was a perfect place to hold activities for artists and art lovers.
Name: The Adventure of Sinxay, from the Hooptam Laos – Thai GroupName: L’enfer, c’est les autres (Hell is the others), by Natee Utarit
“So . . . what were the selection criteria for the art works shown at BAB, and BAB Box in particular?” Dr. Apinan replied, “Our theme is ‘Joyous Energy, the Power of Art,’ or more simply ‘Beyond Bliss.’ Here is just one of the 20 exhibition sites, but this one is special in that we created it specifically for this showing.
“The idea was to draw out famous Thai and foreign artists to present here. We set it up to international standards of temperature and humidity control, security, and numbers of visitors. We had long discussions about the art, and were looking especially for content dealing with history and diverse cultures coming into contact and interacting with each other.”
Animal Kingdom; Artist CANANStanding Structures for Human Use; Artist: Marina AbramovićInverso Mundus; Artist: AES+F
BAB Box is a two-storey building full of open space. The first story contains the work Animal Kingdom by the Turkish artist CANAN. Next to it is Happy Happy Project: Love Me Pig I, by Choi Jeong Hwa of Korea.
The second floor showings are from a diverse selection of artists, beginning with The Adventure of Sinxay, a painting by Hooptam Laos – Thai. Walking deeper in we find wooden columns and crystals, interactive installation art entitled Standing Structures for Human Use, by famous artist Marina Abramović, followed by a canvas oil painting from Thai artist Natee Utarit entitled Allegory of the End and Resistance, and a video piece projected on three large screens by the Russian collective AES+F called Inverso Mundus.
BAB Box isn’t merely a gallery limited to showing art works, but also a creative space. We can enjoy hanging out at the BAB Café, to sit, rest, sip our favorite drinks, hand in hand with the charm of the surrounding art.
“We think of it as a space to relax and contemplate the art we’ve seen, Thai or foreign, and talk about it. It’s a coffee house! Maybe after exercising in the park you’ll stop by of an the evening and drink something. There’s even a roof deck, perfect for shooting the breeze,” said Dr. Apinan.
BAB Café is an open space design accessible from above, with tables, chairs, and sofas, set out to accommodate customers in a simple atmosphere whose charm comes from choice of materials, dark colors, and a design pleasantly compatible with the overall BAB Box ambiance. And there’s a nice, diverse food menu you’ll want to check out.
BAB Café
The food on the menu is enticing, starting with a Ham & Cheese Panini (185 baht), warm toasted bread stuffed with ham and cheese, delicious fresh vegetables on the side: simple, but pleasingly mellow. Or there’s a Smoked Salmon Croissant (215 baht): salmon is stuffed into a freshly baked croissant and served with French fries. Don’t ignore the Caesar Salad (155 baht), made up of fresh, fresh vegetables with a side of crispy fried bacon.
Drinks? BAB Café has a nice variety, starting with basic coffee, but on to innovative tastes such as Mintchee (135 baht), a blended drink mixing lychee with mint leaves for an incredibly refreshing and cooling taste. You might want to sip some Strawberry Soda (85 baht), colorful and sweet (with a hidden sour) from strawberry syrup and a splash of soda, topped with a fresh strawberry. And there’s lemon or lime tea (125 baht), known by all, favorite of many.
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The work 2562++, by Tay (Patipat Chaiwitesh), was exhibited at the East Asiatic Building. It’s full of fun, but that is blended with biting satire. The backstory here, Patipat tells us, is that the animals displayed here were all stuffed. He himself found them all in the market (not alive at that point, of course), and worked with lab experts at the Veterinary Department of Chiang Mai University to stuff them, preserving shapes and eliminating decay. After that procedure, Patipat left the lab and continued working on them in ways you can see in the video below.
8 September 2018 – Ajarn Lakhana Khunawichayanon, former director of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, speaking informally with participants in the 16th BAB Talk seminar at Warehouse 30 on the topic “Beyond Bliss: Can Art Really Build Happiness?” | Photo: Singhanart Nakpongphun
24 November 2018 – Two Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 artists meeting without an appointment: Michael Elmgreen, creator of Zero – at the East Asiatic Building –came as a visitor only to become a special guest participant in Pichet Klunchun’s Bogus Séance Version Bangkok 4.0, which deals with a mix of cultures and communication without words, national borders, or languages, through something known as “art.” | Photo: Singhanart Nakpongphun
10 November 2018 – Phaptawan Suwannakudt and Jitsing Somboon during a special lecture (a TV program with Tiwaporn Thetsatit) outdoors in nature at the Crocodile Pond, Wat Pho, near where Phaptawan’s work is displayed. Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 has created happiness throughout Bangkok with about 200 art pieces in various locations – department stores, old buildings, or important Thai temples. | Photo: Singhanart Nakpongphun
20 November 2018 – Taweesak Molsawat, in a live performance of Mis/placed: The Existing of Non-Existence on the architectural piece Moving System Pavilion by Vira Inpuntung and Pich Poshyananda, assembled by Bangkok Art Biennale and the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage. Here we see how beautifully architectural design and live performance can support each other. Taweesak has done other architecture-based performances as well, with installation art by Bea Vithayathawornwong of Beautbureau and Savinee Buranasilapin and Tom Dannecker of Thingsmatter. November 20-25, 2018 at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. | Photo: Singhanart Nakpongphun
Tape Bangkok 2018
WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE BEHIND?
Paths of Faith, 2018
Standing Structures for Human Use (2017)
Shelter 2018
Across the Universe and Beyond
