Art in Bangkok: Ganesh comes alive, cultural disparities exposed
Look-Overlook, featuring the art of Jedsada Tangstrakulwong, is on at Chulalongkorn University's Art Center until May 15.
That said venues like 100 Tonson Gallery, Tang Contemporary Art and the Art Centre at Chulalongkorn University have some exciting exhibitions worth checking out.
BAM! has all the details as it shares it top picks for the coming weeks with CNNGo.
PrismPrism, until April 25
Always on the more progressive end of Thailand’s contemporary arts scene, 100 Tonson Gallery is for the first time staging a collaborative performance-exhibition event featuring one of the Kingdom’s most international dancers in Pichet Klunchun, alongside a site-specific installation by photographer Kornkrit Jianpinidnan.
Curated by Thanavi Chotpradit, Prism evolves through the physicality of the gallery and how the two separate artists respond to it both spatially and together in response to one another’s creative process. For his part Pichet will perform Ganesh, a tale of the pachyderm god losing one of his tusks that is laden with symbolism to Thai society’s present political debacle.
Performances: Apr 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 at 7pm, Apr 4 (Sun) at 2pm. Tickets (40 seats per performance): 1,000 baht, students 700 baht.
100 Soi Tonson, Phloenchit Road. Tel: +66 (0)2 684 1527. OpenThursday-Sunday, 11am-7pm. BTS: Chidlom.
6th International Photographic Contest, April 22 to May 9
With the theme for the 6th International Photographic Contest based on “people”, this year’s Silpakorn exhibition has an abundance of portraiture. With the vast majority of the works selected coming from home grown lensmen, it’s of little surprise that the Grand Prize was awarded to a Thai photographer. The Thai emphasis also means that there is a proliferation of socially realistic street photography featuring urban inhabitants.
31 Na Phra Lan Rd (opp the Grand Palace). Tel: +66 (0)2 221 3841. Open Monday-Friday, 9am-7pm, Saturday 9am-4pm
SparkleSparkle April 3-May 16
Having previously customised household electrical appliances such as fans, telephones and lamps, Krit Ngamsom creates an ambient light and sculpture installation glowing with uncomplicated innocence for Sparkle, a new exhibition at Thavibu Gallery. Focusing upon the empty ritualism of extravagant gift giving by wealthy Bangkokians during traditional holidays, on a deeper level his ironic artworks are an implication toward the economic, social, cultural and growing political disparities between Thailand’s rural masses and the metropolitan elite.
Thavibu, Suite 308, Silom Galleria F3, 919/1 Silom Rd, Soi 19. Tel: +66 (0)2 266 5454. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-7pm, Sunday noon-6pm. BTS: Surasak
In-Land Out-Cast, April 3 to May 30
Returning to Kathmandu after his combustible 2007 series of ethereal dreamlike photographs derived around his personal encounters with the highly addictive methamphetamine ya ba, or ‘crazy drug’, award-winning British-Chinese photographer Olivier Pin-Fat propels his latest feverish forays into the “living necropolis” of urban delirium. Based in Bangkok, Pin-Fat describes his recent photos as a “film noir whose cast are the city’s spirits”.
Kathmandu Photo Gallery, 87 Soi Pan, Silom Road. Tel: +66 (0)2 234 6700. Tuesday-Sunday, 11am-7pm. BTS: Chong Nonsi
Light-Life 2
Light-Life 2, Apr 20 to May 20
Having appeared in last year’s photographic group exhibition "See, Saw, Seen II" at Ardel Gallery, Kanok Suriyasat returns with his latest works. Reprising the 60-plus portraits shown in the original Light-Life exhibition in 1993, the experienced photographer attempts to capture the immediacy of emotions before the shutter is pressed.
DOB Hualamphong, Resident One Property Co, Ltd, DOB Building 2F, 318 Rama IV Road. +66 (0)85 482 3566. Open daily, 10am-7pm. MRT: Hualamphong
More of the Same, Apr 21 to May 16
A decade since his debut
solo exhibition in New York, multi-disciplined artist Top Chantrakul
recently admitted to hitting an artistic block. An active face on the
Thai art scene and founder of the useful online art resource
www.artscenetv.net, in this latest exhibition Top attempts a connection
with his more primitive side in order to draw out raw creativity.
Whitespace,
Lido Bldg 2F, 260 Siam Square 3. Tel: +66 (0)2 252 2900. Open
Tuesday-Friday, 1pm-7pm, Saturday-Sunday 11:30am-8pm or by appointment.
BTS: Siam
Wrong Place
Wrong Place, April 19 to May 31
Kamin Lertchaiprasert is known for the systematic daily art he makes in response to his daily meditation sessions. For his latest solo exhibition on societal disillusionment, Kamin has produced 24 monochrome paintings and wood sculptures along with an installation involving two pink buffaloes and a floor coated in flowers.
Tang Contemporary Art, Unit B-28 (Basement), Silom Galleria 919/1 Soi 19. Tel: +66(0)2 630 1114. Open Monday-Saturday, 11am–7pm. BTS: Surasak
Look - Overlook, Between Spaces, April 9 to May 15
With the aim of providing a platform to promote emerging Thai curators, this month Chulalongkorn University’s Art Centre holds two parallel exhibitions that challenge viewer notions of space. Curated by Pichaya Piyassapan, Look-Overlook features the art of Jedsada Tangstrakulwong, while Narongsakk Nilkhet curates a duo-exhibition featuring Jackkrit Anantakul and Chawnchom Boonmegurdsup that looks at the blurring of private and public spaces.
Chulalongkorn University Art Centre, Centre of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, Phaya Thai Road. +66 (0)2 218 2965. Open Monday-Friday, 9am-7pm, Saturday 9am-4pm. BTS: Siam
Mixed-Mitr, April 16 to June 6
Recently the Royal Photography Society of Thailand dusted away the cobwebs and is becoming a more dynamic force in the promotion of photography in Thailand. To mark its 50th anniversary, the society has organised an exhibition of over 600 photographic works by some 150 Thai photographers, including keen amateur shutterbug H.R.H princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC), 939 Rama I Road, Pathumwan. +66 (0)2 214 6630-1. Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-9pm. BTS: National Stadium
