A historic contemporary-art event kicked off in Bangkok last Wednesday as part of a two-year process to introduce the art-curator profession into Mekong countries.
February 10, 2008
Kamol Sukin
The Nation (Thailand)
"It is the first time for such an event, with 32 art pieces by 20 artists from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Importantly, all the pieces were selected by art curators, one from each of the four nations. It really is an exhibition by the four curators," said Jakapan Vilasineekul, the Silapakorn University academic who organised the event.
"This is a historic event, which will be remembered in contemporary art circles," Apinan Posayanon, director of the Contemporary Art and Culture Office, said.
The four curators - Kong Vollak from Cambodia, Misouda Heuangsoukkhoun from Laos, Penwadee Nophaket Manont from Thailand and Le Ngoc Thanh from Vietnam - are new and were trained under the Mekong Art and Culture Project (MACP). The four curators were free to feature any kind of contemporary art by any artist in their country, giving the exhibition wide diversity but uniting it in some fascinating way.
Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich weaved dozens of pieces of bamboo strips into a turtle raising its long head to the sky, to portray what he called "our selves and our past and hopefully to find our way to reconcile them".
Laotian Kongphat Luangrath painted a human form crying out, with factories and buildings inside his body and surrounded by tree branches against a red hue, to express his view towards builders and destroyers.
Thai artist Nupat Arjkla exhibited a series of flawed photos from a digital camera which would normally be sent to the junk folder, to convey his message of an imperfect future.
Vietnamese Nguyen Manh Hung painted a picture of aircraft with bomb-like carrots and rice to reflect his country's history and development.
"It looks they are not expressing the same thing but in fact they are. They are all talking about what is underlying, or what you see is not what is really there," Chattiya Nitpolprasert, the curator and the project's organiser, explained.
"The underlying theme represents a consensus amongst the four curators. Each of them is free to translate it into their own particular meaning," she said.
In the past eight months, the four curators were busy selecting artists and art pieces in their home towns and discussing each piece with the others, both online and in person, Chattiya said.
"The most difficult part of this exhibition was to make them reach a consensus on everything - the topic, the pieces to be selected and the theme. All are from different backgrounds, but this was also a challenge to us," Chattiya said. "It was also a way to test the success of our art-curator workshop."
The workshop for art curators was one of 18 art and cultural activities under the MACP held since August 2006 in the four countries, Jakapan said.
"We want to use art and culture as a significant tool to build the relationship among the four countries, not just by simply sending art pieces from one country to exhibit in another. We encourage art curators to promote artists in each country working on particular subjects and to exchange their views with artists in the other countries before creating a mobile exhibition with a united view," he explained.
"For me this is a real cross-border cultural activity," he said. "Even the German curator that we invited to be the project instructor admired our initiative and said he would take this model back to Europe."
The responses from the four curators have also been enthusiastic.
"I learnt much about art galleries and how to efficiently convey an artist's message to an audience," Kong said.
"An art curator is like a film director who controls the theme and tone of the movie, while the artists are like actors in the film. It is very rewarding to express your opinion through other people's work," Misouda said.
"In the past I put all my efforts into producing good art pieces or selecting the best pieces for exhibition. Now I have learnt that presentation is also very important," Thanh said.
"My strongest impression is what I learnt in the process of making this exhibition. We are very different in background and ideas, so a willingness to compromise is one thing I have learnt. Without that we would not able to effectively convey charming art pieces to our audiences," Penwadee said.
All curators agreed that MACP activities would significantly improve contemporary-art development in their countries.
"People are more and more recognising contemporary art as a kind of art with real freedom in both content and expression," Vollack said of the situation in Cambodia.
In Vietnam, the situation is better and the number of contemporary artists is growing to some 300 nationwide, said Thanh.
"In Laos it is not so good. We are in an early development stage with no market. Our artists are mostly traditional style who are not familiar with contemporary art concepts," Misouda said.
"Activities such as this should at certain levels give more Thai people a chance to touch the charm of contemporary art and fall in love with it like I did," Penwadee said.
The exhibition will be at Tadu Contemporary Art until March 5, before moving to Phnom Penh from March 21 to April 8.
From April 25 to May 15 it will be in Vientiane, then in Hanoi from May 30 to June 13.
February 10, 2008
Kamol Sukin
The Nation (Thailand)
"It is the first time for such an event, with 32 art pieces by 20 artists from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Importantly, all the pieces were selected by art curators, one from each of the four nations. It really is an exhibition by the four curators," said Jakapan Vilasineekul, the Silapakorn University academic who organised the event.
"This is a historic event, which will be remembered in contemporary art circles," Apinan Posayanon, director of the Contemporary Art and Culture Office, said.
The four curators - Kong Vollak from Cambodia, Misouda Heuangsoukkhoun from Laos, Penwadee Nophaket Manont from Thailand and Le Ngoc Thanh from Vietnam - are new and were trained under the Mekong Art and Culture Project (MACP). The four curators were free to feature any kind of contemporary art by any artist in their country, giving the exhibition wide diversity but uniting it in some fascinating way.
Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich weaved dozens of pieces of bamboo strips into a turtle raising its long head to the sky, to portray what he called "our selves and our past and hopefully to find our way to reconcile them".
Laotian Kongphat Luangrath painted a human form crying out, with factories and buildings inside his body and surrounded by tree branches against a red hue, to express his view towards builders and destroyers.
Thai artist Nupat Arjkla exhibited a series of flawed photos from a digital camera which would normally be sent to the junk folder, to convey his message of an imperfect future.
Vietnamese Nguyen Manh Hung painted a picture of aircraft with bomb-like carrots and rice to reflect his country's history and development.
"It looks they are not expressing the same thing but in fact they are. They are all talking about what is underlying, or what you see is not what is really there," Chattiya Nitpolprasert, the curator and the project's organiser, explained.
"The underlying theme represents a consensus amongst the four curators. Each of them is free to translate it into their own particular meaning," she said.
In the past eight months, the four curators were busy selecting artists and art pieces in their home towns and discussing each piece with the others, both online and in person, Chattiya said.
"The most difficult part of this exhibition was to make them reach a consensus on everything - the topic, the pieces to be selected and the theme. All are from different backgrounds, but this was also a challenge to us," Chattiya said. "It was also a way to test the success of our art-curator workshop."
The workshop for art curators was one of 18 art and cultural activities under the MACP held since August 2006 in the four countries, Jakapan said.
"We want to use art and culture as a significant tool to build the relationship among the four countries, not just by simply sending art pieces from one country to exhibit in another. We encourage art curators to promote artists in each country working on particular subjects and to exchange their views with artists in the other countries before creating a mobile exhibition with a united view," he explained.
"For me this is a real cross-border cultural activity," he said. "Even the German curator that we invited to be the project instructor admired our initiative and said he would take this model back to Europe."
The responses from the four curators have also been enthusiastic.
"I learnt much about art galleries and how to efficiently convey an artist's message to an audience," Kong said.
"An art curator is like a film director who controls the theme and tone of the movie, while the artists are like actors in the film. It is very rewarding to express your opinion through other people's work," Misouda said.
"In the past I put all my efforts into producing good art pieces or selecting the best pieces for exhibition. Now I have learnt that presentation is also very important," Thanh said.
"My strongest impression is what I learnt in the process of making this exhibition. We are very different in background and ideas, so a willingness to compromise is one thing I have learnt. Without that we would not able to effectively convey charming art pieces to our audiences," Penwadee said.
All curators agreed that MACP activities would significantly improve contemporary-art development in their countries.
"People are more and more recognising contemporary art as a kind of art with real freedom in both content and expression," Vollack said of the situation in Cambodia.
In Vietnam, the situation is better and the number of contemporary artists is growing to some 300 nationwide, said Thanh.
"In Laos it is not so good. We are in an early development stage with no market. Our artists are mostly traditional style who are not familiar with contemporary art concepts," Misouda said.
"Activities such as this should at certain levels give more Thai people a chance to touch the charm of contemporary art and fall in love with it like I did," Penwadee said.
The exhibition will be at Tadu Contemporary Art until March 5, before moving to Phnom Penh from March 21 to April 8.
From April 25 to May 15 it will be in Vientiane, then in Hanoi from May 30 to June 13.
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