The night belongs to art

Tomorrow night, Bangkok will join a growing trend that’s proved popular around the world by keeping its art galleries open late – the better to get ordinary folks to take a look.
 “Galleries Night” is part of the annual Le Fete cultural programme organised by the French Embassy. Eighteen art galleries near Skytrain and subway stations will stay open until midnight, hosting parties with music, dancing and, of course, artists.
Most of the easily accessed galleries are in two areas – down Sathorn, Silom and Charoen Krung roads and along Sukhumvit Road between Asoke and Ekamai.
“The Bangkok contemporary-art scene is bubbling,” says the embassy’s cultural attache Jeremy Opritesco, “and with this event we want to give the usual gallery-goers something new and also appeal to those who don’t normally visit galleries.
“It’s for people who don’t usually have the time or the mood or the courage to push open the door of a gallery. They’ll get to see how nice and relaxed things are – and even go ‘gallery-hopping’ as a sort of alternative to bar-hopping!”
Opritesco says he’s noticed the owners of overseas galleries visiting Bangkok “to get a feel of the arts scene here”.
“The impression that emerges is that Thailand, but more generally Southeast Asia, is walking the same path as China, where contemporary art has experienced an incredible boom in the last 10 years.
“No one wants to miss that turning point. And it truthfully seems that all the ingredients are in place for Bangkok to lead the way. It’s a business and tourist hub, the number of galleries is growing, and there’s a market here with very creative artists and potential investors who could readily wager on them because their work is still largely underestimated.”
Bangkok, he says, appears to have all the assets to become “a regional capital for contemporary art”.
Tomorrow night’s sprawling event involves no guided tours. The idea is that everyone roams around freely according to their own rhythm and taste, Opritesco says. But three different routes have been proposed – Bangrak-Sathorn, Sukhumvit and a Skytrain ride that takes in the Numthong and 100 Tonson galleries and the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.
“You’re not expected to visit all the galleries – that would be a real marathon – but rather pick one neighbourhood or route.”
The Nation’s preview promenade started from the Aree BTS station with a visit to the Numthong, which is opening a new show, “Anthropos-Bangkok”, with photography, paintings, drawings, graffiti and mixed-media installation by 10 emerging Thai and Singaporean artists.
Sensual, ghostly and other dynamic effects combine in an exhibition that delves into the deep recess where the metaphysics of the mind encounter the physical body. Themes emerge of cultural belonging, social rituals and the body as an archetype of aesthetic perfection.
BTS National Stadium unloads you at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, where more than 500 works by National Artist Chalood Nimsamer are on view on the ninth floor and the stunning photography of “Vertical/Horizontal, Inside/Outsite” by Frenchman Francoise Huguier on the eighth.
A municipal facility, the BACC won’t stay open until midnight, so get there well before 10.
From Chidlom station it’s a short walk to Soi Tonson, where Wit Pimkarjanapong and Japan’s Ryusuke Kido have the interactive exhibition “Time Remapping”. Fill up on the free snacks, drinks and visual delicacies before re-boarding the train for Surasak station.
Then hike over to Sathorn Soi 12 and the H Gallery for the “Summer Show” of paintings and photographs by gallery regulars Sujin Wattanawongchai, Suwit Janthavong, Jaruwat Boonwaedlom, Mit Jai Inn, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Somboon Hormtientong, Sarawut Ngernpum, Mitree Parahom, Therdkiat Wangwatcharakul and Ronnaphop Terchawwong.
From the Chong Nonsee stop it’s a short walk to the Kathmandu Photography Gallery and a soul-stirring display of the pictures that the revered late preacher Buddhadasa Bhiku composed in “Dharma Text Next to Image”.
By now your thirst might be recommending some actual bar-hopping, but hold off because there’s cold beer on offer at the galleries between Asoke and Ekamai stations.
The WTF Gallery on Sukhumvit Soi 53 is hosting a closing party for “Tim Hetherington: Infidel Photography & Video Exhibition”. On Thong Lor between sois 14 and 16, the Soho-style Rooftop Gallery has great photos and multimedia in its “Night Shift” exhibition about the folks who toil into the wee hours.
Stay at either of these places until late, or arrange a ride to one or both of the big, beautiful studios of French sculptors Val and Paj’Art, the former on Pradit Manutham Road and the latter in Bang Kapi. They’re garnering a lot of international attention.
Bangkok’s Galleries Night is a spin-off of Paris’ Nuit Blanche, an immensely popular annual event since 2002 that has inspired similar late-night art treks in cities in North America and elsewhere in Europe.
Ek-Anong “Aey” Phanachet of the 100 Tonson Gallery credits French Ambassador Thierry Viteau with reviving that country’s “initiative” in the Thai visual-arts scene.
“Galleries Night, even just the one night, is a good start, but we hope it might be extended for a full month, such as throughout January, and will have more organised routes,” Aey says. “With Bangkok’s lack of zoning and traffic problems, it’s difficult to do much that would help attract a wider audience.”
The embassy’s Opritesco says it is indeed anticipated that Galleries Night will grow and improve. He foresees more “special events and foreign galleries” invited to send shows.
“Little by little it could become similar to Nuit Blanche, which is a real institution in the French capital and an amazingly popular event.”

GET THE PICTURE
A Galleries’ Night poster bearing a map of the participating galleries and a list of their exhibitions is being distributed around Bangkok and will be available at the galleries.
Or, check out the Facebook pages of La Fete and Galleries Night or the French Embassy website, www.Cooperation-AmbaFrance-th.org/lafete/galleries-night.