The art of trespassing

BANGKOK’S SO-CALLED “creative district” by the Chao Phraya River morphs into a vibrant playground for artists as the Bukruk II Urban Arts Festival returns tomorrow for 10 days of fun and colourful aesthetics. First launched two years ago, Bukruk – the Thai word for trespass – helped the city make its bid as a regional arts hub. Now Bukruk II aims to cement Bangkok’s position as a city that breathes and lives art.

Bangkok serves as both stage and canvas for performances, paintings and playful expression by 20 artists from across Asia and Europe and gets underway tomorrow afternoon with a massive street party and music festival at the Jam Factory on Charoen Nakhon Road. 

The Bukruk Music Festival, which continues through midnight, features an eclectic array of musicians and artists from across Europe and Asia performing on three stages. Between sets, partygoers can munch on tasty eats, drink beer, check out dazzling light installations and watch murals come to life courtesy of selected Bukruk local and international artists. 

Instead of satisfying a genre checklist, the musical acts were chosen to fit Bukruk’s mission of culture and cool from cities east and west. International acts include Spanish psychedelic pop outfit El Guincho, French hip-hop La Fine Equipe, French electro prodigy DyE, Belgian pop duo Alek et les Japonaises, Myanmar punk rock group Side Effect, DJ Oro from Cambodia and Marine Caillat, a house spinner from France. Local acts include aspiring talents like Apartment Khun Pa, Yellow Fang, Degaruda, Srirajah Rockers and Paradise Bangkok.

From Sunday onwards, wall paintings will be showcased from 10am to 5pm on the streets of the surrounding Bang Rak district. Stroll from one wall to another to watch street art celebrities such as Spain’s Aryz and Belgium’s Roa in action. In the evenings, there’s the opportunity to visit one of the seven art galleries participating in the event, among then Bridge Art Space, Serinfis, P Tendercool and the Jam Factory, to catch nightly exhibition openings. More than 100 original artworks by 12 Bukruk artists will be available to the public at reasonable prices for three weeks.

Keep an eye out for the Mobile Print Shop, which will pop up every day in unconventional ways to craft handmade zines from rebel French art group Le Dernier Cri, dainty limited-edition silkscreens from Bukruk artists produced by local print makers with The Archivist, and other Bukruk souvenirs. From tomorrow until January 30, the mobile shop – tricked out by Thai design team 56th Studio – will be transformed into a full print studio at which The Archivist will introduce silk-screening to visitors who can take home their very own creations.

Next Friday animator Panop Koonwat animator and printmaker Le Dernier Cri host a unique workshop at the TCDC at the Emporium starting at 2 where Panop will give an introduction to character building and moving, while Le Dernier Cri introduces the art of zine making.

On January 30, The Jam Factory’s Talad Knack will be the backdrop for memorable outdoor screenings of European and Asian animations by Panam Anim created by Pascal Chinarro and Florence Lucas of France. Yuree Kensaku and Maythee Nojinda follow when night falls, joining for a live performance that blends music and animation.

On January 31, the TCDC’s new headquarters at the Grand Post Office will open to the public for the first time to present Thai and foreign artists speaking about their work. The event begins at 2 and the speakers are Motomichi Nakamura, Florence Lucas and The Archivist, all of whom are happy to answer questions after their presentations. The highlight is a talk by Martha Cooper, a 72-year-old American street art photographer whose extensive experience includes the documenting of the New York City graffiti scene of the 1970s and 1980s.

Stay on for the closing party. Bukruk II Urban Arts Festival will end in style with an outdoor party at the historic Grand Post Office, which will be revamped, mutated and remodelled in a giant mapping projection by Japanese multimedia artist Motomichi Nakamura. 

 

THE OTHER SIDE

The Bukruk II Urban Art Festival runs from tomorrow until January 31.

Tickets are Bt800, available from www.TicketMelon.com. Find out more at www.Bukruk.com.