Our art belongs to another

Things were decidedly duller in the arts and culture in 2011, at least in Bangkok, which went hungry for truly delectable exhibitions. Chiang Mai fared much better, enjoying fresh takes on creativity and the opening of several more private galleries and public museums.
We can blame the horrific flooding for dampening art’s spirits in general, but at the same time, the disaster inspired many people to express themselves.

NORTH: THE NEW NORMAL

Chiang Mai has always been a magnet for Thai artists raised elsewhere, so it’s bound to outpace the capital sooner or later. Maybe this was the year it did. Arts-wise, the Rose of the North is now officially “in”.
One of the locals, Kamin Lertchaiprasert, officially opened his 31st Century Museum of Contemporary Spirit on Valentine’s Day. Made of shipping containers, the attraction is in the compound of his home-studio near Wat Umong, behind Chiang Mai University, and it’s quite impressive.
Kamin has arranged seven massive shipping containers into the figure 31 (as seen by mystified airline pilots) to create a museum displaying his private collection.
Early this month Bangkok-based collector Disaphol Chansiri opened the 200-square-metre DC gallery at the Tha Pae Gate. He’s stocked it from the more than 200 works he keeps at his Bangkok apartment, and currently there are around 30 pieces from home and abroad, including Man Ray and Andy Warhol.
Nearby, internationally known artist Udomsak Krisanamis this year opened a studio-gallery that exhibits work by upcoming Thai artists and foreigners. Udomsak lived in New York before moving to Chiang Mai, so he's got connections overseas.
The Book Re:public appeared on Rib Klongchon Road in October, courtesy of a group of culture experts, writers and political activists from Chiang Mai and Bangkok (the Reading Room on Silom Road). It’s a bookshop that hosts discussions about society, politics, art and culture.
Chiang Mai University students were completely in charge of the engaging exhibition “Manifesto 2011” at the school’s art museum and other places around town. There were dozens of innovative works that critiqued our educational system, the red-yellow divide and how museums in Thailand are misused (not CMU’s, though).
Shoppers at the Kad Luang Market got a pleasant surprise last January when Navin Rawanchaikul’s “Mahakad Festival: Epic Arts in the Market” took over the place. It was a preview of his “Navinland Pavilion”, set up at the Venice Biennale later in the year.

THE BUZZ IN BANGKOK

The new, three-storey g23 Gallery at Srinakarinwirot Prasarnmitr University on Asoke Road actually boasts four galleries, plus a theatre and auditorium.
The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre at the Pathumwan intersection broke free from municipal control in August. New director Luckana Kunavichayanont is eyeing higher standards in shows, which will include the remarkable “Chiang Mai Now”.
The centre hosted two flood-related shows, “Let’s Panic” and the continuing “Water + Empathy”.
The Jim Thompson Art Centre did well this year with a string of popular exhibitions, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Primitive” is on view until February. Then comes “Rereading Khun Chang Khun Phaen”, Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit’s guide to the classic Siamese tale.
The Chulalongkorn University Art Centre has “Body Borders: Anything Can Break” by Pinaree Sanpitak, recipient of the 2007 Silpathorn Award, while H Gallery is hosting “Body Borders: Flying Cubes” and her paintings are on view at 100 Tonson Gallery.

NAKHON ELSEWHERE

Outside Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch, whose family makes Tao Hong Tai ceramics in Ratchaburi, this year opened the province’s first centre for contemporary art in a century-old, three-storey house, Tao Hong Tai D Kunst.