Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting returns on-site next week

“Together, we will explore changes — the surroundings and within — and discover new possibilities in the society through a variety of activities, including international performances, discussions, workshops, etc,” the organisers said. The event is from March 22-26 at Jim Thompson Art Center and other art spaces around Bangkok. Buy tickets now, visit www.bipam.org

“Welcome back on the ground. Feel your feet and the air. Look around at the people once again in the eyes. Do you still know this place?” - Sasapin Siriwanij, BIPAM Artistic Director

It has been 3 years since BIPAM's last festival that we were able to meet, exchange and share with fellow artists, producers, and arts practitioners from around the world in person. After a long period of online meetings, we are now back in full force with various activities to welcome domestic and international visitors.

Sasapin, BIPAM’s Artistic Director describes the idea behind the selection and design of activities: “The anticipation of having us all in Bangkok again is indescribable. We look forward to welcoming you, but we have nothing to expect. The grounds we used to know have changed their faces.”

“Let’s start on the ground. We will walk the streets, and you put the Bangkok puzzle together in your own way. In theaters, we enter the spaces othered, reimagined, and undefined - taking history back a step and up a notch, and fusing senses and perceptions in order to unlearn and rediscover.” 

“Forget the common and defamiliarize. The world is a strange place and let’s not pretend that it isn’t.”

Apart from staging shows from overseas, BIPAM also acts as a meeting platform for art workers to get together and build a network for potential collaborations.

BIPAM 2023 consists of 7 programs:
Performances, Talks, Table Presentations, Workshops, Routes and Networking. We also offer free programs at Jim Thompson Art Center, featuring "Once Upon Unsteady Grounds", a digital performance, and "Beyond Biophilia" exhibition.

This year, we introduce BIPAM Explorer Pass, a brand new special pass for participants who would like to delve deeper into the festival, where you get to learn (figuratively and literally) about contemporary performing arts management. Special rates apply for secondary to postgrad students, participants under 25, or educational institute personnel. Become an explorer in the festival with us!

For more info, visit www.bipam.org/explorerpass

4 performances in total

1. INTERMISSION - Thanapol Virulhakul
This is a commissioned work by Thanapol Virulhakul from three SEA performing art platforms: BIPAM, Singapore International Festival of Arts, and George Town Festival. Thanapol, a choreographer who has come back from 3-year hiatus with a contemporary dance piece featuring Champa Saenprom and Vidura Amranand - the pair whose impossible artistic encounter captivated the crowd at BIPAM2018. Thanapol crafts the inexistent dance movement in Thailand’s dance history where the traditional, the vernacular, and the contemporary meet, collide, interrupt, intersperse, and transform.

Date & Time:  22 Mar  18.30 PM, 23 Mar 17.00, 20.00 PM
Venue:  Goethe-Institut Auditorium, Sathorn
Language :  No dialogue (partial texts in Thai with English subtitle)

2. I Say Mingalaba, You Say Goodbye - Jarunun Phantachat
This performance by B-floor's Jarunun Pantachat was commissioned by Kyoto Experiment 2022 and went on tour in Kyoto in the past year, and now comes home to Thailand. The piece discusses Thai-Burmese relationship in times of demand for change, viewed through the grand narrative from past to present, to dig at the indoctrinated truths therein, which may be so real it hurts or a complete and utter fabrication.

Date & Time: 22 Mar  20.00 PM, 23 Mar 18.30 PM, 26 Mar 19.30 PM
Venue: Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts
Language: Thai, Burmese, French, Japanese and more with Thai, Burmese and English subtitle

3. And My Heart Almost Stood Still - Ari Teperberg
A sensitive solo piece that has moved audiences from all over the world, from an Israeli emerging artist. From the letter of Helen Keller, a deaf-blind author and intellectual, expressing her appreciation after "listening" to Beethoven's 9th symphony, to a solo performance by the Israeli artist Ari Teperberg. We are granted a close-up look into the performer’s body, which calibrates himself to hypersensitivity, seeking desperately for an alternative language to communicate by, beyond boundaries, disability and loneliness. On this uncommon ground, Can we grow deaf and blind together?

Date & Time: 24 Mar 18.00, 20.00 PM  / 25 Mar   20.00 PM
Venue: Function Room, 4th Fl., TCDC
Language: No dialogue, a few reading notes in English with Thai translation

4. A Notional History - Mark Teh
In 'A Notional History', a performer, a journalist, and an activist excavate school textbooks, inherited memories, and video interviews of exiled revolutionaries – uncovering erasures, exclusions and questions around the Malayan Emergency. They investigate and speculate on the possible histories for a different Malaysia, intersecting the personal, the national, and the notional. This documentary performance responds to a critical moment in Malaysia – the publishing of new, official history textbooks - following the 2018 general elections where citizens voted in a new government after 61 years. A National History has been performed in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Brussels, Georgetown (Penang), and again in Yokohama in 2022. Curated alongside other performances in BIPAM 2023, its correlation will start a conversation about Southeast Asia in contemporary times.

Date & Time: 24 Mar  20.00 PM, 25 - 26 Mar  18.00 PM
Venue: Gallery, TCDC
Language: English and Bahasa Malaysia with Thai and English Subtitle

More Info.:  www.bipam.org/performances

Talks & Workshops (highlights)

1.    Digging Deep in Thailand Performing Arts landscape from the director of Bangkok Theatre Festival, the longest-running theatre festival in Thailand will give you a report.

2.    Asian Dramaturg’s Network the one and only dramaturg network in Asia will come to share their experience and methodology on dramaturg.

3.    Workshop from Artists at Risk Connection, a human rights agency advocating freedom of expression will exchange views and share the process with artists, art organizations, and human rights agencies in BIPAM. Plus exclusive workshops from artists performing at this year’s festival.

4.     ‘Borderless Dance Ecology’,  a forum dedicated exclusively to the dance scene, led the talk by dance leaders from Singapore, Japan, Canada, Indonesia and more.

And more than 10 selected topics of discussion and presentation from BIPAM registrants this year in order to frame a wide range of issues happening in the Southeast Asian performing arts scene in the post-pandemic era.

More Info.:  www.bipam.org/talksandworkshops

Festival Passes

For participants with residence in Thailand, BIPAM 2023 offers a variety of passes you can choose from.

1. Full Pass : Join any program on offer during 5 days of the festival for 3,500 baht. 

2. Friend / Fan of BIPAM : This price lets you express your support for BIPAM beyond the standard fee. We are a small self-funded collective, and a little help from you can go a long way for us! With your contribution, BIPAM will be able to make sure every dedicated soul and sweat at BIPAM2023 is well taken care of.
 
3. Performance Package : See all 4 performances in BIPAM for 3,000 baht.

4. Individual show ticket : See a performance of your choice for 800 baht. 

5. Workshop Pass : Participate in a workshop of your choice for 800 baht/session.

6. Explorer Pass : With this pass, you are eligible to get the Educational Program Pass for free if you are one of the following: 1) Under 25 years of age 2) Currently studying in secondary to postgrad level 3) Teacher, instructor, or personnel in an educational institute. Special discount at 2,500 baht.

Check the full program of the festival and set up your schedule at www.bipam.org/pricelistbipam2023

BIPAM 2023 is made possible by Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), Contemporary Art Promotion Fund, Ministry of Culture, The Japan Foundation, Creative Economy Agency (CEA), and  Contemporary Arts & Culture Industry Promotion (CAPT). The event starts on 22 - 26 March 2023 at Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok. For more information and ticket purchase, visit www.bipam.org  or facebook fanpage www.facebook.com/bipambkk