Your must-see list at the Bangkok Art Biennale

Is winter coming? Or are seasons no more in the age of climate change? What are world leaders up to? When will inflation come down and the economy recover? Questions abound as we traverse the transition between the still-ambivalent end of the Covid-19 pandemic and yet-unknown “new normal.” Amid the uncertainties, a moment away for contemplation is a good idea. The Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) currently on display comes in handy for several reasons.

Intellectual detangler

The theme — “Chaos : Calm” — could not be more appropriate to the current atmosphere. Although the BAB’s artistic director Dr Apinan Poshyananda says the concept is a continuation from “Beyond Bliss” which marked the first event in 2018 and “Escape Routes” for 2020, the juxtaposition hits home hard as people try to find meaning in the flux that is today’s world.

Dr Apinan says the theme may appear like a binary opposite but it’s not necessarily so. “The key is the space between the two things. Each of us will have to find our own peace,” Dr Apinan said. Chaos, he adds, is not just about political conflicts, climate change, pandemics or economic woes but hardships and issues we face in everyday life. “Things may be hard to deal with but each and everyone of us has to find a way to live with it just like the artists who interpreted the theme and express their ideas in different ways,” he says.

Some people may prefer to have a higher dose of chaos in their life while others prefer endless serenity. The answer is subjective. “More importantly, there must be a measure of hope. At this time when everything seems to be in collision, faith may work better than science. Logic alone may have reached its limit to help people find peace and governments are hardly of any help. We only have ourselves to depend upon,” Prof Apinan adds.

The must-sees

With over 200 artworks spread around 12 locations both in the old town areas and city center, the art fest can appear formidable especially if you’re short on days in Bangkok. But don’t fret — here, an insider’s guide to what you shouldn’t miss at the biennale.

Dr Apinan divided the venues into two sections — the river route and the city route. The river route features old-town sites such as Wat Pho, Wat Arun, Wat Prayoon and Museum Siam. The city route, meanwhile, encompasses downtown spots including the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC), Samyan Mitrtown, CentralWorld and Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC).

For the river route, the works of the internationally acclaimed late Thai artist Montien Boonma at Wat Pho are highly recommended. His landmark installation — Arokhayasala or medicinal house (1994) — featuring boxes of traditional herbs invokes a sense of healing and power of prayer through the shrine-like form. The piece, displayed to the Thai public for the first time, is also a meditation on the nature of life and death.

Inside the nearby Pa Lelai vihara is another work by Montien entitled “Melting Void: Molds for the Mind” (1999). Conceived towards the end of the artist’s life, the piece features a hollowed-out bust of a Buddha’s image. Standing inside, one can catch a whiff of Thai herbs. If they look up, they will see spots of light in the form of constellation Aquarius — the zodiac sign of Montien and his wife — at the darkest zenith of the image. In the artist’s own words, the void inside the image is meant to offer “a refuge for the mind of people who wish to enter a place of peace and relaxation.”

At the temple’s patio, the interrelated figurative sculptures entitled “Connect” and “Contain” (2022) by celebrated British artist Antony Gormley can be found. Gormley is among the most widely acclaimed international artists to have joined the BAB 2022. His works, many of them sculptures and installations characterized by pixel-like metal block-works that recall the shape of the human body, explore the relationship between humans, space and time. Gormley has won numerous awards including the Turner Prize in 1994 and Obayashi prize in 2012. He has been a Royal Academician since 2003 and made a knight in 2014.

For Museum Siam, the wallpaper installation titled “Integer Studies” by Indian artist Jitish Kallat featuring 365 drawings produced daily during the pandemic year of 2021 and “Wall of Change” by Tatsuo Miyajima are both eye catching and intellectually stimulating.

Along the City Route, Pinaree Sanpitak’s installation — “Anything Can Break” — at QSNCC is an exciting interactive display of lights and sounds where the audience can become part of the artwork. Photographs by American artist Robert Mapplethorpe which captures the LGBTQ spirit in the 1980s can be found at the same venue.

At the same venue, nine video installations by internationally renowned performance artist Marina Abramovic are on display. A pioneer in performance art, Abramovic participated in both BAB 2018 and 2020. For this year, the artist selected some major video installations including “Dragon Heads” (2018), “The Currant” (2017), “City of Angels” (1983) and “Sea Punishing” (2005) — the latter two pieces were created in Ayutthaya and Phuket. Abramovic will give a lecture for BAB 2022 entitled “History of Long Durational Work and MAI” on January 25, 2023.

The huge installation with red ropes and paper, “The Eye of the Storm”(2022), by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota was created just for this event. The knots and tangles offer yet another reflection on the “Chaos : Calm” theme, with pockets of seeming stillness existing among the explosion of forms and colors.

Back to the city center at the BACC, works by Thai artist Vasan Sithiket and Japanese artist Mori Katayama provide more vignettes of how the artists tried to make sense of the ever-changing world. “Art may not solve all the problems but at least it provides us with aesthetic moments, with beauty and depth of perspectives albeit momentarily,” says Dr Apinan.

Visitors can check out BAB until February 23, 2023. For further art events happening around Bangkok, visit www.bangkokartcity.org.

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