Kp temporal intervention-the city innovation for public arts in bangkok

Rirkrit Triravanich’s Padthai, 2004 Spider Shack, 20 08

Temporal Intervention , The City Innovation for Public Arts in BangkokKhaisri PaksukcharernChulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Introduction

Based on a research paper onThe city innovation of public arts in Bangkok. Main Findings:- ‘Temporality’, ‘Transience’, ‘Fun’ are the innovative concepts recently employed in th econtemporary public art intervention in the city.contemporary public art intervention in the city.

- New forms of ‘Participative Art’ and ‘Community Art’- In relation to the latest urban policies of ‘inner city regenerationespecially at the scale of ‘community revitalization’.

- An increasing support of public and private sector in partnership.- The city innovation for public arts in Bangkok is evidenced

in two types of inner urban areas ; * contemporary public spaces in the citysuch as shopping malls and transit spacessuch as shopping malls and transit spaces

* local community and neighborhoods

PUBLIC ART:varied and ambiguous definitions

- public art is the art outside conventional art spac es such as museums or galleries.

‘site-specific’, an art created and installed in a given siteor the design of a site as an art itself‘site-general’, an already created art object is chosento be placed in a site.to be placed in a site.

- the concept of ‘public’ can be difficult and makes the status of public art become more ambiguous in the case that the definition of public is not necessarily bounded by space.

- ‘Art in public sites’ brings about encounters and coexistenceof people and subsequently leads to urban livabilit y.

- In this research , as art in public spaces has had a long history from being in art institutions in relation to publi c open spaces of the city, it will trace public art related to both inside and outside the city, it will trace public art related to both inside and outside conventional art spaces.

PUBLIC ART AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT:the concept of ‘livable city’ and ‘urban aesthetics ’- 1980s: The concept of ‘livable city’ in relation to ‘urban aesthetic’

especially through pedestrian points of view - 1990s: Discussions on public art and its supporting role to reclaim

the ‘public-ness’ of open spaces in cities- In the context of urban decay, public art played a significant role to - In the context of urban decay, public art played a significant role to

entail a re-visioning of public spaces and how they should be used- and by whom. - There has been a continuous and interrelated development between

public arts and urban spaces: the solutions of how both could adaptand make use of each other in order to sustain the right balanceof intervention.

TALA Exhibition: Central World Plaza, 2009

THE INITIAL DEVELOPMENT:art institutions (museums / galleries)as opposed to the craftsmanship society

- An initial form of public education through museum and public collection - An initial form of public education through museum and public collection in the Wests. National museums and art galleries had been the foc al creation of dominant and contemporary culture of Mo dernism .

- The indoor public art type represented strong ideol ogies throughthe established institutions in a city and had a rather limitedspatial inter-relationship with urban spaces.

- King Rama IV: Krua in Khong, a thai monk who started to paint 3D murals, identified emphatically with the western art norms

- It should be noted that as a society of craftsmanship ,Thailand have only craftsmen not artists.(purely a collective tradition, not individual act)

- What is art for the Thais was something that has already be enin their common paths of lifein their common paths of life

- Art is naturally integrated in daily routines thus it was ratherout of touch and considered to be the elite only ap proachwhen art museums and galleries were introduced in B angkokduring the reign of King Rama V

THE ERA OF SCULTURE ART:monuments and memorials at oddswith public spaces in Bangkok

- King Rama VI: nationalism led to the trend of monument creation, - Corrado Feroci (Professor Silpa Bhirasri) was commissioned to come to Thailand as artist for palaces and monuments.

- Time for major change in Thai art movement brought about art of individual work as a creator or an artist instead o f a crafter or a craftsman.

- To make art for the art’s sake not the needs of commun ities . - Conflict with public spaces in Bangkok.

THE ASIA BOOMart festivals, the curatorsand the fail of conventionalart spaces

- A large number of art festivals were organized in major cities.- Powerful resources connecting Asian art markets with the

international ones . - The birth of the curator profession:

persons who set certain trends or stereotypes of ar t. - Artists work within these stereotypes to be connect ed to the

international platform and not depend on collectors or museums .international platform and not depend on collectors or museums .- Public art in Bangkok was detached almost completely from the public .- Art is considered as an unnecessary and retains an ambiguous status

in Thai society.- Public accept but do not necessarily understand- Museums and galleries attract very few visitors

and mostly, the educated people.

Location of Art Institutions and Commercial Spaces in Bangkokwith urban attraction places

- 56 private art galleries- 62 museums on archeology, anthropology, history, science, natural sciences and etc

- 2 types of art galleries:

- very few number of visitors. * 74% has never visited art galleries

- 31% no news 31%- 31% no news 31%- 13.5% exhibition changing too

quickly- 41.5% heard the news butnever been interested

- 11% heard the news and interested but not available

- 3% heard the news and interested but not confident

- All pure art galleries have less than10,000 visitors / year

Source: W.Teerachaisuppakit, 2002

Situation getting worse for public art,the creation of the western style’s public open spa cesin Bangkok

- A misunderstanding :the real problem is that art is out-of-touch from the publicnot the lacking of art space .not the lacking of art space .

- The situation got worse : the imitation of the Western style’s public spaces created in Bangkok

- An innovative attempt to place public arts

THE FIRST INNOVATION:the concepts of temporality,transience and funof Participative artin CBD area

Le Fete Bangkok at Gaysorn Plaza, 2007

- An innovative attempt to place public artswith the shopping malls andtransport interchange spacessuch as BTS skywalks in CBD areas

Spider Shack:Siam Discovery Center2008

TALA Exhibition: Central World Plaza, 2009

Central Shopping, Chang Wattana, 2008Overhead Nightclub,Siam Discovery Center, 2007

Frequencies of public art exhibitions / events in B angkokcategorized by 2 space types (2006-2010)

The record of these contemporary public art event i n Bangkokfrom 2006-2010 on shows that the CBD areas of Rachaprasongand Pathumwan, the commercial and mass transit hub of Bangkok ;

* attracts most art events in the spaces attachedor en-route to shopping malls and transit stations .

* exhibits art outdoor or outside the conventional art spaces .

Distribution of public art exhibitions / events in Bangkokcategorized by 4 art types and 2 space types (2006-2 010)

(cont.)* exhibits art outdoor or outside the conventional art spaces .* attracts the most participative forms of art ie, installation and performance ..

Rirkrit Triravanich’s Padthai, 2004

Jiro Endo / Wit PimkarnchanapongOverhead Nightclub, 2007

Navin Lavanchaikul: Taxi Gallery Bangkok, 1996

- Art has innovated its form from the art object bein gstatically exhibited to more interactive practiceslike live performances and installations, drawing audiences to directly participate in the ar tin order to effectively reach the public.

- As opposed to the idea that art is to be installed in a vast outdoor - As opposed to the idea that art is to be installed in a vast outdoor space like in the Wests and out of touch to the eve ryday life,it reinvents its location to be placed along the daily routesor with the commodities.

- The innovation strategy of art form is to be just ‘temporal’ or ‘transient’ forms of art like perform ances or temporary outdoor exhibitions : foods, art and craft fairs,live installation, never a permanent form .

- Art that everyone tends to comprehend and easily en joy- Art that everyone tends to comprehend and easily en joyall the fun.

- Reasons :* Temporal intervention of art needs only a one-off support

from public and private sector* Bangkokians would never be in an outdoor space

for too long due to the hot weather

THE SECOND INNOVATION:the concepts of temporality, transience and funof Community Art in local neighborhoods

- More recently, public art is used as a tool of inner city regenera tion process to bring people’s attention back to their communal spacesin a neighborhood which are smaller in scale than u rban spaces .

- To solve the problem of contradictory interest between artist and public in the past.

- ‘Community art’ intentionally draws in community’s inhabitants topart with artists

- These initiatives bring back a strong sense of identity and belongingof communities that transform blight and run-down neighborhoodinto a better quality of environment.

- Its main strategy is to create the art intervention in a neighborhood scalesuch as placing public arts at the ancient city wal ls, temple grounds or religious structures, canals, streets, cemeteries.

Epilogue

- The city innovation of public arts in Bangkok invol vesnew forms of art, urban spaces and their developmen t strategies .

- A strong potential to reinvigorate Thai traditional artistic-practicesas well as to bring art to the public again .as well as to bring art to the public again .

- Participative Art in the CBD and Community Art in l ocal neighborhood :the first step to redefine art in Thailand.

- Bringing art out of galleries to streets and disrupted the flow of daily life. - To actually connect the urban dwellers as well as the local com munity

to the livable city and urban aesthetic projectsthrough the exploration of how art can be used as a n expressionof identity in everyday life.

- The innovation for public art is to engage with the public not- The innovation for public art is to engage with the public notthe didactic presentation.

- The concept of daily life, common routine, temporal but regularintervention is surely different from the west.

- The real challenge is that how public art could be more thana one time event, how to make the community reactand the pubic participate and become the norm than the exception .

Thank You