Fluidity of Change

Environmental changes in the perspective of new artists.

By Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

Bangkok Art and Cultural Center

I disappear, Therefore I am (2020/2020) by Sareena SattaponBangkok Art and Culture Centre

What is environment?

The term 'environment' is widely used and has a broad range of definitions.  For some people, the term 'environment' means naturally occurring things such as weather, forest, waterfalls or mountain.   However, for others, the term 'environment' includes the surroundings made by humans to provide facilities for satisfying human needs, whether it be the tangible things such as buildings, or intangible items such as culture and traditions. “Fluidity of Change” will introduce you to environmental changes in the perspective of new artists. Let's see if the meaning of the environment in their perspective is the same or different to yours.

Fluidity of Change (2020/2020) by Bangkok Art and Culture CentreBangkok Art and Culture Centre

“Early Years Project”- Land of Incubation

Early Years Project is the project debut in 2016. Emerging artists from all over the country are invited to submit their works and present their project to be selected by the committees. The selected artists will receive funding to support their artistic practice under collaboration with the BACC Exhibition Department, offering them insights into collaboration with art and culture organizations as well as various stakeholders. For this year, which is the 5th year of the project, we select a total of 8 new artists. If you want to know how the environment will change in their perspective, come to see it together.

A 796 km Hear / Say: Chiang Mai - Bangkok dialogue (2020/2020) by Rattanakan KanchanaphanbunBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Change is a challenge.

Environmental changes may be an "old topic" for many people, but for the BACC, as an art organization, we think that this topic is a significant challenge not only for artists but also for the general public as we stand together in pondering the matters. For this reason, we don't hesitate to use this challenge as an opportunity to find new artists, under the incubating project for young artists “Early Years Project”.

In the Anthropocene, What does your freedom mean? (2020/2020) by Rattana SudjaritBangkok Art and Culture Centre

“In the Anthropocene, What is your definition of freedom?”

Thailand is an agricultural society. Nowadays, the once simple agricultural life has been replaced by industrialized agriculture. Although agriculture plays an important role in our economy, the practice of traditional agriculture is undergoing changes following the trends of contemporary society. Rattana Sujarit was interested in this topic and called this era "Anthropocene".

In the Anthropocene, What does your freedom mean? (2020/2020) by Rattana SudjaritBangkok Art and Culture Centre

In the Anthropocene, What does your freedom mean? (2020/2020) by Rattana SudjaritBangkok Art and Culture Centre

For this reason, she created agricultural patches that controlled the plants to grow with LED Grow Light. She would like to represent that “environment and living things”, are strictly controlled and completely bereft of freedom. And hopefully this could promote social awareness on simple agriculture and industrialized agriculture.

In the Anthropocene, What does your freedom mean? (2020/2020) by Rattana SudjaritBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Rattana Sudjarit by Rattana SudjaritBangkok Art and Culture Centre

A 796 km Hear / Say: Chiang Mai - Bangkok dialogue (2020/2020) by Rattanakan KanchanaphanbunBangkok Art and Culture Centre

"You are not to blamed because you did not start the fire?"

Rattanakan Kanchanaphanbun asked herself this question while on her way to Chiangmai, a province facing smog problem from burning forests. She created this work to encourage the audience, most of them are metropolitan, to become more aware of this problem and to consider whether their normal lifestyles are causing the smog problems.

A 796 km Hear / Say: Chiang Mai - Bangkok dialogue (2020/2020) by Rattanakan KanchanaphanbunBangkok Art and Culture Centre

However, Rattanakan believed that clean air is not a responsibility of any one person. Through her installation art, she portrayed the way of life and the causes of landscape and climate changes.

A 796 km Hear / Say: Chiang Mai - Bangkok dialogue (2020/2020) by Rattanakan KanchanaphanbunBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Rattanakan Kanchanaphanbun by Rattanakan KanchanaphanbunBangkok Art and Culture Centre

I disappear, Therefore I am (2020/2020) by Sareena SattaponBangkok Art and Culture Centre

“How many times do artists actually think about the impact of our works on the world?”

Both Rattana and Rattanakan represented the environment from the point of view of naturally occurring things that was affected by human activity. But for Sareena Sattapon, an artist in performing arts, she made an observation on how the human-made environment could negatively affect the world.

I disappear, Therefore I am (2020/2020) by Sareena SattaponBangkok Art and Culture Centre

I disappear, Therefore I am (2020/2020) by Sareena SattaponBangkok Art and Culture Centre

After the live performance ended, all that remains is the enormous amount of materials used in the performance which often become wastes. Therefore, Sareena represented the artist’s journey back in time to show the effect of her actions. She explored a performance art that once existed and perished with time, but which left traces in the form of many objects that never disappear.

I disappear, Therefore I am (2020/2020) by Sareena SattaponBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Sareena Sattapon by Sareena SattaponBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Bio Blind Project (2020/2020) by Tananan JaisawangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

“Have a new perspective on life through found objects and the blind.”

Tananan Jaisawang was impressed by deformed shapes, flawed colors and textures of ordinary human made objects, because she believed in the beyond functionality values of these objects that relayed experiences and memories of the past.

Bio Blind Project (2020/2020) by Tananan JaisawangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Bio Blind Project (2020/2020) by Tananan JaisawangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

In addition, Tananan was interested in the world of the blind. Therefore, she worked with them by using various waste materials collected together to create sculptures to exchange imagination with the blind. Completed sculptures are displayed so that visitors and visually impaired people can both enjoy and form a friendship through art-related activities.

Bio Blind Project (2020/2020) by Tananan JaisawangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Tananan Jaisawang by Tananan JaisawangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Social Weaving, An artistic research project (2020/2020) by Awika SamukrsamanBangkok Art and Culture Centre

“Weaving machines create a chance to communicate.”

Not only Thananan Jaisawang, but also Awika Samukrsaman is an artist who modified waste materials and turning them into interesting artworks. She simulated the visual field by transforming an exercise machine into a weaving machine which can’t be operated alone. The artwork has a purpose of encouraging interaction between people within a simulated area where participants have a chance to communicate symbolically through the process of weaving; each step requires exact coordination, observation, and truthful reciprocation.

Social Weaving, An artistic research project (2020/2020) by Awika SamukrsamanBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Weaving on an exercise machine is a metaphor to how weavers need to adapt themselves to the weaving process, weaving structure, and the timing of weaving partners. The work forms a dialogue connecting people and locations through stories of history, society, politics, and culture. 

Social Weaving, An artistic research project (2020/2020) by Awika SamukrsamanBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Awika Samukrsaman by Awika SamukrsamanBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Home for Heaven (2020/2020) by Yanusak NoasangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

"Do we still love one another?"

The previous 5 artists expressed the significance of tangible environments, but for Yanusak Noasang, he is interested in an intangible environment, such as culture and traditions. For this reason, he created sculpture to express his sentiment about a fading north eastern Thai tradition. In the Bun Phawet Festival, people used to make Tungs (a type of flag) with as many tails as the number of people in their family. These Tung could be seen hanging colorfully around temple pavilions, reflecting the family bond and communal unity, a disappearing sight in today’s time.

Home for Heaven (2020/2020) by Yanusak NoasangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Home for Heaven (2020/2020) by Yanusak NoasangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

"I began to question my community:" Do we still love each other? " Therefore, I would like to create a sculpture which reflects native origin and the value of local identity and culture. After the end of this exhibition, I will give Tungs to various temples for merit, and to ensure that this tradition does not disappear. "

Home for Heaven (2020/2020) by Yanusak NoasangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Yanusak Noasang by Yanusak NoasangBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Mainstay of Three Times and The Pillar Monument (2020/2020) by Suchon SujitBangkok Art and Culture Centre

"Sometimes, our unconscious mind turns us into animals."

For Suchon Sujit, the environment that he is interested in are our friends the animals. Although humans have developed physically, physiologically, culturally, humans still have instincts similar to animals such as need for sustenance, excretion, sexual desire. So, what are the criteria for measuring the differences between humans and animals?

Mainstay of Three Times and The Pillar Monument (2020/2020) by Suchon SujitBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Mainstay of Three Times and The Pillar Monument (2020/2020) by Suchon SujitBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Suchon expressed in his sculptures the concept that humans and animals share many characteristics, except the human’s ability to distance himself from our instinct by learning from past experiences and moral codes.

Suchon Sujit by Suchon SujitBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Soul, The myth, Giant, instagram.com/ronarong.b and Absurd (2020/2020) by Ronarong ButthongkaewBangkok Art and Culture Centre

“The Unreal can heal my mind that is hurt because of the real world.”

Sometimes the surrounding environment affects our feelings and emotions. Ronarong Butthongkaew represented artworks such as drawing, video and 3D animation that he created to take a closer look into his internal conversation. He started drawing and began translating them into people, animals, and free shapes that he had never known or found a reason for before.

Soul, The myth, Giant, instagram.com/ronarong.b and Absurd (2020/2020) by Ronarong ButthongkaewBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Soul, The myth, Giant, instagram.com/ronarong.b and Absurd (2020/2020) by Ronarong ButthongkaewBangkok Art and Culture Centre

For Ronarong, these artworks are reflections of his conception, a series of imaginative physical forms which cradle and keep his mind from becoming corrupted by the real, twisted environment that he inhabits.

Soul, The myth, Giant, instagram.com/ronarong.b and Absurd (2020/2020) by Ronarong ButthongkaewBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Ronarong Butthongkaew by Ronarong ButthongkaewBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Fluidity of Change (2020/2020) by Bangkok Art and Culture CentreBangkok Art and Culture Centre

All 8 artists presented the environment in diverse and interesting perspectives. Whether you definition of environment is the same or different, we sincerely hope that “Fluidity of Change” will give you a new perspective on beauty as well as encouraging you to consider and seek a balance coexistence between humans and nature.

Fluidity of Change (2020/2020) by Bangkok Art and Culture CentreBangkok Art and Culture Centre

About the fifth Early Years Project

The eight participating artists’ creations will be reviewed by a panel of judges comprising Michael Shaowanasai, Asst. Prof. Dr. Prapon Kumjim, Sanitas Pradittasnee, Asst. Prof. Dr.Supachai Areerungruang, Sureerat Leeswadtrakul and Suebsang Sangwachirapiban. Two winning artists will be chosen to receive a mobility and a residency funding to further build upon their experiences, creative tendencies, and conceptual thinking as they equip themselves for the art world.

Steel Materials from Millcon Steel Public Company Limited (2020/2020) by Bangkok Art and Culture CentreBangkok Art and Culture Centre

Millcon Steel Public Company Limited

The fifth edition of its Early Years Project exhibition is sponsored by Millcon Steel Public Company Limited. The company has been one of the leading steel manufacturers and distributors in Thailand. Established in 1998, the company focuses on expanding investment in raw material production under the “Green Mill” Project, which is a project to build Electronic Arc Furnace (EF), an eco-friendly technology which recycles used steel in our daily life.Today, “Millcon” is committed to rewriting the future of sustainable metal industry by becoming an important wheel driving the steel industry at both regional and global levels and also encouraging the expansion of the country's economy in the region.

Credits: Story

Exhibition Name: EARLY YEARS PROJECT #5 by MILLCON: 20/20 Fluidity of Change

Viewing Period: 5 March - September 2020, at Main Gallery on 9th floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Thailand

Organized by: Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
Main sponsor: Thai Beverage Public Company Limited
Project Sponsor: Millcon Steel Public Company Limited
Photos: Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
Address: 939 Rama 1 Road, Wangmai, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Opening Time: Tuesday - Sunday, at 10.00 - 19.00 hrs. (closed on Mondays), last admission to Main Gallery at 18.30 hrs.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

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