Creating "In Situ" at Isara Winitchai

The Concept
Contemporary artists and multi-disciplinary experts were invited to examine the passage of time in the site and the subjective experience of history, and to creatively respond to the layers of time and history that lay dormant within the physical structures of the former Front Palace.

In Situ
Looking at the past and reading it as a living process, history is treated as living material. This exhibition produces in situ works that encompass both performative and temporal pieces with the viewer at the center, allowing for each of the objects and artefacts to breathe and float in a shared present space. Each work reveals the building and time passing by, temporally connecting the past to the present in a newly reminisced context.

In the Thai context, this idea of multiple and co-existing narratives is not new: The mural paintings in Wang Na’s Bhuddhaisawan Chapel narrate stories of the life of the Buddha, in which events—separated in time and place—are composed within a single frame.

This idea that narratives and perspectives need not be depicted independently or linearly, is one that also inspired the Cubist masters of the early twentieth century. And so, Isara Winitchai reminds us that our human stories—our varied perspectives of events in time—necessarily coexist just as much in our history as they do to our everyday.

Through his experience and contemplation, he transforms and passes on these discoveries, through a variety of media, such as moving image, photography, and three-dimensional objects, allowing the realisation of existence.

Udomsak Krisanamis (b.1966)

Udomsak’s practice has long been characterised by his specific use of collage, creating obsessive pattern made from newspaper, noodles, cellophane and paint.

Over the past two decades Udomsak’s work has maintained a distinct formal and conceptual clarity, offering a unique experimentation with the well-worn territories of grid. While his paintings refuse to adhere to any particular context or obvious narrative, his imagery has undergone certain key transitions. Earlier paintings comprise of densely layered textured grids.

Viewed in detail, these works shift between the worldly and otherworldly, the sublime and everyday. More recently, this intricate detail has been replaced by bold, reductive statements of monochrome colours such as hazard orange and fluorescent yellow, the surface of which is built up from wedges of found material embedded between layers of acrylic paint and paper.

On Kawara
One Million Years
Set of 2 volumes - 14.4x10.5cm each volume-2012 pages per volume - Total of 4024 pages
Courtesy of Mfc-Michèle Didier, Paris and One Million Years Foundation

On Kawara’s One Million Years was specially selected for this exhibition. The set of two books include the first volume, Past – For all those who have lived and died, starts in 998031 BC and ends in 1969 AD, namely One Million Years later.

At this date starts the One Million Years in the œuvre of On Kawara, transcribed here for this edition on 2000 pages. The second volume, Future – For the last one, starts in 1993 AD and ends One Million Years later, in 1001992. This period is equally transcribed for the edition on 2000 pages.

The text of each page is laid out in 10 columns, rigorously aligned and subdivided in 5 blocks of 100 years. Each block contains 10 lines and each line contains a decennium. The two volumes of the book correspond, their internal organization is identical. At the request of the artist, portions of the books have been read aloud in locations around the world including for this exhibition in Bangkok.

On Kawara (1933 Kariya,Japan - 2014 New York)

For over five decades On Kawara examined chronological time. His artistic practice was characterized by an approach to conception of time, space, and consciousness. One of his most important projects, "One Million Years" comprises One Million Years [Past]", which was dedicated to "all those who have lived and died," and "One Million Years [Future]", addressed to "the last one.

Pratchaya Phinthong
unclock, 2019
Watchman clock paper roll, size 1 cm x uncertain length, recorded date, hour, minute and indication number (1 Foreigners 2 Thais) who received a free pass to the museum.
Courtsey of gb agency, Paris


Derived from the question of how different languages function through times, and how words are always a key to visualise history. Pratchaya realises his work through a performative act, in the form of a code of behaviour. Every day a keyword or a phrase is created for a performer to communicate to visitors and used as a free pass to the museum when a visitor conveys the keyword to the ticket office.

The happened transmitted languages or dialogues will be recorded in a form of a trace of time that constantly moves throughout the exhibition period. This trace of time appears in the exhibition space reflecting both the visibility and the unperceived of the past event and the future.

Pratchaya’s work connects and creates the shifting between individuals, time and languages that lays the various prospects of history accessible and generating different ways to memorise these stories.

Nipan Oranniwesna
'nonexistent bodies are spherical', 2019

Two curved steel circles with engraved, one in Thai and the other in Laotian, with lyrics from the Rama III-era song ‘Lao Phaen." 65 cm diameter
Mercury ball, (Permanent collection of the National Museum Bangkok) removed from Issares Rajanusorn Mansion to be displayed at Issara Winitchai Throne Hall, Museum’s glass display vitrine.
Glass blowing and grinding (Reproduction of the Mercury ball) size 23.7 x 23.7 x 48.4 cm displayed at Issares Rajanusorn Mansion, National Museum Bangkok

The Mercury Ball was reproduced by Nipan and replaces the original object which will be removed from Issares Rajanusorn Mansion to be displayed in the exhibition space, Isara Winitchai Throne Hall. The appearance and believed function taken from the Mercury ball, reflects the condition and perception between visitors and the artifacts.

The gazing authorisation given for both visitors and the artifacts reflects on the metaphorical implication of different aspects of historical understanding. The Mercury ball presented creates a dialogue with two curved steel circles with engraved ‘Lao Phaen' lyrics, in the Thai and Lao language. Lao Phaen, an unknown author’s song, talks about the life of Laotians in Thailand during the reign of King Rama III, allowing the possibility of the story to be told and read.

The two objects reflect the relationship of the perceived accessibility of different objects, a different story within a place with specific perceptions.

Curved steel circle with Lao Phaen lyrics, engraved in Laotian

Nipan Oranniwesna (b.1962)
Nipan works with various social aspects and historical research that accentuate relationship analysis between human and territory, in both psychical and conceptual ideas.

Nipan’s mediums range from painting, sculpture, mixed media, site-specific installation, photography, and video works. His practice delves into personal and collective memories, dealing poetically with spaces, urban cartography and the geo-body of the nation/state.

Nipan is appreciated for his unmistakably distilled and contemplative installations that deal with concepts of home, identity, and displacement. He deals with the perception of the viewer and the space between people and his artwork.

Curved steel circle with Lao Phaen lyrics, engraved in Thai

Rirkrit Tiravanija
Untitled (state du miroir / the mirror stage), 2019 Mobile Application

Rirkrit developed an AR (Augmented Reality) mobile application which interactively operates with “mirror screens” (Permanent collection of the National Museum).

In the past, mirror screens traditionally performed dual functions: spiritually, as a screen to deflect unwelcome spirits; and temporally, as a screen to demarcate private space. With their phones between them and the mirrors, visitors meet the apparent reflection of a fictional character, with an introspective and distinct soliloquy.

Consequently, what is evoked is a relational dynamic—and oftentimes utilitarian ambiance—that focuses on real-time experience and exchange that breaks down the barriers between the object and the spectator, and emphasizes a still rare, public accessibility of official constructs of history.

Rirkrit Tiravanija (b. 1961)
Rirkrit’s work often invites viewers to inhabit and activate his work, showing interest in subverting deeply-ingrained ways of interacting with art. He ignores the prescribed division between art and life, constructing communal environments that offer playful alternative venues for quotidian activities.

Suanplu Chorus Performance

The acapella group, Suanplu Chorus, was formed in 2000. The group's management team consists of Dusadee Bhanomyong, Kru Dusas the Managing Director, Dr. Kittiporn Tantrarungroj as the Co-founder, Gaiwal Kulwattanotai as the composer, and Ramon "Bojo" Lijauco Jr. as the conductor.