Human AlieNation Art Exhibition: Contemporary Art and Anthropology
Human AlieNation Art Exhibition: Contemporary Art and Anthropology
The fields of art and anthropology, despite their different working processes and approaches to practice, share one fundamental commonality: their ability to reflect situations and movements that are currently occurring in society. Generally, anthropologists explore small-scale groups of humans in order to offer an analytic synthesis to be compared to general society on a larger scale. Meanwhile, artists endeavor to reflect situations and how they impact individuals such that can be connected to society as well. They then transform that reflection in a creative manner through the form of either a tangible or intangible object.
This exhibition project not only presents such reflections on what people encounter in contemporary society, but also reveals the collaborative practice of its creators. Kamolwan Boonphokaew, as an anthropologist-cum-curator, joins hands with a group of artists of varied social statuses and interests to give expression to hidden aspects of cultural politics in modern-day Thailand. In this project, what has typically been hidden will be exposed, and what is normally intangible will be made tangible. This is not for the sake of word play, but is rather intended to exemplify subjects that are normally overshadowed and underexplored. In this presentation, what is visible may hide something invisible. Meanwhile, what is invisible may reveal something that should or cannot be exposed as well.
Human AlieNation utilizes a core concept of Karl Marx as a springboard to explain what is happening in the current age of domestic economic instability and insecure social and political scenarios. This alienation has originated from what has been created by humans, and reflects the characteristics and characters of people living in anxiety. As a result, these people are alienated from both society and themselves. This framework also conveys the individual as an Alien in his own Nation, which will eventually lead him to becoming a totally submissive subject to all powers.
One possible lens through which we can attempt to interpret and understand what is happening in contemporary Thai society is one created by fusing the working processes of contemporary art and anthropological survey as a special methodology. This method is unique in the way that feeling and perception will be strong focal points, and it can be well related to various multi-sensorial experiences. Through this approach, the artists effectively serve as anthropologists to undertake their own socio-cultural surveys, bringing the resultant thoughts and data to be minimized and transformed in the form of visual cultural objects. In this journey, the anthropologist has also joined and entered into the realm of arts and artists to make her own exploration. Finally, the delivered study outcomes are extended through
the method of Visual Anthropology.
Therefore, the organizer expects the audiences, in viewing this exhibition, to leave all things behind in order to get back to the real matter of aisthetikos (or Îąáž°ÏÎļηÏÎđΚÏÏ in Greek). The original notion of this ancient term, the origin of the term aesthetics, deals with perception through feeling. Therefore, the exhibition organizer believes that âfeelingâ is the departure point for a journey to connect with past experiences, and it also assists in the construction of new experiences that will later evolve to become knowledge at various levels. With this utilization of feeling as a learning guide, what was once viewed as barriers blocking art will become living and studying spaces from which boundaries will become reduced and eventually vanish.
Project Objectives
1.1.To offer space for those alienated from society through the creative work and interpretations of four artists who have full freedom to express their thoughts and to choose their working approaches;
1.2.To create a learning experience for students and the general public based on the working role of the artists.
Participating Artists
This exhibition features the first-time gathering of four Thai artists: Nopchai Ungkavatanapong, Nipan Oranniwesna, Chitti Kasemkitvatana, and Wantanee Siripattananuntakul. All play a significant role as pioneers in rendering works of contemporary Thai art that can be communicable with, as well as connect to, global art circles. Each has his or her own impressive set of creative output, detailed as follows:
Nopchai Ungkavatanapong completed his masters degree from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. In 2002, he participated in an artist residency program at Ecole Nationale dâArts de Paris-Cergy Residency, Cergy, France, and, at Gresol Art, Girona, Spain, in 2003. Now, besides his international reputation and participation in several international art exhibitions overseas, he is a full-time lecturer for the project of establishing the department of mixed media at the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture, and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University, Thailand. Noppachaiâs signature as a mixed media artist is his effort to reconstruct the pre-occupied perceptions and interpretations of audiences. Among his recognized works is Colour For Guardian Spirits, displayed in both Thailand and Berlin, Germany. In 2013, he was also invited to join the Singapore Biennale.
Nipan Oranniwesna finished his printmaking study at the Tokyo National University of Fine Art and Music, Tokyo, Japan. He has joined exhibitions in both domestic and international arenas since his college years. One of his major honors is having been chosen as a Thai representative artist to join the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007. Since then, his name has regularly appeared as a Thai artist represented in international arenas, including the 18th Biennale of Sydney and the Singapore Biennale.
Chitti Kasemkitvatana completed his education in fine art at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Currently, he works as an independent artist and curator, recognized for his poetic approach and working style, and his not abiding to any particular presentation form. His past works include three-dimensional projects, installation work, books, and more. All are displayed in both physical and virtual spaces. His past exhibitions include those at Secession, Vienna; CAPC Musee d'Art Contemporain, Bordeaux; PS1, New York; Frac-Ile-de-France / Le Plateau, Paris; Level One, Paris; Times Museum, Guangzhou; and Centre EuropÃĐen dâActions Artistiques Contemporaines, Strasbourg. His recent solo show is titled One Moment into Another: A Collision, under the sponsorship of Berliner Kunstler-programm des DAAD.
Wantanee Siripattananuntakul completed her education in sculpture at the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture, and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University, and has furthered her studies in the field of media arts at the University of the Arts Bremen, Germany. She is recognized for exploring the potential of works of art to raise many social questions and to increase awareness of social issues. In 2007, she returned to her homeland to present her exhibition in Thailand, and was chosen to be the representative of Thai artists to join the 53rd Venice Biennale. Most of her renowned past works are in the forms of video art, sculptures, and installations based on the utilization of many new forms of media. They include Wantanocchiobot'09 (2009); (Dis)continuity (2012); Living with un Common Value (2012), displayed at Kuenstler Haus, Bremen, Germany; III (2014); and, State of Ridiculous (2015).
This collaboration of the four artists is an amalgamation of various ways of approaching artistic creations aimed at reflecting the evolution of contemporary Thai art production and the connection between the contemporary Thai art scene and its surrounding context. In terms of physical appearance of their presented oeuvre, all four participants have their own idiosyncratic styles, forms of expression, and concepts of working. In terms of internal spirit, each also has his or her own distinctive ideology, beliefs, and living experiences. Nonetheless, the artistic congregation of these four members can more or less be seen as representing the spirit of the age.
Noppachaiâs works and approach echo turbulent social views, while Chitti questions human beingsâ ways of living, and also seeks to revise the separation of oneâs body and
mind so as to avoid the effect of alienation and diversification. Interestingly, Nipanâs work reflects the lives of those around himself, as well as the neglected ones, such as immigrant laborers from the province and neighboring countries. The production of his works is based on the context of bridging the relationship of those from both outside and inside areas. For Wantanee, she employs herself as a case study to reflect what results from changed regulations and social structures. All aim to depict the lives and living conditions of the general populace.
Exhibited Works
This project is a mixture of various forms of visual art works, such as video installations, site-specific installations, and so on, of all four artists. All items will be displayed together with the field notes of the anthropologist who works as the exhibition curator. The field recordings are in the form of video footage, photo images, and various related documents.
Exhibition Period
Installation Date: July 25th â August 3rd, 2016
Exhibition Date: August 4th â August 31st, 2016
Dismantling Date: September 1st, 2016 onwards
Exhibition Site
Art Gallery, Silpakorn University (Wang Tha Phra campus), on both first and second floors.
Remark
All exhibited works are legal and copyright subjects of the artists themselves. To show appreciation, names of all sponsors and patrons will be featured in all PR media related to the exhibition.
Kamolwan Boonphokaew
curator
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