Any Thais who happened to lose a shoe or two while visiting South Korea might be able to find them again in a 17-metre-tall art installation unveiled outside Seoul Station on Saturday.

“Shoes Tree” is made of more than 30,000 well-worn shoes and, since its unveiling coincided with the opening of Seoullo 7017 – the city’s first roadway- turned-pedestrian park – it’s probably intended to get people walking.

Modelled after New York’s much-admired High Line park, a re-purposed railway, Seoul’s strolling park stretches for about a kilometre and links to surrounding areas, including Seoul Station and Namdaemun Market.

“Shoes Tree” at the centre of Seoullo 7017 was designed and installed by environmental artist Hwang Ji-hae. Flower seeds have been planted inside each shoe.

Environmental artist Hwang Jihae’s “Shoes Tree” is a towering art installation made of used footwear. Photo/The Korea Herald

“We invited Hwang to install it here to demonstrate the meaning of ‘urban restoration’,” says Choi Kwang-bin of the city’s gardening department. (Yes, Seoul has a gardening department.) “Both ‘Shoes Tree’ and Seoullo 7017 are given new life with new meaning, reborn as creative upcycled art and a unique park, respectively.”

Hwang made his tree out of shoes to pay tribute to historic Yeomcheon-gyo, a street long famous for its purveyors of handmade shoes, which is right behind Seoullo 7017.

Seoullo 7017, begun four years ago, makes use of the disused overpass of a highway that once connected western and central Seoul. Citizens wanted the overpass removed after it was classified as dangerous in 2006.

The “70” in the new parkway’s name refers to 1970, when the Seoul Station flyover was constructed, while the “17” alludes to the number of walkways connected to it, as well as this year.

“Shoes Tree” will be in place through May 29. Residents were able to hang their own shoes and drawings of flowers on the installation when it was unveiled on Saturday.

Other events involving citizen participation will continue at Seoullo 7017 until June 18.

She’s got us in suspense

Anchalee Arayapongpanich has been watching too many scary movies. “Thriller & Horror”, an exhibition of her fantasy paintings at the Ardel Gallery of Modern Art through June 25, features self-portraits of the artist in the guise of famous actors from her favourite Hollywood blockbusters.

The gallery is on Boromrachachonnanee Road in Thonburi. Find out more at ArdelGallery.com.

Beauty in unexpected places

Canadian photographer Tim Pelling’s Bangkok waterscapes will be on view in the exhibition “Liquid Bangkok” at the Soy Sauce Factory in the Charoen Krung area from June 3 to 24. Pelling captures the unexpected beauty of neglected and degraded klongs around the city. In slow exposures, he highlights the water’s movement in semi-abstract scenes framed by clotheslines, old homes and lonely trees. Learn more on the “SoySauceFactory” Facebook page.

A right Blastard

The exhibition “A Creature Apart” at Yenakart Villa through June 24 has installations, sculptures, paintings, photographs and a video by Filipino -Thai artist Rook Floro. Front and centre is a character named “Blastard”, the artist’s “most recent alter ego”, who struggles to contain his lust and strike a balance between fantasy and reality.

Check out the “yenakartvilla” page on Facebook.

It’s a long story

Frenchman Gilles Rieu makes “One Stop in Bangkok” tonight with a show of paintings that’s toured the world. It’s presented at the Alliance Francise as part of a French cultural series. Rieu paints on 10-metre-long rolls of paper, recalling beat writer Jack Kerouac’s seamless manuscript for “On the Road”, incorporating imagery, graphics, languages and “pictorial gestures”. The exhibition continues through June 11. On Facebook, look for “AllianceFancaiseBangkok”.

For the very first time in Asia, visitors will get a chance to meet Paul, the most advanced sketching robot in the world. Curated by YenakArt Villa, Paul will show off his amazing artistic skills by drawing people’s portraits in three distinctive styles.

Among the participating galleries at the Hotel Art Fair Bangkok 2017, organised by Farmgroup, are Artist+Run, Atta Gallery and Paw Dee Lifestyle, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok Citycity Gallery, C.A.P Studio + Jojo Kobe, Chardchakaj Portrait Studio & Antique Photo, Claustrophobic, Doo ood Group, Gallery Seescape, H Gallery Bangkok, Jack Poohvis & NEV3R, Lik Sriprasert, and Lyla Gallery. Celebrated art collectors Dr Apinan Poshyananda and Chomwan Weeraworawit will also showcase their private collections.

Vorathit Kruavanichkit, executive of Farmgroup, explains that the objective of Hotel Art Fair Bangkok is to give the public easy access to art and offer Thai artists and Thai galleries a platform to make themselves known to the larger audience. The fair also aims to generate more income for artists, designers and galleries, as the firm believes that the unique talents of Thai artists are second to none.

“The fair is different every year thanks to a new venue and never-seen-before artworks.  Each gallery has its own unique style and always curates new art to showcase, so every year audiences can expect something refreshing and unique,” Vorathit says.

“The fair serves as a loud voice in helping Thai artists move to a wider circuit. Thailand has many excellent artworks and many talented Thai artists who deserve to be internationally recognised. This year I’m bringing abstract paintings by several renowned Thai painters to showcase at this fair, including works by Thawijit Puengkasemsomboon, Somyot Hananuntasuk and Udom Udomsrianan. The selection will also include works by the up-and-coming generation of artists such as Paphonsak La-or from Chiang Mai,” adds Chiang Rai-based artist Angkrit Ajchariyasophon from Artist+Run.

The opening reception is on June 23. Find out more at (02) 119 7278 or visit Facebook page “Hotel Art Fair”.

The 1982 “Untitled” of a skull-like head in oil-stick, acrylic and spray paint on a giant canvas was the star lot of the auction season this May, which wraps Friday with more than $1 billion in sales.

Sotheby’s said it was snapped up by the same Japanese entrepreneur, 41-year-old Yusaku Maezawa, who set the previous Jean-Michel Basquiat auction record last year, dropping $57.3 million on a self-portrait.

The $110.5 million price tag was a record for any US artist at auction and the highest at auction for a post-1980 artwork, Sotheby’s said.

“I am happy to announce that I just won this masterpiece,” Maezawa wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of himself with the picture.

“When I first encountered this painting, I was struck with so much excitement and gratitude for my love of art. I want to share that experience with as many people as possible.”

Cheers and applause greeted the sale, which almost doubled the previous Basquiat auction record of $57 million. During bidding, the auctioneer offered occasional moments of levity and encouragement.

“It’s a great masterpiece at $98 million dollars,” he said to laughter in the room. The $110.5 million price tag includes the buyer’s premium.

Basquiat, born in Brooklyn to Haitian and Puerto Rican parents died in 1988 of an overdose aged just 27 after a fleeting eight-year career.

“Untitled” provoked a tense 10-minute bidding war in the room and on the telephone, before ultimately going to Maezawa via telephone.

The canvas had been virtually unseen in public since being bought in 1984 for $19,000. It was valued pre-sale in excess of $60 million.

– ‘Pantheon of greats’ –

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Sotheby’s announced that the painting will be housed eventually in a museum based in Maezawa’s hometown of Chiba, Japan.

The house parted with a total of $319 million worth of post-war and contemporary art at Thursday’s evening auction, one day after rival Christie’s sold $448 million at its own version of the same sale.

The subject of much of Basquiat’s work — ordeals endured by blacks in America — is finding renewed resonance in the wake of nationwide US protests since 2014 about the shootings of unarmed black men by police.

Christie’s sold Basquiat’s “La Hara” — an acrylic and oil-stick of an angry-looking New York police officer — for $35 million on Wednesday.

“Breaking $100 million for a work which is that recent is definitely extraordinary. I think it just speaks about the talent of this guy,” said Gregoire Billault, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art.

“I’ve never seen so much emotions in such a painting,” he said. “He’s bringing something never seen before.”

“Now he goes into the pantheon of great, great artists,” said Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe. “It’s as simple as that.”

Christie’s announced Thursday that its impressionist, modern, post-war and contemporary sales this week totalled $842.5 million, which it said was up $220 million over its sales last season in November.

Sotheby’s concludes its week of sales on Friday.

Sotheby’s also sold Roy Lichtenstein’s “Nude Sunbathing” for $24 million Thursday and broke records for Keith Haring, Blinky Palermo, Mira Schendel, Wolfgang Tillmans, Jonas Wood and Takeo Yamaguchi.

This season saw a majority of art either coming fresh to market or being offered at auction for the first time in 20 years or more.

Pablo Picasso holds the world record for the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction. His “The Women of Algiers (Version 0)” fetched $179.4 million at Christie’s in New York in 2015.

It was a powerful statement for our digital age: More than 300 people from 23 countries, all involved in children’s books, gathering in Bangkok to discuss what the future holds for their craft and for print in general.

The third Asia Oceania Regional Congress of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) was held from May 9 to 12 at Central World’s Thailand Knowledge Park.

IBBY has more than 70 national associations around the globe. ThaiBBY was the host for this conference.

IBBY president Wally de Doncker said the board works not only to promote reading and try to give kids everywhere the same chances to enjoy reading, it also fosters mutual understanding among the world’s peoples.

And, he said, in an age when the line between truth and lies is increasingly blurred, being well read and able to think critically has become all the more important.

The theme for this session was “Read = Life: Reading in the Digital Age”. Writers, illustrators, publishers, storytellers, teachers and other specialists in the subject of children came from as far away as Uganda, Canada and New Zealand.

TK Park acting director general Rames Promyen noted that the digital age has significantly changed people’s ways of life, and meanwhile children’s stories have moved to digital platforms. Questions arise. How important does reading remain for people today? Should children’s books be any different in the digital era? How can parents and other adults continue encouraging children to learn through reading?

“We had talks and workshops running in parallel in four different rooms, on many interesting topics related to the changing world of children’s reading,” Rames said. “We looked at cultural diversity in children’s books and many other aspects.

“As digital lifestyles take over, learning to adapt to the new media is a challenge. Efforts to find a balance between digital and printed material will continue – we have to learn how to use every format to enhance the value of reading among children.”

Takaaki Kuroda, chief editor and general manager at Japanese publisher Gakken Plus, gave a talk about “fusing” books and technology.

Sharing the latest innovations seen in Japan, he said it was found that digitised textbooks are no match for printed ones. So the idea was to mix the two, beginning with a “Music Study Project” series with synthesised Vocaloid “characters” singing songs about history, physics, mathematics and chemistry.

Vocaloid software, which renders the human voice more robotic-sounding, has proved highly popular among Japanese youth and produces star performers.

“Digitising printed books as e-books isn’t always good for children, so we’re trying to use the best points of both technology and paper, fusing them and making them attractive and easy to use,” Kuroda said.

“Our goal is to make learning more enjoyable and increase the number of children who can actively learn on their own.”

TK Park executive adviser Dr Tatsanai Wongpisethkul and children’s book editor Rapeepan Pattanawech talked about “Diversity through Picture Books”.

The “Local Knowledge Book Series” available at TK Park, with titles from every region of Thailand, provides an example of how local content can be created even in remote areas. The project started in southern Yala province 10 years ago, amid tremendous local support, when a branch of TK Park opened there.

“The key thing is to maintain the local point of view while sharing ideas, stories and information about culture, religion, race, language and tradition, and then connecting them to the outside world,” Tatsanai explained. The picture-book series is available at 34 TK Park-allied libraries in 34 provinces.

Thomas Merrington, who handles the Peter Rabbit brand for UK-based publisher Penguin Random House Children’s, described how he goes about building the popularity of the most beloved of Beatrix Potter’s animal characters.

Beyond Peter Rabbit’s perennial appeal in the classic storybooks, he said, bringing the character to more young parents and their children involves licensing, retail product, animated appearances and – the latest development – a full-length film scheduled for release next year.

Among the workshops at the conference, the Mokomoko Group, the Japanese pioneer in “paper theatre” picture books fashioned from cloth (an art form known as kamishibai), had a member of the International Kamishibai Association of Japan showing folks how it’s done.

Susana Maria Notti from Argentina led a workshop titled “Techniques for Promoting Children’s Literacy”, and the Tokyo Children’s Library had one on “Storytelling in the Digital Age”.

To celebrate the success of the congress, several tour-outings were organised for the final day, one of them to the Wat Thatthong kindergarten playground.

Wisdom Playground Foundation president Dissakorn Kunthara came up with the concept, giving youngsters a place to splash in water, climb ropes and watch the world from a tree house. It stimulates thinking and imbues the desire to explore and make sense of the unknown, a concept Dissakorn termed “mind-based learning”.

Vijaylakshmi Nagaraj, an author and storyteller from India, attended the congress with fellow members of the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children.

“It gave me an opportunity to meet and listen and talk to delegates from various countries,” she said.

“It was interesting to note that many of the issues we face are similar, though the responses are diverse. But we’re all sincere in reaching out to children, encouraging them to read and creating fresh ideas through technology. At the same time, our shared concerns about the adverse effects of technology were also dealt with.”

For a gathering of people who tend to be cautious about electronic communications, there was no hesitation as it ended to cement new friendships by forging links on – what else – the social media. Thousands of Twitter and Facebook messages from now, they’ll be meeting again in person at the next congress, in Beijing in 2019.

 “We are thrilled with the energy and dynamism of the workshop’s participants and guest artists,” said Victor Chen, marketing manager of Monogram Asia. “A much-discussed topic during the workshop was the social role street photography plays in a country’s future and the need for street photographers to document life today for tomorrow’s generations. The picture stories that were told by participants through their pictures during the photo walk were incredible.”

“The event was a huge success and the work doesn’t stop here. We are already planning for the next instalment for 8×8 and our lenses are focused on Jakarta.”

The workshop provided participants an opportunity to gain insight from on-the-street experiences that ended with a critique and review session with the guest artists. A panel of guest speakers, including Eric Kim, Xyza Bacani, Oliver Lang, Bellamy Hunt, Take Kayo, Paul Yan, Brendan Ó Se, Gathot Subroto, Sheldon Serkin, Chatchai Boonyaprapatsara and Rammy Narula, held a series of insightful talks and roundtable discussions.

The workshop embraced documenting a city’s life through various imaging devices, predominantly digital and film cameras and ever-present smartphones. Its primary sponsor, Jaymart, helped bring this concept to life.

Devon Buy from Malaysia said that the speakers not only shared information very freely, but also intimate details about their lives, which helped participants understand why they got into photography and their obsession with their projects. Meanwhile Kitty Chirapongse from Thailand added: “The best part is that you are surrounded by like-minded people so you make friends and connections that help you learn from each other.”

The group will examine environmental pollution due to industrialisation and Kildall will help participants in collecting and mapping data as well as show them how to turn data into sculptures. The goal is to stimulate a conversation around the effects of rapid development and industrialisation.

Participants are expected to attend 20 hours of workshop activity and 40 hours of project development from June 3 – 22. The workshop itself takes place on June 3 and 4 and June 10 and 11, with optional activities arranged from June 6 to- 8. Projects will be developed from June 12 to 22.

American Arts Incubator (AAI) is an exchange programme designed to help local communities address social issues using digital and new media art. AAI is managed by ZERO1 in partnership with Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, the US Embassy Bangkok, and the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). On June 2, there will be Artist Talk at the Friends of BACC Room on BACC’s sixth floor. The workshops will also be held at the BACC as will the exhibition, which is slated to run from June 22 to 20 in the fifth floor exhibition hall. Admission is free but pre-registration for the workshop is required. Pre-registration is open until May 19 athttp://bit.ly/artsincubator2017

For more information, call (02) 205 4490 or email BangkokPD@state.gov.

Read more about the AAI product at www.AmericanArtsIncubator.org,Facebook.com/AAIThaiand www.Bacc.or.th. 

Now in its 40th edition, the contest will select seven Excellence Award winners and 14 Honourable Mention Award winners win July and later in November name the Grand Prize winner selected from the seven Excellence Award-winning entries.

The Grand Prize winner will receive one million yen (Bt305,5000 in prize money and a Canon product, and his/her works will be showcased in a solo exhibition at the New Cosmos of Photography Exhibition 2018 in Tokyo.

The winners of the Excellence Award will each receive 200,000 yen prize money while the Honourable Mention Award winners will each go home with 30,000 yen. The works of winners of these both awards will be published in the next issue of the New Cosmos of Photography Magazine and on its website.

Interested person can apply as an individual or a group at the New Cosmos of Photography homepage global.canon/en/newcosmos. The same person may not enter simultaneously as an individual and a group. Application is free.

Works can be submitted by post or online in digital forms (still images/ videos). Entries are limited to original photographic works that have not been selected for awards or distinctions in other contests or competitions. Works submitted to other contests or competitions that are still being judged may not be entered in this contest.

The image size of each photograph should be 1200×1600 pixels or larger. Up to 1,000 MB can be uploaded. The recommended file format is JPEG with a resolution of 72 dpi. The total file size of the video cannot exceed 1,000 MB. The only format accepted is MP4.

Entries will be accepted until June 8 and the submission period runs through June 15. Submissions postmarked or picked up by a courier on the final day will be accepted. Online submissions will be accepted until 23.59 (Japan time) on the final day.

Among the contemporary art at this year’s Venice Biennale is “Krung Thep Bangkok”, an exhibition of drawings, sculptures, installation and video by Somboon Hormtientong, commissioned by the Culture Ministry’s Office of Contemporary Art and Culture to be the point man at the Thai art pavilion.

At the Thai pavilion, Somboon Hormtientong gives visitors to the Venice Biennale a fundamentally different view of the Thai capital in his show “Krung Thep Bangkok”. Photo/Facebook/Thai Pavilion 2017

Thailand is among 85 countries that have set up pavilions at the “Viva Arte Viva” Biennale that opened on Saturday and continues into November.

Christine Macel, the curator for the 57th edition of the Biennale, put out a call for art to reassure a world “full of conflicts and shocks”, and Somboon, 68, has responded with a paradoxical view of Bangkok utterly unlike the city perceived by tourists.

Somboon Hormtientong is represent at Thai Pavilion. Photo/Thai Pavilion 2017

In a show curated by gallery owner Numthong Saetang, Somboon digs beneath the ultramodern surface to look at ordinary lives, mining the mundane activities and background stories and discovering a disguised beauty in each.

Typically Thai items feel like hidden treasures – a Buddha statue in an old wooden box, silver alms bowls viewed through glass, plastic baskets and stools from any marketplace fashioned into appealing sculptures.

In Somboon’s video, he’s seen exploring the city’s dynamic neighbourhoods and revelling in the culture.

Thailand has been presenting the national pavilion at the prominent Venice Biennale art festival since 2003.  Commissioned by the Culture Ministry’s Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Thailand brings more than than 20 leading Thai artists and curators to the festival.

Kawita Vatanajyankur becomes a weigh scale for bamboo baskets of rice in a video on view in the northern Italian city. Courtesy of Kawita Vatanajyankur

Not quite part of the main festival, young artists Kawita Vatanajyankur and Anon Pairot are making their Venice debuts with a show called “Island in the Stream”, co-curated by Japan’s Yoichi Nakamuta and Italian Stefano Casciani. The two Thais, along with Korean designer Kwangho Lee and the Invisible Design Lab of Japan are among the emerging Asian artists featured in the Alamak Pavilion inside the historic Arsenale Docks.

One of Thailand’s hottest female artists, Kawita is showing her sensual, powerful videos. One depicts the 30-year-old artist getting intimate with shaved ice and various juicy fruits and plunging her head into a colander filled with eggs.

In another she looks like a yogi balancing heavy traditional baskets of rice, vegetables and banana as her slim body hangs in the air. Her experiments, testing her body’s limits, are playful but also often physically painful.

Taking inspiration from the Yugoslavian-born performance artist Marina Abramovich, Kawita counters the “passive” elements ascribed to Asian women through powerful studies of the ways in which women are viewed psychologically, socially and culturally.

Kawita makes dramatic use of luminous colours in her work, tapping into the digitally networked visual language of consumption and instant gratification.

Apinan Poshayananda takes a ride on Anon Pairot’s rattan “Chiang Rai Ferrari” in the Alamak Pavilion in Venice. Photo/Facebook/Anon Pairot

Designer-artist Anon meanwhile has on view his best-known piece – a white, full-sized Ferrari woven from rattan, a hit at the 2016 Art Stage Singapore.

Taking cues from both rustic craftsmanship and modern industrial design, from hybrid culture and poetic concepts, the 38-year-old wants us to look deeper into the meaning of everyday objects.

Just as startling as his parody “Chang Rai Ferrari” assembled by skilled Thai craftsmen is a moving rendering of rice sacks through which Anon referenced fond family memories.

The Biennale continues through November 26.

Weary of the modern-day “global disorder” of politics and conflicts? The 57th Venice Biennale art festival promises to lift the spirits of those frazzled by everything from Brexit to global warming.

“Viva Arte Viva”, which opened on Saturday in the northern Italian city, is “a passionate outcry for art” in a world “full of conflicts and shocks”, says curator Christine Macel.

Macel, chief curator of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, has brought together 120 artists from 50 countries – with the emphasis on rediscovering great artists who might have been overlooked, rather than blowing the trumpets of rising stars.

“The Biennale challenge is to give as global a picture as possible of the artistic situation” across the world, she says.

US artist Sheila Hicks on display at the Arsenale at the 57th Venice Biannale in Venice. Photo/EPA

Among those exhibiting are pioneering US fibre artist Sheila Hicks, West German-born American Kiki Smith and Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, the man behind the vast sun at Britain’s Tate Modern in 2003 and the New York waterfalls in 2008.

France’s Loris Greaud pays homage to the city’s famed glassblowers – forced by the Venetian Senate in 1291 to settle on Murano island to protect the industry’s secrets – by bringing a disused furnace back to life in “The Unplayed Notes Factory”.

Swiss-born Julian Charriere, perhaps best known for dyeing the feathers of live pigeons bright colours and releasing them into Venice’s Saint Mark’s Square in 2015, this year brings “Future Fossil Spaces” – towers of salt bricks extracted from deposits in Bolivia.

Some exhibits are dotted around La Serenissima (the Most Serene), as Venice is known.

Visitors should take to the gondolas for the best view of the glinting “Golden Tour” by American James Lee Byars, which stands proudly on the canal-front next to the Peggy Guggenheim museum.

Alongside the contemporary-art exhibition, 85 countries are putting on their own national pavilions at the Biennale.

People visit the “Studio Venezia” a musical space made by French artist Xavier Veilhan. Photo/AFP

The French one featured a recording studio with classical, baroque, electronic and folk instruments, which will host 100 professional musicians from different countries during the exposition, with visitors able to drop in on some lively jam sessions.

Several countries are showing for the first time in Venice, from Antigua and Barbuda to Kazakhstan and Nigeria.

However, it’s impossible to escape the modern world’s problems altogether, even at the Biennale. “The Pavilion of Joys and Fears”, for example, explores “new feelings of alienation due to forced migrations or mass surveillance” in a world shaken by conflicts, wars, increasing inequality and the rise of populism.

But the topics are approached with humour or warmth, aimed at energising those suffering from 21st-century blues. “At a time of global disorder, art embraces life. Art is the last bastion,” Macel says.

Asylum seekers make lamps as part of the work “Green Light” by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson.Photo/AFP

At the heart of her show lies Eliasson’s “green light” installation, where refugees and visitors come together in a workshop to assemble lamps designed by the artist and share stories.

As the worst migrant crisis since World War II rocks Europe, it represents the metaphorical green light he urges his homeland and other countries to give to taking in those fleeing conflict and persecution.

In the wake of the US presidential election, American Charles Atlas presents the large-screen video work, “The Tyranny of Consciousness”, in which drag queen Lady Bunny bemoans American politics to a disco beat.

The Golden Lion for lifetime achievement goes to the pioneering US feminist-performance artist Carolee Schneemann, famed for using her body to examine the role of female sensuality and the overthrow of oppressive social conventions.

The Venice Biennale is held in odd-numbered years. This year’s event will run until November 26.