THE THIRD phase of two-year physical theatre collaboration between South Korea’s Theatre Momggol and Thailand’s B-Floor Theatre “Something Missing” at the fourth floor studio of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), brought the curtain down last night on its sixth Performative Art Festival.

From the start when a bicycle was ridden down the entrance ramp to the end when a body was left centre-stage covered with flowers, three Momggol members and four from B-Floor gave a riveting ensemble performance. It was so unified that it was difficult to work out who belonged to which company, unless you looked very carefully at the details of the movements in which the Korean guests slightly surpassed our Thai compatriots.

Aiming to explore “the theme of life experiences where something is missing, forgotten, discriminated or left behind”, B-Floor’s co-artistic director Teerawat “Ka-ge” Mulvilai and his Momggol counterpart Jongyeoun Yoon co-directed this work in such a way that the audience wouldn’t be able to tell which scene, moment or movement, was whose. Humour was more abundant than in the previous two versions seen at Thong Lor Art Space (TLAS).

With six scenes in addition to a prologue and epilogue, most of them adapted from existing literary texts, the English and Thai supertitles on the white back wall, onto which a performer sprayed red paint in one scene, more than handled the job. Moreover the Korean, English and Thai spoken by the cast members meant that if you understood all three of these languages you’d get the information three times. While some scenes, like one from “Waiting for Godot” and the “Nonthuk” episode from “Ramakien”, were new to “Something Missing”, others were revised from either the 2015 or 2016 versions at TLAS and in a new and larger space like this didn’t work as strongly.

What was never familiar, and hence always exciting, was Kamolpat Pimsarn’s sound design, in which some Korean elements were also heard and which perfectly balanced the live performance, by himself and on different instruments, and pre-recorded sound. I was seated house-right, the opposite side to where he was on the wide performance space and initially I thought all the sound and music were pre-recorded as they finely synced with the performance. It was the perfect example of how an effective design element always plays a supporting role and never draws too much attention to itself.

It should also be noted that this third phase of their collaboration was supported by our Culture Ministry while its Korean counterpart has been involved from the first. And if such a well-established company as B-Floor still has problems in finding government support, then it’s probably hopeless for other smaller and younger ones.

In terms of cultural exchange, it would be interesting to see how these two companies, who think and work alike, can sustain their relationship now that they’ve found a match in each other.

BACC’s PAF#6 has wrapped for another year, after hosting four contemporary Thai theatre productions by different groups, a performance art workshop and lecture, in addition to one theatre and one dance festival in five months. It’s a reminder again that while visual arts take centre-stage at BACC, there’s plenty more for us to enjoy, and that also includes good coffee and delectable ice-cream.

RAISING EYEBROWS

B-Floor Theatre’s next work is “Sawan Arcade”, a solo performance by award-winning actress Ornanong “Golf” Thaisriwong originally scheduled for Bangkok Theatre Festival last month. Thanks to special attention from the military junta, her previous solo “Bang Lamerd” was a big hit.

It runs from January 8 to 20 (except 16) at Democrazy Theatre Studio (MRT Lumphini station)

Tickets are Bt 550 (Bt 480 for students) at (094) 494 5104 and BFloorTheatre@gmail.com.

Check it out at http://www.BFloorTheatre.com.

SPRAY-PAINTED in murals, wielded on anti-war banners, and even once hung as a tapestry at the United Nations, Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” might be the |world’s most famous political artwork.

Now organisers of a new initiative are inviting art lovers to revisit the iconic black-and-white painting, using the latest imaging technology and releasing a trove of previously unseen documents to chart its turbulent history.

“Guernica is a source of never-ending artistic material and it’s a privilege to be part of this exhibition as an art historian,” says Rosario Peiro, head of collections at Madrid’s Reina Sofia modern art museum.

She is part of the team behind “Rethinking Guernica”, an interactive exhibition about the work.

“Putting all of this together allows you to rethink the history of the painting,” Peiro says.

“Guernica”, conceived in the depths of Spain’s devastating civil war, shows the bombing of a Basque town on April 26, 1937 by German and Italian air forces under the orders of future Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

Hundreds died in an aerial attack on civilians that shocked the world and set a precedent repeated often by German and allied forces in World War II.

Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” became a political symbol, to such a degree that it appears as an emblem in any episode of violence or the vulnerability of civilians.

Frantic telegrams

Picasso, then living in France, was commissioned by the struggling Spanish Republican government to produce a work depicting the bombing for the 1937 World Fair in Paris.

That commission and hundreds of other documents |concerning “Guernica” are |now available online for the first time.

They tell the story of a hugely well-travelled work, with stops in Scandinavia, Britain and the United States, where it spent decades on loan at New |York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

There are papers relating to its trip to Venezuela in 1948 that was cut short due to a coup d’etat, and a frantic telegram sent by MoMA collections director Alfred H |Barr Jr informing the artist |that his works were safe after a |fire tore through the museum in 1958.

“Clearly it is a political painting because it was requested by the government for a propaganda purpose,” says Peiro.

“The truth is during all these years of travel and being in different places, the work was depoliticised.”

Researchers took thousands of images using visible and ultraviolent light as well as infrared reflectography and high-definition x-rays to create a “Gigapixel” rendering that allows users to browse a 436-gigabyte composite of the work.

Telefonica’s Fernandez de Alarcon, right, and Reina Sofia Museum’s Manuel BorjaVillel, left, poses during the presentation of the project “Rethinking Guernica”. /EPA-EFE

Details of its restoration, individual paint strokes and even rogue hairs from Picasso’s brushes can be seen still stuck to the original canvas. Residue from a 1974 act of vandalism is visible in the form of barely perceptible reddish discoloration across central areas.

“For me what is interesting to see is the geography of the painting, its surface, as if it’s a kind of history map,” says Peiro.

The Reina Sofia currently dis

plays dozens of black-and-white war images alongside “Guernica”, many captured by legendary Catalan |conflict photographer Agusti Centelles.

Some critics credit the photos for Picasso’s decision to eschew his usual vivid colours in the piece.

As Catalonia’s independence crisis exposes Spain to its deepest political turbulence since returning to democracy in 1978, Peiro however insists the current installation isn’t about politics.

“We do show a lot of Barcelona photographs but that’s because the best Spanish photojournalist of |the time was Catalan,” she |said.

Peiro hopes the new project |will provide new perspectives on |one of the 20th-century’s defining images.

“‘Guernica’ is the most important work, physically and symbolically, for the museum so we have to keep on working on it,” she says.

“It’s the least we can do.”

If you are looking for distinctive furniture, Yothaka by Suwan Kongkhunthian is a great choice thanks to its use of natural materials like water hyacinth. The company has designed and produced handcrafted furniture for export to Europe for nearly 30 years and has more than 200 items on offer. Yothaka has won several awards, among them All Great Design I-Design Magazine, Good Design Award, Design Excellence, Thailand Designer of the Year, Asian Design Award winner, Prime Minister’s Export Award Thailand, Outstanding new modern furniture, Good Governance Award, the Silapatorn National Award, Bai Po Business Award, Innovative Craft Award, and Designer of the year.

For striking designs, check out Kenkoon, a brand known for outdoor furniture made with Swedish techniques and a unique mix of Asian and Western styles. The design is modern and simple, and the materials used are durable, such as teak wood and stainless steel. The brand has received numerous awards such as Design Excellence Awards (DEmark) in 2011, 2014, 2016 from Department of International Trade Promotion (Thailand), Design for Asia Awards (DFA) 2009 from the Hong Kong Design Centre, and Best Outdoor Accessories Design Awards at the International Casual Furniture Fair 2006 (Chicago USA).

Galvanii makes furniture with galvanized steel as the key material. Through its expertise in hot-dip galvanizing, along with cutting-edge design and durable material, its products are modern and unique, suitable for all lifestyles. Galvanii won the Demark Award in 2015.

Looking for cool lighting? Pin’s owner Saruta Kiatparkpoom turned her thesis project into a real business by using leftover steel from her family business to create cool items such as furniture and home decor items in Thai-inspired shapes such as the chedi andkrathong. Pin has attended international design fairs such as Maison & objet in Paris four years in a row as well as design fairs in Denmark, the UK, Japan, and Indonesia and the brand is recognised throughout Asean.

For a touch of retro and classic, check out Agal, which comes up with new products that look like vintage items, inspired by various eras. Main materials include teak wood, brass, and steel and the range includes chairs, tables and beds.

Discover these and many more in the Event Hall on the third floor of Central Chidlom daily between 10 and 10. Special deals are available for Central The 1 credit card members.

Titled “Garden of Wonder by Perrier-Jouet” it presents an exclusive work by internationally renowned French digital artist Miguel Chevalier and runs until January 7.

“Garden of Wonder by Perrier-Jouet” is an enchanting digital garden, designed as an ode to Nature, which echoes the organic curves of Art Nouveau and delicately floral aromas of Perrier-Jouet wines.  With this initiative, the Champagne House demonstrates that the natural world, transformed by artists just as it is by the Cellar Master, offers a constant source of wonderment for the senses.

With Chevalier’s installation, the Champagne House reaffirms its support for artistic creation, which has been part of the House’s heritage since its first collaboration with Emile Galle in 1902. A digital garden in perpetual motion, grown from the seeds planted by the artist, will bloom on the walls of some of the world’s most elegant nightclubs. And of course the enchanting digital garden is best enjoyed with a flute of prestige cuvee Belle Epoque.

“Nature is an endless source of inspiration in my work, just as it is for Perrier-Jouet. This collaboration came as a natural choice for me, resulting in an original creation which combines technology and beauty, dream and reality, past and future, memory and imagination,” said the artist who has also shown at the 55th Venice Biennale, the Miami Bass Museum of Art in Florida, the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels, and in Marseille where his permanent installation (“Seconde Nature”) was part of the 2013 European Culture Capital initiative.

Find out more at http://www.Miguel-Chevalier.com and http://www.Perrier-Jouet.com.

They will receive Bt100,000 worth of prizes, a Macbook, and the opportunity to represent Thailand by expressing their creativity during the Learning Program, the annual activity held for 15 winners across Asia, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Asia Young Designer Award aims to inspire students to be more innovative and motivate them to enhance their professionalism and contribute sustainably to both society and the community. Under the theme of “You for Tomorrow”, this year’s project encouraged entrants to create works that recognised the importance of design in supporting the future. It also aimed to broaden their vision and develop their skills so as to respond effectively to a fast-changing society.

“Nippon Paint sees great potential in architecture and design students who will form the next generation of design professionals and we want to play a role in supporting them to showcase their abilities. This year, we are celebrating 10 years of the project with young designers from across Thailand. We have seen many talented students display amazing creativity through 1,200 pieces of work submitted through 30 universities nationwide, which underlines the project’s success and proves it is on the right path. We are also proud of the good feedback from design students in recognising us as the leading award in Thailand,” said Watchara Siriritthichai, General Manager, Nippon Paint Decorative Coatings (Thailand).

The Gold winners in the Asia Young Designer Award 2017 are divided into 2 categories:

The Gold winner in the Architecture Design category is Varisdha Dhakoorabutr from Chulalongkorn University for her project “From Auto to Plug-in”. Aiming to use space more efficiently, From Auto to Plug-in represents a multi-purpose parking building designed as a space to be developed for a market or sales venue. The building can also be used as a public space for urbanites to grow vegetables for consumption and sale, thus creating value, career opportunities and a sustainable turnover between food and income.

In the Interior Design category, the Gold winner is Wipas Prasopchokchai from Chulalongkorn University for his project “Urban Bridging”. The project came up with the initiative to literally take Thai street food to another level through adjusting the appearance of Yaowarat Road with a focus on street food and footpath management. A bridge will serve to house the street foods vendors, leaving the footpath accessible and convenient for pedestrians. Space for eating street food will be separated to avoid potential accidents to users.

“Throughout the 10 years of the project operation, our aim has been to introduce, present and create recognition of the Asia Young Designer Award in the design profession including design students, designers, lecturers and also universities across Thailand. We will maintain and build up this award as a hub for young architecture and interior design students to showcase their creativity and abilities to create value for society and the future,” Watchara said.

And it has chosen to celebrate the new 600 sqm gallery with “The Line”, the first solo exhibition in four years of Vietnam’s foremost abstract painter Tran Van Thao.

Running through January 20, the exhibition finds Tran in a contemplative mood. While previous bodies of work took inspiration from the artist’s surrounding environments and the little joys found in everyday life, his new paintings – stylistically sparser and utilising a more muted palette yet larger in thematic scope – are sombre ponderings on life’s passages and trajectories.

There is an airiness about these new paintings, yet a marked tension as well conveying an equilibrium. Straight lines are the key element of theseries, forming linear shapes of markers or arrows – perhaps needles of compasses. In contrast with the languid circles found in Tran’s other recent works, the lines suggest an almost urgent sense of direction and movement.

In a similar manner, the canvas surfaces, textured with a plethora of material physicality and recurring motifs (lined, wrinkled, treated, imprinted with sprawling congregations of paint, oil, acrylic, graphite, and even swaths of textile appearing windswept over raining skies seem to represent the vast expanse that is a lifetime–overwhelming, serendipitous, changing from one moment to the next, unforeseeable.

Born in 1961 in Saigon, Tran Van Thao belongs to an influential group of painters that rose to prominence in the ’90s following the introduction of the 1986 Doi Moi economic reforms. Part of the seminal group of 10 artists that served as a catalyst for the Vietnamese government’s recognition of abstraction as a legitimate genre of art, Tran was one of the group’s most prominent members. Tran continues to inspire new generations of artists in Vietnam to challenge the accepted norms of art in the country.

Tran has participated in numerous exhibitions around the world. His works have been shown in institutions such as the Singapore National Art Museum, Singapore; Fujita Vente Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Pusan Metropolitan Museum, Korea; National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, the Museo Biblioteca Archivi and Bassanodel Grappa in Italy, and Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Tran has received a number of awards and prizes including the Starr Foundation Fellowship from Asian Cultural Council where he spent four months as an artist-in-residence in New York City. Tran lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City.

Find out more at http://galeriequynh.com/

The sixth edition of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s (BACC) Performative Art Festival comes to a close this week, finishing with a bang as “Something Missing”, the third and last instalment in the collaboration between South Korea’s Theatre Momggol and our B-Floor Theatre, takes the stage at the fourth floor studio.

B-Floor Theatre’s co-founder and co-artistic director Teerawat “Ka-ge” Mulvilai first met his Korean counterpart Jongyeon Yoon at the “Listen to the Cities” forum, organised by the Korean Cultural Centre Bangkok and the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS) almost three years ago, which was designed to introduce Korean and Thai performing artists and producers to each other. Finding they had a lot in common both in terms of dramatic content and theatrical styles, the two hit it off right away – thanks in part to producer Suna Choe who knows both of them very well and acted as a matchmaker.

With additional support from Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Thong Lor Art Space (TLAS), the first version of their collaboration “Something Missing”, directed by Yoon, was staged at TLAS’s first floor studio as part of the Space’s Low Fat Art Fest, during Bangkok Theatre Festival (BTF) 2015. It won two BTF Awards for best movement-based performance and best art direction.

Last November when Bangkok Theatre Festival was cancelled, the second version with the same title plus the subtitle “Rite of Passage”, directed by Ka-ge, was presented at TLAS’s fourth floor studio and rooftop.

Last month at the newly opened KOCCA Testbed 66 in Seoul, the last version of “Something Missing” premiered, and Ka-ge explains, “Both of us agree that the materials we have been researching and discussing in the past two works are sufficient and so this time we’d like to combine them – the first focuses on censorship and the second on cult culture – and work in a more conventional theatre space, as the past two works looked very much like site-specific ones.

“Also, we had only about two weeks to work together on the last two. We were able to pull them off both times because the way we work and our interests are very similar. This year we have more time and that’s thanks also to the additional support we have from our Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC). The fact that Yoon and I took turns directing and assisting in the last two years also helps speed up our collaboration. He led last month’s version and now that we’re back together, I’m taking the lead here.”

Ka-ge adds, “And now that we have more time we’re also learning more about each other’s performance techniques through workshops, instead of jumping right into the work creation process. Theatre Momggol performers have a solid background in corporeal mime; B-Floor is more varied, covering everything from Butoh and Viewpoints to Laban techniques.”

Among the B-Floor members in “Something Missing” is Sasapin “Pupe” Siriwanij who recently received the IATC Thailand Dance and Theatre award for best performance by a female artist.

She adds, “Our two directors [Ka-ge and Yoon] are so similar that they’re like twins who were separated at birth but have now reunited. With the fundamental ideas so similar, the process was really smooth and pleasant. I loved learning Momggol’s training and creative process, the details of which take us out of our comfort zones. This has allowed me to perceive physical theatre and my own body in new ways.

“It’s kind of like acquiring a new dance technique,” she continues.

“We have very similar physical exercises for training, but their details enable me to see the same movement we always do in our own training in a new way. It’s like looking at the same thing through new goggles. With a slightly different approach, you move your head, bust and torso a little differently, and that creates, for me, a deeper understanding of my own body and its capabilities.”

Ka-ge notes, “New to this year’s version is Yoon’s addition of chapters for which he has adapted such well-known literary works as ‘Man of La Mancha’ and ‘Waiting for Godot’ and a Korean folk tale.”

Pupe explains, “It’s his intention to make this work very narrative. It’s interesting to observe how he tries to achieve a clear narrative effect – with clear characterisation and motivations like in a text-based play, for example, but in a completely non-verbal way. B-Floor seldom works with a script-like kind of narrative [‘This is not politics’ is a rare exception], so this time it’s challenging for me and, I think, all the other actors, both Korean and Thai, to experiment together with Yoon and cross back and forth between a script-like mentality and more abstract movements and actions.”

Pupe adds another personal note, “Momggol members are very hard-working and determined and this has inspired me to keep going forward and try harder.”

WHERE TO FIND IT

•   “Something Missing” closes out PAF#6 at the fourth floor studio of BACC (BTS: National Stadium station) from tomorrow to Sunday at 7:30pm.
•  Dialogue is partly Korean, partly Thai and English surtitles are provided.
•  Tickets are Bt600 at the door, Bt 470 for advance transfer and Bt 370 for students.
•  Call (094) 494 5104 or BFloorTheatre@gmail.com.
•  Find out more at http://www.BFloorTheatre.com and http://www.Bacc.or.th.

“We are here” presents narratives that surround the human condition and its role in shaping individual identities and a nation. Drawing from a selection of earlier and new works by these female artists born in Malaysia, the show provides a vantage from within a domestic setting and the society at large, encouraging a journey to observe the undercurrents and conditions of a progressing nation.

Bibi Chew examines the course of building boundaries through incisive cutouts and collages, Chew also returns to an earlier installation piece from 1996 to continue her dialogue on identity and origins.

Nadiah Bamadhaj expands on the destructive conflicts surrounding religion, power and governance through a polyptych of her monochromatic charcoal collage, accompanied by a new video piece completed during her recent feature at Asia Contemporary Art Week New York 2017.

Minstrel Kuik observes the passage of time through her photography print series and charcoal drawings, juxtaposing the past and present, and historical moments in Malaysia that shaped national and cultural identity.

Tetriana Ahmed Fauzi charts the interrelationship between the various identities governed by the environment through her installation of mixed media soft sculptures comprising of household, studio and office objects.

For more information, visit http://www.RKFineart.com.

The young and dynamic crown prince, known by his initials MBS, used an intermediary to buy the much-sought-after painting of Christ, “Salvator Mundi,” the newspaper reported, citing US intelligence and other unnamed sources.

The son of Saudi King Salman is seen to be progressively consolidating his power, and is the architect of a wide-ranging plan dubbed Vision 2030 to bring social and economic change to his country’s oil-dependent economy.

He is also seen as the mastermind of last month’s rounding-up of more than 200 princes, ministers and businessmen in a sweeping anti-corruption purge.

The painting — one of fewer than 20 works generally accepted as being by the Renaissance master, according to Christie’s — was bought by little-known Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud, reports say.

The Journal reported that Bader was the nominal buyer, but said MBS was identified in US intelligence reports as the true owner.

“He is a proxy for MBS,” an unnamed figure in the Gulf art world told the Journal.

American officials are keeping close tabs on the crown prince, the paper said, citing unnamed sources.

On Wednesday, the Louvre Abu Dhabi announced that the record-breaking Da Vinci painting would be displayed there.

The reports come shortly after the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a new military and economic committee, separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council.

In recent years, Qatar has been the biggest player in the Gulf art world, but in June, Saudi Arabia and some of its allies broke off diplomatic and trade relations with Doha, which they accuse of supporting extremist movements.

“Salvator Mundi” — dated to around 1500 — is the last known Da Vinci in the hands of a private collector. It was long believed to be a copy but was finally authenticated about a dozen years ago.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first museum to bear the Louvre name outside France, has been billed as “the first universal museum in the Arab world” in a sign of the oil-rich emirate’s global ambitions.

“Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi is coming to #LouvreAbuDhabi,” the museum said on Twitter in Arabic, English and French, displaying an image of the 500-year-old work.

The announcement only partially resolves the mystery over the painting’s sale last month in New York for $450.3 million, with auction house Christie’s steadfastly declining to identify the buyer.

“Congratulations,” Christie’s said in a tweeted reply to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

But the auction house said no more, with a Christie’s representative reached by AFP declining to offer more details on the identity of the record bidder.

The French weekly le Journal du Dimanche reported that two investment firms were behind the purchase as part of a financial arrangement involving several museums.

The newspaper said that the work will be lent or resold to museums, largely in the Middle East and Asia.

The sale more than doubled the previous record of $179.4 million paid for Pablo Picasso’s “The Women of Algiers (Version O)” in 2015, also in New York.

– High ambitions in Abu Dhabi –

The Louvre Abu Dhabi opened on November 8 in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron, who described the new museum as a “bridge between civilisations.”

It is the first of three museums slated to open on the emirate’s Saadiyat Island, with plans also in place for an edition of New York’s Guggenheim.

The island will also feature the Zayed National Museum, which had signed a loan deal with the British Museum — although the arrangement has come increasingly into question due to construction delays.

Featuring a vast silver-toned dome, the Louvre Abu Dhabi was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, drawing inspiration from Arab design and evoking both an open desert and the sea.

The museum opened with some 600 pieces including items from early Mesopotamia. Under a 30-year agreement, France provides expertise, lends works of art and organizes exhibitions in return for one billion euros ($1.16 billion).

The first works on loan from the Louvre in Paris include another painting by Da Vinci — “La Belle Ferronniere,” one of his portraits of women.

– Recently authenticated –

“Salvator Mundi,” which means “Savior of the World,” went on public display in 2011 in a dramatic unveiling at The National Gallery in London, where the work was declared to be the first newly discovered Da Vinci painting in a century.

It is one of fewer than 20 paintings generally accepted as being from the Renaissance master’s own hand, according to Christie’s.

It had sold for a mere 45 British pounds in 1958, when the painting was thought to have been a copy, and was lost until it resurfaced at a regional auction in 2005.

Its latest sale was initiated by Russian tycoon Dmitry Rybolovlev, the boss of football club AS Monaco.

He had bought the painting in 2013 for $127.5 million although he later accused a Swiss art dealer of overcharging him.