Four foreign movies handpicked by four people in the industry will be screened at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre from May to November as part of the fifth “Cinema Diverse” series, this year subtitled “The Invisible Hands”.
Each screening will be followed by a discussion about the film.
The 2017 series begins on May 20 with Chonlasit Upanigkit, editor of “Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy” (2013) and “Freelance: Ham Puay … Ham Phak … Ham Rak Mor” and “Onthakan” (both 2015).
July 22 will have Rasiguet Sookkarn, originally an art director of TV commercials and then production designer for award-winning films such as “Eternity” (directed by Sivaroj Kongsakul), “P-047” and “Tang-Wong” (Kongdej Jaturanrassamee), and “36” and “Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy” (Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit).
September 23 features Nopawat Likitwong, sound designer and sound engineer who’s worked in various genres and with directors from Hong Kong and Japan, including with Wong Kar Wai on “Ashes of Time Redux”. Nopawat earned a national film award and was nominated for a Hong Kong award for his work on “Dragon”.
On November 25, Kriangkrai Vachiratamporn (pictured) who directed the second season of the TV series “Hormones”, will be the guest.
All of the movies they’ve chosen for screening will have Thai subtitles and are recommended for viewers at least 15 years of age. Post-screening discussions will be in Thai with English translation.
Admission is Bt60 and registration for seats opens each day at 2pm.
Japanese commuters will be encouraged to work from home for one day in a nationwide exercise for the 2020 Olympics that authorities hope will ease congestion on roads and public transport.
Tokyo has declared July 24 — exactly three years before the opening ceremony of the summer games — as “Telework Day” and wants firms and government departments to let employees work remotely.
London introduced a similar measure during the 2012 Olympics with 80 per cent of businesses in the city participating, according to Japan’s Internal Affairs Ministry, which announced the plan on Tuesday.
Greater Tokyo, with a population of more than 30 million people — about a quarter of Japan’s total — is notorious for its packed trains and subways during peak morning rush hours.
The plan is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to rethink Japan’s workaholic tradition, where men routinely spend long hours in the office and little time with their families.
The government recently unveiled its first-ever initiative to limit overtime in a bid to tackle karoshi, or death from overwork, and it hopes that more workers will telecommute after the Olympics finish as a lasting legacy.
“During the Tokyo Olympics, we are expecting serious traffic congestion particularly on the day of the opening ceremony,” said Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi.
“We believe telework will have a significant impact in easing traffic congestion and commuter crowding.”
More than 60 companies, including big names such as beverage firm Suntory, Japan Airlines and Microsoft, have so far pledged to participate.
Officials hope as many as 1,000 companies will take part, Kyodo News agency reported.
It’s springtime in the bamboo-forested hills surrounding eastern China’s Lin’an city, and that means busy mornings of harvesting, packing and selling tonnes of the edible bamboo shoots that the region is famous for.
Lin’an is in an area of eastern Zhejiang province whose rich forests are estimated to supply up to two-thirds of China’s bamboo shoots, plus a range of other products derived from the fast-growing plant that are produced both for domestic and overseas markets.
Harvesting takes several hours starting at dawn, and has been a cornerstone of the region’s economy for countless centuries.
The shoots are a regular item on Chinese dinner tables, typically made into a soup, braised with meat or vegetables, or eaten as snacks, said Wang Guoying, a vendor at a bamboo market in Lin’an.
“The even larger ones, the hairy shoots, can be made into canned ones and sold overseas,” she said.
She was referring to “mao sun”, or “hairy shoots”, which get their name from their hair-like surfaces.
Another vendor, Lang Erhua, said, “everyone knows how to cook bamboo shoots here.”
“You cut the fresh shoots into thin pieces and braise it with pork and bones. Or you can just braise it with plain water. Add a dash of ginger, garlic and, in the end, some salt and MSG. It’s delicious,” she said.
Bamboo, which despite its woody appearance is a type of grass, is among nature’s most versatile plants.
Its lightness and strength lend it to a range of uses including as building materials, chopsticks, furniture, window blinds, hats, musical instruments, baskets and ornamental arrangements. It is even utilised in paper and textile products.
Bamboo’s fast rate of growth is also legendary, with certain species reputed to grow a few centimetres per hour.
Bamboo is found in tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world but nowhere is it perhaps as important as in China where it has been admired for thousands of years.
New York’s famed Empire State Building lit up with sky-high iconic fashion photographs after nightfall on Wednesday to celebrate the 150th anniversary of style magazine Harper’s Bazaar.
Beginning at 8:30pm (0030 GMT Thursday) and slated to run until midnight, the north side of the building flashed iconic shoots and cultural moments from the pages of Harper’s into the New York skyline.
Among reproductions of the glossy pages set to shine over Manhattan, and streamed live on the magazine’s Facebook page, was Barbadian superstar Rihanna sitting in the mouth of Jaws.
Since 1976 the Empire State Building has traditionally changed the color of its tower lights to celebrate or commemorate different occasions and organisations throughout the year.
In 2012, they installed a new computer driven LED light system capable of displaying 16 million colors, which can change instantaneously.
Late last year, the Support Arts and Crafts International Centre of Thailand (Sacict) opened its lifestyle shop Sacict Concept in Ayutthaya’s Bang Sai district and stocked it with a wide range of handmade crafts with contemporary flair that consumers can use in their daily lives.
Now Bangkok shoppers can stock up on the crafts without leaving the city, as Sacict Concept brings in products to the International Innovative Craft Fair running at Bitec Bang Na from March 24 to 26. A selection of handmade products from artisans across the country will be on sale including ceramics, silverwork, eco-friendly home decorative items, wickerwork crafts, indigo-dyed cotton and silk fabric.
The products and home decor items are made from green materials by the participating communities with functionality in mind. Sacict believes that handcraft will be one of the factors in moving Thailand towards a society based on sustainable development.
Its booth at Hall EH103 is decorated to look identical to its original store in Ayutthaya. The design interweaves contemporary style with patterns of Thai crafts, with an emphasis on white, brown and grey. Call 1289 or visit http://www.Sacict.or.th for details.
Hong Kong Arts Month returns this month with a broad spectrum of arts and arts-related activities including concerts and performances.
Events and activities of interest to Thai visitors heading to Hong Kong include “Arttube in MTR”, featuring 10 exquisite sets of artwork from resident artists of the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) that are on show at MTR Central Station. Admission is free.
“Hkwalls”, which runs through Sunday (March 26) celebrates street art and is being held in the industrial district of Wong Chuk Hang. The public can witness blank spaces being transformed into original works of art through an incredible line-up of live mural painting by Hong Kong-based and international artists.
“Art Central”, meanwhile, has more than 100 international galleries showcasing the next generation of talent alongside established names from across Asia and the globe. Works of exceptional quality ranging from ink, textile arts, photography and new media will be on show from tomorrow (March 21) until March 25 at the Central Harbourfront.
“Art Basel” returns to Hong Kong from Thursay (March 23) offering premier shows for modern and contemporary art. Thailand’s very own Yuree Kensaku, mural painter, and Korakrit Arunanondchai, contemporary artist, will be featured during this prominent fair.
Various walks and tours offering for an insider’s peek into the city’s bustling art scene are also part of the programme. They include the popular SoHo Gallery Walk covering a handpicked selection of galleries out of more than 200 in Hong Kong, the Central Street Art Tour that divulges stories behind the fabulous hidden art pieces and a guided gallery tour in the Pedder Building,
Simon Beck has produced more than 250 drawings on snowscapes around the world since 2004. Photo/China Daily
March 20, 2017 01:00 By Xing Yi
China Daily
Asia News
A British artist stomps through the snow to create dazzling geometric patterns
A British artist has brought his creative skills to the slopes of a Chinese ski resort. Simon Beck’s tools are small and simple – a compass and a pair of snowshoes. But his canvases are vast, snow-covered wintry landscapes.
His artworks are giant and sophisticated, involving complex geometric designs, each bigger than 100 square metres in diameter and all drawn by his footprints.
Seen from above, they are amazing blends of intricacy with simplicity, just like crop circles, but created through hours of walking in the snowfield.
The 57-year-old Briton has been doing thwse snowscapes every winter since 2004, when he trod the snow at a ski resort in Les Arcs, France. Since then he’s made many patterns at many locations, producing more than 250 “drawings” in different scales.
On March 8 Beck came to Chongli in Hebei province, northwest of Beijing. Within two days he’d finished a mandala flower design on the slope of a Fulong ski resort. Chongli will host most of the skiing events at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“Usually I do a drawing on natural snow,” says Beck, “but here it’s piste snow, which makes it harder to draw with footprints – I have to dig with a spade a little bit, and that’s why it took much longer.”
A typical creation takes Beck about a day’s work, after one or two hours of preparation indoors.
The Oxford University graduate in engineering worked as a cartographer before becoming what he calls a “snow artist”.
“All hi-tech precision equipment is useless to me. I just need a compass to orient my way and some chocolate bars for energy,” says Beck, who trained for years in orienteering and mapping.
Beck has enjoyed outdoor activities since childhood. He recounts going to see snow in Scotland when he was nine and appreciating the “land art” – drawings on earth – such as the Cerne Abbas Giant and the Uffington White Horse in southern England where he grew up.
He didn’t start doing his own art, however, until he bought a small apartment high up in Les Arcs on the southeast side of the French Alps, when he started learning to ski. By chance he drew a star for fun on a small snow-covered frozen lake outside his apartment building.
In the past few years Beck has produced about 30 images every winter, and in 2014, a decade after he drew the first star, he published a photo collection of his work, titled “Snow Art”.
Compared with traditional forms like painting and sculpture that last for ages, Beck’s snow art seems momentary, reminding us of the fleeting nature of time.
“The record is eight weeks,” Beck says of how long his work can last. “They gradually fade as the footprints melt and usually they are covered by more snow after a week.
“But it’s good when they get covered, so you can do another drawing!” he laughs.
Having finishing his artwork in Chongli for the Corona Sunset Festival last weekend, he’s flying to the United States to serve as artist-in-residence at a ski resort at Powder Mountain in Utah.
Partly due to his engineering background and partly because of his previous cartography career, Beck’s drawings are often mathematical fractals, such as patterns derived from a Mandelbrot set or Koch star. Simply put, they are combinations of a certain shape that recurs again and again, each time at a smaller scale.
“I’ve witnessed thousands of designs around the world over 30 years and I have to say there are none that are more exquisite and impressive as yours,” crop-circle researcher Colin Andrews commended Beck when his book came out.
The Guardian in 2014 described Beck’s work as an example of how “astonishing landscape and snow art illustrates the cold beauty of mathematics”.
Beck has always enjoyed being outdoors, but before, when orienteering, he would examine the area and then draw the map. Now he does the reverse, as he put it in his book: “I start with a drawing, and make it on the ground, in the snow, in a limited amount of time.”
Beck says he simply wants to make something beautiful in the mountains, and at the same time call people’s attention to the environment. “The drawing is part of the landscape and the landscape is part of the artwork.
“The drawing wouldn’t be as good had the landscape not been there.”
In summer when things slow down for Beck, he goes hiking in the mountains to keep in good shape, and looks after his ageing parents. Sometimes he does drawings in sand on the beach in Somerset, England, not far from his home.
“It’s another kind of race,” he writes in his book, which includes two examples of his “sand art”. This time, it’s a race against the tide.
Chiang Mai Ballet will stage “Aladdin” at Kad Theatre in Chiang Mai on Sunday.
Chiang Mai Ballet will stage “Sleeping Beauty” at Kad Theatre in Chiang Mai on Sunday.
March 20, 2017 01:00 By Pawit Mahasarinand
Special to The Nation
A contemporary ballet set to the late Monarch’s composition “Sai Fon” takes to the Chiang Mai stage
The popular annual performance by Chiang Mai Ballet returns to the stage this weekend and its artistic director ML Preeyapun Sridhavat is confident that it will delight audiences.
“This year, we’ve received strong support from Thai Airways International, Government Lottery Office, S&P Syndicate and Australian Teachers of Dancing (ATOD) Children and Youth Development Association, and the opening act will be ‘Tha sathit nai duangchai Thai niran’ or ‘A Tribute to our Beloved His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’,” ML Preeyapun tells XP.
This is a five-minute contemporary ballet set to His Majesty’s song ‘Sai Fon’ (‘Falling Rain’).”
She continues, “In this performance, nine dancers, in white and silver costumes, will express
through their movements how we’re indebted to the late King’s royal grace, which was indeed like the song we chose ‘Falling Rain’, also an example of His Majesty’s numerous contribution to Thai arts.”
The mood will then shift to classical ballet as excerpts from one of our favourites “The Sleeping beauty” will be staged.
ML Preeyapun explains, “In this 30-minute performance, we’ll only showcase two highlights for which our dancers have won awards from international dance competitions. They are ‘The Chistening’ from the first act with six Lilac fairies and ‘Princess Aurora and Prince Ferdinand in Grand Pas de Deux’ from the fourth act, with award-winning dancers Chatnapha Kittiratanaphaiboon and Chana-karn Panpijit.”
Later in the performance, a few hundred dancers will take part in “Aladdin”, in which various styles |of dance will be showcased – a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
ML Preeyapun adds, “This is a revival of our production from seven years ago, and in the title role is Napatachanatorn Letterapong, a member of Bangkok City Ballet who’s won top prizes for contemporary dance from all the international competitions he’s participated in.”
And as this academy’s prize display cupboards continue to overfilled, the rest of the main cast’s prowess is also guaranteed by awards. Hannah Staton portrays Princess Jasmine, and as Aladdin’s Monkey is Timrin Wing Holmes while Sasipim Wattanachet portrays Carabosse.
On top of an opportunity to watch the grandest dance production outside Bangkok, proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the Chalermprakiat School in Lamphun province under the patronage of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
MAGIC IN THE NORTH
– Chiang Mai Ballet’s “A Tribute to our Beloved His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej”, “The Sleep-ing Beauty” and “Aladdin” are at Kad Theatre in the northern capital on Sunday at noon and 3:30pm.
– Tickets cost from Bt300 to Bt1,000 at Kad Suan Kaew Shopping Complex’s information counter and by calling (081) 951 0665.
Italian paint master Franco Aguggiaro portrays popular Carnevale di Venezia in a new exhibition showing at Sathorn 11 Art Space until March 30. Part of the Italian Festival in Thailand 2017, “Carnevale” refers to the period during the week before Lent in Roman Catholic countries, involving music, dancing and the use of masquerades.
Find out more at Facebook/Sathorn11 ArtSpace
Cultural creations
SAC Subhashok The Arts Centre is hosting the solo exhibition “On the Path of Different Cultures” by Thidarat Chantachua until April 30.
Thidarat’s mixed media works aim to bridge together the different cultures in this borderless world despite differences people’s beliefs and her semi-abstract works take visual cues and foundations from Arabic arts that are closely linked to Islam, which is also the artist’s religion.
Check it out at Facebook/sacbangkok
Men in love
Palut Marod, Sorayut Duangjai and Thanaporn Nartwanitchayakul reflect on love in the exhibition, “When A Man Loves A Woman” showing at the Sky Lobby of Centara Grand Hotel from today until May 20. Palut uses a mono print technique to depict women’s feelings while Sorayut relies on a Thai contemporary style to tell his stories through animals. Thanaporn, meanwhile, presents an eye- catching sculpture. Part of the proceeds from sales will be donated to the Friends of Women Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that protects and helps women in need.
Find out more at (02) 100 1234 |extensions 6753-56.
In memory of Val
Exhibition “Val 1967 – 2016”, a retrospective dedicated to the late Bangkok-based French artist Valerie Goutard presents 17 of her most stunning pieces.
Running at S Gallery of Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit until May 21, the show’s sculptures reflect on the attitudes and emotions of man and how we interact with nature and the surrounding environment. Many of her art works are human-shaped sculptures with two or more men in the sculpture itself. In terms of architecture, her artwork reflects structure, how a building is constructed with the use of all lines and shapes.
The Jim Thompson Art Centre is organising group exhibition “People, Money, Ghosts (Movement as Metaphor)” featuring works engaged with the idea and process of travel and migration by Cambodian artist Khvay Samnang, Filipino duo Amy Lien and Enzo Camacho, and Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai. The show features works created not in the artists’ home cities, but rather in distant sites charged with locally-specific meanings, both historical and contemporary, and consider movement both as an experience, and as an object of artistic research.
The show continues until June 18. The Jim Thompson Art Centre is on Soi Kasemsan 2 near the National Stadium BTS station.
It’s open daily from 9am to 8pm. |Admission is free.
Keen as ever to get people thinking more about helping the planet, Pipat
O brand
The brand A Piece(s) of Paper makes perforated reusable wraps for notepads and phones.
Thinkk Studio has contrived a kinder way to make lampshades and the results are always unique. /Courtesy of Thinkk Studio
March 19, 2017 01:00 By
Khetsirin Pholdhampalit
The Sunday Nation
‘Mr Eco’ Top Pipat shows in an e-guide how you too can help save the world
THE LATEST effort to help the planet by Thailand’s “Mr Eco” takes the form of a free new e-book full of advice on how to change your daily habits and do less harm to Mother Nature.
Actor-turned-designer Pipat “Top” Apiruktanakorn has spent more than a decade trying to make a difference with his earth-friendly products and to motivate people to change their ways.
He’s just recently closed his Eco Shop Common at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. It too will be taken online – a place to learn about ecology, find the right tools to use and buy the right kind of stuff.
In the meantime there’s “Eco Design Thai Thai”, available right now for free download.
Keen as ever to get people thinking more about helping the planet, Pipat “Top” Apiruktanakorn is offering his ebook “Eco Design Thai Thai” for free download.
“Public awareness is growing steadily about the need to conserve resources,” says Top, “but a lot of people still just don’t know how to start, so here I’ve compiled what I learned about the green business. I hope it motivates more young designers to build good things for our world.”
Top studied product design at Srinakharinwiroj University before he began acting and hosting TV shows. His master’s-degree research on the latest trends in buying eco-design furniture led him to architect Singh Intrachooto, who makes amazing house wares for the Osisu brand out of stuff usually regarded as junk.
Singh became Top’s thesis adviser, and Top ended up designing a rather neat chair for Osisu called “Need”.
Top says the e-book took about a year to complete. “It’s in Thai and English and explains some topics with infographics and even embedded video clips.”
On offer are tips on starting your own eco-business and then adding value to your products and the services. Several prominent people are interviewed in videos, including ML Kathathong Thongyai, the driving force behind the government’s Department of International Trade Promotion; ML Dispanadda Diskul of the Mae Fah Luang Foundation; and Tanasak Sakariganon of Siam Cement Group.
Among the success stories profiled are the Lemon Farm shop selling organic agricultural produce, and the Akha Ama coffee company – a hilltribe endeavour in Chiang Rai. Swedish furniture retailer Ikea is featured for its affordable DIY products.
O brand’s rear bike reflector used recycled polypropylene.
“Starting a business like this can be tough because you have to convince people of the product’s advantages,” says Top. “In the long term, though, it’s sustainable. Lots of people see it as a niche market with big potential.
“I’ve been able to make a profit selling my products. Defining whether you might ‘get rich’ or not is subjective. But in my case, I’m able to pay and give bonuses to the seven
employees of my company, KidKid, still leaving my wife Noon [actress Siraphun Wattanajinda] and I enough money to live happily.
“What’s most important, though, is that I feel good about being in this kind of business.”
The “0.4921” notebook saves paper by increasing the number of ruled lines on the page.
Top’s brand “O” covers a range of stylish items. His 160-page notebook called “0.4921” earned a Commerce Ministry Eco Award in 2013 by cleverly boosting the number of ruled lines on each page, thus saving paper.
“Most products on the market can be made smaller, thinner, narrower or lighter and use sustainable and renewable materials without diminishing their functionality,” Top points out.
Just as tree-friendly is his prototype ukulele, the “ecolele”, which is a teak neck with four strings attached. It sounds just like a normal uke despite having no body, and no body translates into a 70-per-cent saving on wood.
For all the cyclists now on Thai roads, there are O-brand cycling accessories made with “leftovers”. The “88” leather straps made from factory discards hold a water bottle, umbrella and other items against the bike frame. A power-saving rear reflector fashioned from recycled polypropylene won the 2013 Design Excellence Award (DEmark) from the Commerce Ministry.
Helping the government’s Public-Private Collaboration Project to add value to Thai crafts, Top designed “Civillight” floor and table lamps with lampshades of chequered pha khao ma fabric from the Northeast, coated so it doesn’t catch fire.
“I’m also working on a plastic-bag dispenser and working with the Mae Fah Luang Foundation to develop the packaging for hilltribe products,” he says.
Top’s e-book makes space for his designer friends who’ve come up with their own conscientious home decor, furniture, food and skincare items.
Thinkk Studio has contrived a kinder way to make lampshades and the results are always unique. / Courtesy of Thinkk Studio
Decha Archjananun and Ploypan Theerachai’s Thinkk Studio shows people how to make a lampshade using no electricity. You instead use their all-wood “Lanna Factory”, whose five spindles each hold a different-coloured thread. The yarn is fed through glue and wraps around a spinning PVC foam mould that comes in several shapes. You can control the direction and colours, for an almost infinite number of designs.
Actor Thanavate “Gap” Siriwatanagul has a brand called A Piece(s) of Paper that includes reusable wraps perforated to tear easily and turned into notepads and notebook covers.
This iPad case at Good/Rak is made with durable, recyclable kraft paper. / Courtesy of Good/Rak
At Good/Rak, Kittiphat Sukamol- son makes phone cases, wallets and coin purses out of the recyclable kraft paper commonly used for jean labels because it’s so durable and can be sewn in place. He strengthens the “paper” further with woollen felt to guard against tears.
Dialysis pouches keep on being useful as Kiddee Project handbags and totes./ Courtesy of Kiddee Project
You’d think dialysis bags would have already served their noble purpose once used, but Vipavat Darapongsataporn and Kavita Srisan’s Kiddee Project turns them into funky handbags and totes. And the proceeds from sales help buy equipment for hospitals.
Bamboo Braid incorporates bamboo and brass in its bracelets and earrings. / Courtesy of Bamboo Braid
Piyanuch Saechan of Bamboo Braid incorporates bamboo and brass when she hand-braids bracelets and earrings, and Supawadee Kaewkum of Mazmoizelle uses lightweight cork in her briefcases, handbags, shoulder bags, backpacks, clutches and wallets.
PLENTY OF GREAT IDEAS
The e-book “Eco Design Thai Thai” can be downloaded for free this month at https://goo.gl/LM9tml.
For more details, visit the “Ecoshop Common” page on Facebook.
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