Taking place at InParadiso 3030, in the very heart of Venice’s art district just aside the magnificient Basilica dei Frari, the exhibition explores the female world and the role of women in art and society through the artist’s extreme performances and captures the physical manifestation of manual labour processes undertaken by women in Thailand.

Running until June 30, Kawita’s performance provoke questions about cultural identity, feminism, women’s work, consumerism and lived experiences – classified through a lens of hyper-coloured realism and the intensity of physical versus material composition. Her suite of videos offers a vignette into the physicality and vulnerability of the feminine body.

“Performing Textiles”, which she created while travelling around New Zealand, stems from a journey in Thailand that the artist has undertaken to explore the various textile production techniques in small villages by local women workers. Here, production was often time-consuming, but the quality of fabrics fashioned by these women was superior. Kawita’s body performances gives voice to the work of these women, questioning the way in which work is organised and, in turn, the position of women in society.

However, textiles undeniably have a place firmly embedded in history, and it is this history of textile production – recognised as women’s labour – that has ingrained itself in our culture. Basketry, loom weaving, knitting, crochet and lace-making are all feminine material skills that rendered men unnecessary. As such, Kawita’s practice focuses on valuing women’s everyday work and labour, while offering a powerful examination of social and cultural ways of viewing women’s work.

In her performances, she transforms her body into various textile process tools. Her physical form becomes the embodiment of a spinning wheel or weaving shuttle. As the works progress, her body struggles to compete as the material tool, and thus her form undergoes both psychological and physical metamorphosis, repeating infinitely the movements.

Textiles are linked symbolically to birth, fertility and reproduction. The practice of working with materials connects women’s bodies to the earth. It is a symbol of life and power.

Find out more at http://www.ConcilioEuropeoDellArte.org.

There’s plenty to look forward for the young and the young-at-heart this year as the hit Disney-movie-turned-Broadway-musical “The Lion King” finally comes to Bangkok. It’s being brought here by Scenario and BEC Tero and will start its run on September 14 at Muangthai Ratchadalai Theatre.

“The Lion King” has been one of the most popular stage musicals in the world since its premiere on November 13, 1997 with 25 global productions seen by more than 95 million people Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, it is the only show in history to generate six productions worldwide running 15 or more years. Performed in eight different languages from Japanese to German, and Korean to Portuguese, productions of “The Lion King” nine productions are currently running across the globe.

Scenario’s Takonkiet Viravan watched the musical back in 1997 on Broadway. At that time, “The Lion King” was being hailed as establishing a new level of artistry for musical theatre thanks to staging, costumes, and choreography reminiscent of the vast savannahs of Africa and its distinctive animal characters.

“I’d watched the animation but had no idea how it would look on stage. Like every other member of the audience, I was thrilled by every scene,” says the musical director.

Back then Takonkiet was busy making TV dramas and had yet to fulfil his dream of producing stage plays. “Three or four years later, I had the idea of bringing the show to Thailand and that was well before I opened the Ratchadalai Theatre,” says the director, who finally opened his own venue in 2007.

The stunning choreography and costumes bring the lionesses alive/Photo by Joan Marcus

But despite all his successes in the intervening years, Takonkiet has never given up on bringing the musical to Thailand.

“They kept telling me that it was so expensive. They would say ‘don’t ask how much you will get from it but how much you will lose’,” says the director, who laid the groundwork by bringing two classic musicals, “Miss Saigon” and “The Phantom of the Opera”.

“It’s a show that gathers and adapts all kinds of artistic performance. It’s not just about acting, singing and dancing but also encompasses puppetry, masks and shadow puppet,” he says of the production,

Based on the 1994 Disney animation of the same name and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “The Lion King” is the story of the lion cub Simba who is next in line to be king of the Pride Lands, a thriving and a beautiful region in the African savannah. When Simba’s father Mufasa is killed by his uncle Scar, Simba has to run away. He makes friends with Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog and later returns to save the animals in Pride Land from his vicious uncle Scar. The musical also features classic songs from the film such as “Circle of Life”, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”, “Hakuna Matata” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”.

The international production that will play in Thailand is currently on tour in Asia and will stop in Manila, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan before coming to Bangkok.

The main character Simba will be played by young British actor Jordan Shaw who joined the production in March, his first on an international stage. Shaw started training when he was six years old and says seeing “The Lion King” inspired him to become an actor.

“I saw the show three times and each time was a different experience, I was able to absorb different information and appreciate things differently so when I got the job, it took me a while to believe it. It has completely changed my life,” says the actor, who is currently on stage with the show in Busan.

From left: Jordan Shaw, who plays Simba, music director Mike Schaperclaus, Mrazi and Kunene./Photo courtesy of BEC Tero

One of the principal characters is the shaman Rafiki. In the original animation, Rafiki was a male but the character morphed into a female Rafiki when director Julie Taymor brought it to the stage. Inspired by a sangoma, a type of South African faith healer who can channel ancestral spirits, the character is always played by a South African actress as Rafiki has to sing and talk in South Africa’s native languages. Language plays a huge role in the show because it’s what makes it authentic and this is especially true for Rafiki, who serves as the show’s narrator. The character opens the production with the Zulu song “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba”, which calls for the audience’s attention.

For the upcoming Bangkok production, Rafiki is played by South African actress Zodwa Mrasi, a veteran of the role having played the shamam in the Spanish-language version in Mexico. Amanda Kunene, who also hails from South Africa, plays Nala’, Simba’s lioness partner

“I auditioned twice, the first time when I was still young. ‘The Lion King’ doesn’t teach you only about self-growth and losing a parent, it speaks to all ages,” says Mrasi.

Puppetry and shadow puppets are used to present all kinds of animals in the musical./Photo by Joan Marcus

When “The Lion King” made its debut in 1997, the original director Julie Taymor came up with the idea of using puppet design and masks, placing the latter atop the actors’ heads. She said at that time that she was inspired by her experiences in Indonesia, where she lived for four years. And while the puppetry goes back to centuries-old styles from Japan and Indonesia as well as Thailand’s Nang Talung or shadow puppet, the masks are based on traditional African mask work. The costume design is factored around the choreography and turns the actors into a variety of animals from lions to giraffes and zebras all through the 150-minute show.

A STONE’S throw from the Greek island of Mykonos lies Delos, an uninhabited islet a world away from its neighbour’s glamorous nightlife.

It is there, on an island best known for its archaeological treasures, that British contemporary artist Antony Gormley is showing 29 of his sculptures.

Gormley is perhaps best known for his gigantic Angel of the |North, a 20-metre high steel |work that since 1998 has been |an unmissable landmark in its home at Gateshead, northern England.

A visitor sits next to the statue “Water” by renowned British artist Antony Gormley, part of his exhibition “Sight” at the archaeological site of the island of Delos, a Unesco World Heritage Site./AFP

But this new exhibition – including five works specially created for the event – sets his contemporary work among the remains of ancient Greece.

“It’s an extraordinary responsibility,” Gormley told journalists at the opening.

“It’s an amazing privilege to occupy a site that hasn’t been occupied by a living artist for more than 2,000 years – that’s a bit of a challenge isn’t it?”

The archaeological finds on Delos date back as far as the 3rd millennium BC up to the Hellenic era of classical Greece.

Its Unesco World Heritage listing describes it as an “exceptionally extensive and rich” site, reflecting its past as a cosmopolitan port.

The exhibition is intended as a dialogue between contemporary civilisation and the past, says Elina Kountouri, who heads up Neon, the non-profit that organised the show along with London’s Whitechapel Gallery.

The statue “6 times left” by Gormley stands in the sea at the entrance of the port of the island of Delos in Greece./AFP

A mark of the respect accorded to the site is that none of Gormley’s sculptures have been placed inside the ruins of the ancient sanctuaries of the Greek gods Apollo and Artemis.

According to Greek myth, Delos is where the two gods – brother and sister – were born.

Gormley’s silhouettes in steel have been installed on different parts of the island, which covers only 3.5 square kilometres.

Some can be seen as you approach the island by boat from Mykonos, such as the figure of man standing at the northern extremity of Delos.

Another stands in the water at the entry to the island’s port, a third at the entrance to an ancient site. For Gormley, Delos is “an extraordinary place to think about the human project…”.

And of his exhibition, he says: “For me this is a conversation about time. I think sculpture deals with time in an era (when) nobody has time. “For me, Delos as an island has this light and atmosphere and feeling that it timeless – or outside the industrial time we are living.”

But even if ancient gods are gone, we worship at other altars today, he adds. “I don’t live in a world that is commanded or guided by gods,” he says.

The sculpture “Share” overlooks the island of Delos./AFP

“I live in a world that seems to be ruled by money and I’m trying both to resist that and recognise it.

“It’s been for me a real learning curve: how to listen to the marks that are already here – how to respond to the geology.”

Gormley’s exhibition, “Sight”, runs on the island until October 30.

A NEWLY discovered painting by noted Edo-period ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) has just gone on display at the Sumida Hokusai Museum in Sumida Ward, Tokyo. The museum recently announced the discovery of the work depicting an itinerant clam merchant.

It is part of a special exhibition titled “Edo Livelihoods by Hokusai” and will be on display until Sunday.

The newly discovered Hokusai painting “Hamaguri uri” (Clam vendor) is the centrepiece of a new exhibition at the Sumida Hokusai Museum. (Courtesy of Sumida Hokusai Museum)

According to the museum, the painting, which measures 94.3cm by 27.9cm, features an Edo Period (1603-1867) street merchant called “botefuri”, who carried fish, vegetables and other wares in baskets hanging from a pole. The man sports a beard and shabby clothes, and is taking a break from his work under a moonlit sky.

The painting is inscribed with a signature that reads “Sori”, the alias used by Hokusai when he was around 40. Based on this and other clues, the painting is believed to have been created in the ninth or 10th year of the Kansei era (1797-98).

The museum came into possession of the painting last year after Sumida Ward purchased it from a commercial art dealer, but details on who owned the artwork before that are unknown, according to the museum.

The museum concluded it to be an authentic Hokusai painting based on its unique style, the signature and other characteristics. It named the work “Hamaguri uri” (“Clam vendor”) because the basket the merchant carries is thought to be filled with hamaguri clams.

According to the museum, Hokusai was born in what is now Sumida Ward. He became interested in drawing at the age of six and went on to produce ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings for his entire life.

At around 70, he released “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”, a series of woodblock prints that would come to be known as his definitive work and have a major influence on European and other artists.

He is believed to have produced about 30,000 works before his death. The museum owns about 1,800 works by Hokusai and his apprentices.

“Even though he painted characters’ faces with quick strokes, their expressions come through quite clearly. We also hope visitors enjoy reading the information panels accompanying the works at the exhibition,” says the museum’s Maho Yamagiwa.

A craftsmen works on a tub with Mount Fuji in the distant background in this woodblock print from Hokusai’s “Fujimigahara in Owari Province, from the series “Thirtysix Views of Mount Fuji.” (Courtesy of Sumida Hokusai Museum)

“Hamaguri uri,” on exhibit for the first time, is one of several ukiyo-e works by Hokusai and his apprentices included in the special exhibition, which offers a detailed look at occupations during the Edo period.

The exhibition features about 80 artworks that depict common people’s day jobs during the era, from hairdressers and hikyaku mailman that are still well-known today to more unique professions like sellers of “ayame ningyo” – dolls made of iris that were used as decoration – and paper scrap collectors. Accompanying panels offer detailed explanations of the professions and their historical background.

Some of the artworks in the current exhibition will be replaced for a second exhibition to be held from May 21 to June 9. “Hamaguri uri” will only be displayed during the first exhibition. The entrance fee is 1,000 yen (Bt300) for adults.

Strange horizons beckon Martinez: ominous towers looming over eerie clumps of vegetation; an empty playground hidden behind an archway; a goal-post across a football field marking the border between mantamed grass and the unruly coconut grove beyond.

The daydreaming women section of “Limbo” invites a more complex response, perhaps because the world has so objectified women as sex and status symbols that it’s almost impossible to see women simply as human-beings who have become the preferred photographic subjects for both men and women, young and old.

Their pronounced individuality enhances the universality of their mood. They are walking on crowded streets, but they are clearly elsewhere, absent, voided – in limbo.

“I am searching and photographing margins and interstices. They are places where time passes less quickly, where streets are empty and calm with neither agitation, nor tumult. Ancient times are present and hypermodern city seems far away, while it is very close, just around the corner, conqueror and selfconfident. It can be seen in the distance, high buildings pointing to the sky, but surrounded by jungle, like ruins and remains of an ancient, forgotten civilisation. These interstitial and central margins are strange, fantastic and necessary places, sweet but a little disturbing, suitable sites for daydreams and fantasies. On my way in search of such places, I also photographed people, mostly woman, absorbed in their inner worlds,” the photographer explains.

Kathmandu curator Manit Sriwanichpoom adds: “Rafael’s work achieves both technical and artistic quality. He is able to communicate his emotions so the world experiences what he feels. His photographs of Bangkok reflect his nomadic existence as a diplomatic spouse, following his wife’s job into unfamiliar cultures. However, his sense of alienation is shared by Bangkok’s natives amidst their city’s breakneck pace of change.”

Born in Nice, Martinez has a master degree in macro-economics. He took up photography in Bangkok where he has lived since September 2016. “Limbo” is his first solo exhibition.

For more information, call (02) 234 6700, email kathmandu.bkk@gmail.com, or visit http://www.KathmanduPhotoBkk.com.

Over 70 independent art professionals from across Asia Pacific nominated 400 mid-career artists, hailing from 28 countries, for the prize. A total of 19 countries are represented amongst the 30 finalists, making it the most geographically diverse shortlist in the history of the award.

This edition also sees the launch of a brand-new award, the Vogue Hong Kong Women’s Art Prize, to be presented in partnership with the newly launched Vogue Hong Kong that will see US$5,000 (Bt160,000) awarded to the highest scoring female artist in the competition (except for the Grand Prize Winner).

The entries were shortlisted by an international panel of art specialists, including writer, curator and museum director David Elliott; Jan Dalley, Arts Editor of the i; Mami Kataoka, Deputy Director and Chief Curator at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Hong Kong architect, artist and educator William Lim; and internationally renowned artist Zhang Huan. Nominators are typically art critics, lecturers and independent curators who work closely with artists in their respective regions.

The selected artists represent cutting-edge contemporary art practices from the countries in which they reside. Their artworks explore and encourage discourse on a wide range of subject matters, including ideas of family, identity, growth, cultural heritage and diaspora; space, time, urban development and the spatial rhythms of modern cities, amongst others.

Singapore, for instance, is represented by five artists including Boo Sze Yang, Joo Choon Lin, Nicola Anthony, Urich Lau Wai-Yuen and Valerie Ng. South Korea has three artists, Chanmin Park, Cho Yi Kyung and Minho Kim, in the mix, while Kazakhstan is also represented by three artists namely Narynov Saken, Saule Suleimenova and Ulan Dzhaparov.

“In this, another great year for The Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Korea, Pakistan and Singapore figure strongly in the judges’ choice, with excellent representations also from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macao, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. This must be one of the most diverse manifestations of art from Asia. As many of these artists are still emerging on the international scene, it is a great opportunity to discover their work,” said chair judge David Elliott.

The portfolio of organiser, Sovereign Art Foundation’s social responsibility projects includes art empowerment programmes geared towards Vietnam’s most vulnerable children, a music and arts programme for orphaned or abandoned children in Mongolia’s capital, arts healing projects for victims of human trafficking in Cambodia; and a youth-lead pilot project in rural Nepal that raises awareness of children’s rights. Since 2013, SAF has focused on growing its own Make It Better (MIB) project, an initiative that provides expressive arts-led learning activities to children living in some of the Hong Kong’s most impoverished areas. The programme currently delivers weekly workshops in 27 schools and centres across Hong Kong.

Today is the last day of the exhibition of the 30 shortlisted artworks at Hart Hall in H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong. At the exhibition, the public can view the works first-hand and will be invited to cast a vote for their favourite work to win the Public Vote Prize (votes will also be accepted via the SAF web gallery and Facebook page). All voters will automatically be entered into a lucky draw to win two business class tickets to any Asia destination on the Cathay Pacific network, courtesy of the airline.

The Grand Prize and Public Vote Prize winning artists, to be awarded US$30,000 and US$1,000 respectively, will be announced along with the winner of the Vogue Hong Kong Women’s Art Prize at The Sovereign Art Foundation’s ‘Make It Better’ Gala Dinner and Auction on May 17, at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. The shortlisted artworks will be auctioned and proceeds split evenly between the artists and SAF’s charitable projects.

Tickets to the Gala Dinner and Auction can be purchased through the SAF website or by contacting Kristy Lam at Kristy@SovereignArtFoundation.com.

NATIONAL GALLERY Singapore’s rooftop is today a sea of green, covered by more than 30 less-known plant species that thrive in reclaimed areas around Singapore including Changi, Tuas and the Southern Islands.

On display until October 27, the transformation is the work of Singapore artist Charles Lim Yi Yong who was commissioned by the gallery to transform the Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden into a social space titled “Sea State 9: Proclamation Garden”.

 Singapore artist Charles Lim Yi Yong fills the National Gallery Singapore’s roof garden with more than 30 lesser-known plant species that thrive in reclaimed areas around Singapore.

It is the gallery’s latest roof garden commission series and also Lim’s first extensive foray into re-designing a physical space for his work.

The title of this living art installation references the act of proclamation made by the Presidents of Singapore over the past five decades, in which reclaimed sites are officially declared as state land. For Lim, each proclamation sets in motion a chain of developmental changes that can quickly obscure other types of life, activities, knowledge and histories forming at the margins of Singapore, which are indexed by the plants found there.

Mimosa pigra (giant sensitive tree)

“The project reflects our commitment to broaden perspectives and provoke new ways of thinking through art.

“This artistic intervention of an existing physical space offers an accessible way to inform our visitors of the intricacies of the reclaimed landscape prior to urbanisation – a complex yet important concept to help us better understand the environment around us,” said the gallery’s director Dr Eugene Tan.

 Coccoloba uvifera (sea grape)

Working with the gallery’s senior curator Dr Adele Tan, and esteemed local botanical consultant Veera Sekaran, founder of the urban greening company Greenology, Lim has assembled an eclectic collection of plants that brings increased biodiversity to the landscaping of the gallery’s roof garden.

They are spread across the planter boxes around the rooftop and in a nursery at the heart of the garden that creates an open and welcoming environment for visitors to learn about these plants. The resulting work also serves as a microcosm of the thriving plant ecosystems found in newly reclaimed land areas, which are often perceived as barren.

 Lantana camara (chicken dung flower)

Beyond encountering species expected to be found in coastal and mangrove areas near reclamation sites, visitors may further expand their botanical vocabulary with unusual plant varieties — for example, the prickly Sandbur (Cenchrus Echinatus), the parasitic Seashore Dodder (Cassytha Filiformis) that survives by taking over a host tree, and even a Date Palm (Phoenix Dactylifera) that is thought to have propagated in the sand from a date seed that was discarded after consumption.

The narratives generated by these plants express a metaphoric representation of Singapore’s journey as a City in a Garden, mirroring the country’s efforts to transform sea to land, and subsequently a city landscape through land reclamation.

“The dynamics between the land and sea continue to inform my work on the Sea State series. This latest installation further challenges me to share my enquiry into the multi-layered reclamation history in unconventional ways, where the plants’ transplantation and adaptation to thrive in the roof garden reflect Singapore’s urban and coastal development.

I hope that they will spark renewed interest in the environment around us, and enable visitors to gather fresh insights,” said the artist, who was Singapore’s representative at the 2015 Venice Biennale.

Charles Lim Yi Yong

To complement the visitor experience, Lim has conceived a 30-minute podcast and visual essay.

These will feature insights and anecdotes from various specialists in botany, geography, constitutional and legal history, and land reclamation, helping visitors paint a more vivid picture of the process of land reclamation and transformation over the years.

This podcast will be hosted on the gallery’s website and the Gallery Explorer app. A richly illustrated catalogue featuring full-colour profile images taken by the artist of the new plants at the roof garden will also be published.

The Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission series invites one leading international artist each year to present a site-specific work that reflects upon Southeast Asia’s rich cultural heritage and complex histories from a contemporary perspective. Previous artists commissioned for the series include Vietnamese-born Danish Danh Vo and Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija.

Trees at the top

“Sea State 9: Proclamation Garden” continues until October 27,

Admission to the Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Gallery is free.

For more information, visit: http://www.NationalGallery.sg/

charleslimyiyong

Culture Minister Vira Rojpojanarat presents a souvenir to Ibu Dewi Wahab, special adviser to Indonesia’s minister of foreign affairs at the opening in Jakarta on Wednesday night. Photo courtesy of Culture Ministry

“The animation is beautiful and it’s a wonderful project. Thailand’s Culture Ministry has brought the mural depicting the Ramayana epic to life through this movie,” Ibu Dewi Wahab, special adviser to Indonesia’s minister of foreign affairs told The Nation Weekend at the opening in Jakarta on Wednesday night.

Directed by Atipat Kamolpet, the hour-long animation portraying the Ramakien, as the Thai version of the Ramayana is known, has been cleverly transposed from 2D murals at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha into a 3D animation for the big screen, with characters’ moves imitating gestures of khon masked dance.

This project is part of a yearlong calendar of activities based on khon, which in November |was added to Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

“As Indonesia and Thailand share the same culture on the Ramayana, we will learn from Thailand how to preserve this heritage by using the new technique [animation] to pass the story on to our young generations,” she added.

The 8th Meeting of the Asean Ministers Responsible for Culture and Art (AMCA) in Yogyakarta on October 25 designated the year 2019 as Asean Cultural Year.

Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam with Indonesian guests.

“By enhancing our cultural ties, we raise awareness of the Asean identity as well as foster peace and social stability in the community. Cooperation in culture and arts |is thus vital to strengthening mutual understanding and bonding relationships within our region. read a statement from the AMCA.

“The Kingdom of Thailand and the Republic of Indonesia have had a close and tight relationship since ancient times. We have enjoyed cooperation and exchange programmes under Asean for decades,” Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said in his opening speech at the theatre in Yogyakarta on Thursday night.

“Now that it has been shown here in Indonesia, the animation road show will travel to Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, countries that share the same Ramayana culture which is influenced by India,” added Culture Minister Vira Rojpojanarat.

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of bilateral relationships next year, Thailand and Indonesia are planning to further extend their cooperation on cultural exchange.