Born in Bangkok, 1970, Natee attended the College of Fine Art in 1987 and graduated from Silpakorn’s Painting and Sculpture Faculty in 1991. His solo exhibitions include “Optimism Is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces” at Ayala Museum, Manila, Philippines in 2017, “Illustration of the Crisis” at Bangkok University Gallery in 2013, “After Painting” at Singapore Art Museum, Singapore in 2010 and “The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and Perfection” at Art Centre of Chulalongkorn University in 2007.

With the theme of “Optimism is Ridiculous: Paintings on Figure of Speech, Paradoxes and Inward Journey”, the series has three cognitive components, namely; paintings of human beings, animals and objects. They come together as sentences or phrases that connect to a particular observation. This exhibition will present animal paintings by the artist, highlighting social contexts and other understandings of the outside world by contrasting Asian-ness against a post-colonial product-based inspiration.

The gallery is open from 10 am to 6pm. For more information, please visit http://www.artgallery.gov.my

A PAKISTANI-AMERICAN sculptor brings dark times, science fiction and a desire to provoke to New York’s famed Metropolitan Museum of Art for this year’s rooftop installation overlooking the Manhattan skyline.

Huma Bhabha’s “We Come in Peace” is a 3.6-metre-tall, five-headed figure weighing 1.5 tonnes alongside an even more gargantuan prostrate figure covered in a trash bag and called Benaam, which means “without name” in Urdu.

The installation unveiled on Tuesday is the sixth annual commission for the illustrious US museum’s roof garden, a popular summer spot that draws nearly half a million visitors every year.

Karachi-born Bhabha, who lives in New York state’s Hudson Valley, is the first Pakistani-American selected for the honour. Imran Qureshi, based in Pakistan, was the first Pakistani artist to present work for the commission, in 2013.

Bold, dramatic and thought-provoking, the weatherproof figures cast in bronze have political undertones, reflect social concerns and reference ancient African and Indian sculpture, according to the Met.

Huma Bhabha rejects the common interpretation that “We Come in Peace”, newly unveiled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, refers to Donald Trump. /AFP 

“It’s what’s brewing in your head,” says Bhabha, insisting visitors should form their own interpretations.

“I don’t want to necessarily say it’s this or that because that closes the conversation, but there are lots of different scenarios that one can come up with.”

Nor does she join the chorus in Democrat-heavy New York that focuses blame on US President Donald Trump for what many in the city see as the country’s ills.

“It goes beyond Trump,” Bhabha says. “Yes, he’s made everything very vulgar and very in your face. But I think there are problems that have been existing much before he took over. I think we’re in very dark times.”

The work was at least partly inspired by the 1951 science-fiction film “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, in which an alien arrives on our planet telling humans they must live peacefully or face destruction.

“Huma’s work felt right for this particular moment,” explains Shanay Jhaveri, assistant curator of South Asian art. “There are numerous levels of meaning embedded in them and I think we just wanted people to step back and to be provoked a little bit.

“There is politics in it. What is happening under that garbage bag? What is the form?” Jhaveri says.

He urges viewers to “think through various kinds of concerns they are seeing around them in these times of anxiety and paranoia and danger and collapse”.

Bhabha specialises in figurative sculpture and has addressed themes such as colonialism, war and displacement in her work.

Her work has been exhibited at New York’s MoMA PS1, as well as the Venice Biennale and the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea, among others.

The installation will remain open until October 28, weather permitting.

When I was a kid, I used to wonder whether it was possible that the national children’s day could last longer than the second Saturday in January. There were so many fun activities at each venue that it was always impossible for any kid, myself included, to enjoy them all in one day – and it was difficult to choose just one venue to visit each year. I also used to wonder if my mum and dad were having as much fun as I was, or if they felt that it was their duty to accompany me to these events just because it was “my day”.

Two years ago when I was attending Arts on Location and Democrazy Theatre Studio’s inaugural Bangkok International Children’s Theatre Festival, or “BICT Fest”, as part of the fifth Performative Art Festival (PAF) at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), I found the answers to these questions – a few decades late of course.

“The Rice Child” by Crescent Moon Theatre :Photo/BICT Fest

Images of kids and adults spending quality time at performances, workshops and activities are fond memories that are still fresh. And now the biannual festival is back again as part of BACC’s seventh PAF, with more international and local partners and supporters, and a programme line-up at a greater number of venues that’s even more exciting.

Since the end of her successful first festival, festival director Adjjima Na Patalung has been attending children’s theatre festivals, mostly in East Asia and Europe, and she notes: “The amount of support from both private and public sectors for these festivals there, of course, isn’t available here and so we have to work in very different conditions.

“That said, I learned a lot from the Imaginate Festival in Edinburgh, and it’s now evolved into the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival. It’s evident that they’re not just presenting works for children and adults. With different kinds of workshops, discussions and forums, they’re also focusing on creative development – not only on how artists create works but also how they can best engage their target audience. Some of the issues discussed there include whether the adult artists are self-censoring when it comes to children’s performance taking account of the fact that children are naturally more open to new experiences and knowledge than we adults. Also, they’re wondering whether they’re too concerned with the morals in these works, making sure that the children get the pre-conceived messages or lessons instead of leaving some works open-ended.”

Primo by Alfredo Zinola and Felipe Gonzalez :Photo/Saris and den Engelsman

Adjjima notes that BICT Fest is a curated festival, not an open-call, and quality of work is one of her team’s priorities in programming.

“We always like to challenge our audience, and we always think of both children and adults at the same time,” she says.

“We’d like to show that children’s performances do not necessarily deal with simple issues and leave the young audience with certain morals. One example here is ‘Four Go Wild in Wellies’ by Scottish company Indepen-dance, two members of which have Down syndrome.”

“Horses” by kabinet k : photo/ Kurt Van der Elst

A new initiative, focusing on process rather than finished work, is the festival’s opening show “Horses”, in which the original Belgian creators kabinet k will work with Thai artists like Silpathorn artist and B-Floor’s co-artistic director Jarunun Phantachat, Pichet Klunchun Dance Company’s Sunon Wachirawarakarn and Democrazy’s Thanapol Virulhakul, as well as children selected through an open-call application process.

“Sarabande” by Noemi Boutin and Jorg Muller : Photo/ Vincent Schaub

Other international works include two nouveau cirque performances “Flaque” by Companie Defracto and “Sarabande” by Noemi Boutin and Jorg Muller, as part of the French Embassy’s “French Highlights”. Thanks to the Japan Foundation, Japanese pantomime duo Gabez will make their Thailand debut. Audiences will be amazed with “Primo” as they gather around a water tank in which two German contemporary dancers move freely – a performance that comes thanks to the support of the Goethe Institut and the German Embassy.

“Star Wars” by Babymime : photo/BICT Fest

To maintain a balance, BICT Fest also gives space on this international platform to local and regional artists, like Babymime’s audience-favourite sci-fi spoof “Star Wars”, Crescent Moon Theatre’s “The Rice Child”, and the return of Indonesia’s Paper Moon Puppet Theatre who’ll stage “Puno”, which combines puppetry and visual arts.

Apart from the performances, all participating companies will organise workshops, most of which are for adults and kids to enjoy new learning experiences together. For example, Indepen-dance’s creative dance workshop, exploring the themes of play, nature, fun, friendship and trust, at Blue Box Studio on the second floor of M Theatre, invites kids aged three to five years old along with their parents.

“Four Go Wild in Wellies” by Independance :photo/BICT Fest

In addition, BICT Fest Forum comprises a panel discussion, with international speakers including Fiona Ferguson, Imaginate’s creative development director, on the future of the international children’s theatre festival. There are also talks on such topics as “But what is the new circus?” by French cultural attache Vanessa Silvy and “Applying Circus Art in Communities” by Makhampom’s Thanupon Yindee.

In the Southeast Asian Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) meeting, there’s also an opportunity for the public to learn about the current state of Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) in six Southeast Asian countries as overviewed by professionals in the field, and for them to connect with their Japanese colleagues.

“This network is thanks to the ongoing support from the Wa Project of the Japan Foundation’s Asia Centre, which promotes the exchange between Japan and Southeast Asia,” Adjjima adds.

“Gabez” : photo/BICT Fest

With the ever-present financial difficulties, rumour is that this will be the last BICT Fest but Adjjima is quick to brush it off.

“We have a small core team all of whom have other theatre works all year round. Despite the increasing support from Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) and new supporter Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the evidence from our first festival has not been enough to win sponsorship from local businesses. The same can be said for our Ministry of Culture, despite the fact that BICT Fest is Thailand’s only festival of its kind and one of the few in the region.

“Yes, it’s sometimes discouraging but we’ll keep going of course. We’ll wait until the end of this festival to reassess, and maybe having this as a triennial, instead of biannual, festival is not a bad idea.”

Adjjima Na Patalung : photo/BICT Fest

Two years ago, I told her that I was using Disney magic spell to turn my 20-kilogramme, four-legged son into a two-legged version so that we could enjoy the next BICT Fest together. Apparently, that spell didn’t work: it only added 10 kilogrammes and failed to reduce the number of legs, but I’m still looking forward to attending this BICT Fest.

QUALITY TIME FOR ALL THE FAMILY

“Bangkok International Children’s Theatre Festival 2018” is from May 15-27 at BACC (BTS: National Stadium), Chulalongkorn University (BTS: Siam) and Creative Industries (at M Theatre, on New Phetchaburi Road, between Thong Lor and Ekamai).

For more details and tickets, go to http://www.BICTfest.com and Facebook.com/BICTfest.

Call (081) 441 5718, or email BICTfest@gmail.com.

THE FIRST major retrospective in Paris of the great French painter Eugene Delacroix in more than half a century aims to show that there was far more to the artist than “Liberty Leading the People”.

His painting of Parisians being led over the barricades by a bare-breasted Liberty during the July Revolution of 1830 is one of the most iconic in art.

The stirring tableau is said to have inspired Victor Hugo’s masterpiece “Les Miserables”, with the boy holding two pistols on the right of the picture said to be the model for the street urchin Gavroche.

But curators who have put together the huge exhibition at the Louvre, which holds the world’s largest collection of Delacroix’s work, say the bourgeois painter was hardly a revolutionary firebrand.

“The Lion Hunt” /AFP

“There is much people do not understand about his career,” says Sebastien Allard. “He doesn’t easily fit into any single movement.”

He says the show he’s put together with Come Fabre – which will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in September – attempts to demonstrate the artist’s huge range.

It extended from large-scale historical subjects to religious and orientalist themes and from animal paintings and intimate drawings to still-lifes of flowers.

Although Delacroix’s “protean genius set the bar for virtually all other French painters” who followed him, his greatest creative period was actually quite short, Allard notes.

“Liberty Leading the People” is perhaps Delacroix’s best-known painting. /AFP

Delacroix’s most famous and dramatic works – the “Massacre at Chios” (1824), the “Death of Sardanapalus” (1827) and “Liberty Leading the People” – all date from the first decade of his career.

Allard says the tension characterising Delacroix’s work reflects that “on the one hand he wanted to be original and the other wanted to fit in with the grand tradition of Flemish and Venetian artists of the 16th and 17th centuries”.

Delacroix kept journals and notebooks for much of his life. /EPA-EFE

Delacroix was also probably the great artist who wrote the most, consigning his innermost thoughts about his work and his private life to a series of diaries.

In them we learn of his attraction to the writer Georges Sand and his fears about the progress of the tuberculosis dogging the latter part of his life.

After two decades of only intermittently keeping a diary, he threw himself back into it in 1846, only to lose in a taxi his entire journal for the momentous year of 1848 – when revolutions shook Europe.

That did not, however, stop him keeping a journal religiously to the end of his life in 1863.

Delacroix, who never married, also attempted to compile a dictionary of art and translated work by Dante, Byron, Goethe and Shakespeare.

“Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863)” continues at the Louvre until July 23 and will be at the Met in New York from September 17 until January 6, 2019.

The opening ceremonies in both cities will be preceded by a talk by special guests. The exhibition shows a sense of the connections between past and present, how the search for a new vision of the city – a search that gained momentum in Japan half a century ago – has unfolded over time, and how those earlier efforts relate to today’s architecture and urban environments. The exhibition will provide an opportunity to reexamine the issue of urbanisation while grasping the current challenges and future directions of our ever-burgeoning cities in terms of specific relevance to each host location.

Taking as its point of departure the various experimental ideas on the city that flourished in Japan in the 1960s and using a combination of diverse media — from architectural scale models to photographs and slides, along with animations and other audio-visuals – the exhibition examines various circumstances of Japanese and other cities up to the present day, and identifies the distinctive aspects of those circumstances as they are manifested in present-day Tokyo.

Find out more at http://www.JFBjkk.or.th

Boutos has been taking photographs for more than three decades. Originally self-taught, he perfected his knowledge by attending seminars led by Platon Rivellis at the Photography Circle of Athens in 1985 covering the history and aesthetic of photography. In 2003, while on sabbatical leave, he attended a selection of courses at the School of Visual Arts, and the International Centre of Photography in New York.

“My roots are in street photography. It’s a tricky proposition to reconcile my two worlds. When faced with new places and cultures, I try to determine where my personal artistic interest lies. One can feel at the same time empty and overwhelmed. Undoubtedly there is a connection between the two states. ‘Access! You have access!’ was the exhortation of an old photographer friend. She’s right. Access is the photographer’s most valuable asset. Access in this case was at the cusp of both worlds.”

Known in Thailand for his mesmerising series on natural devastation and resurrection in ‘Fire/Regeneration’ (2017), Boutos’ new collection covers the fascinating world of official gala functions, which he must attend in his diplomatic persona.

Kathmandu Photo Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 6pm, It’s at 87 Pan road (near Indian Temple), Silom, Bangkok. For more information, call (02) 234 6700 or visit http://www.KathmanduPhotoBkk.com

IN THE island state where many seem to hold to their heart what Heraclitus said millennia ago that everything changes and nothing stands still, the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) has just been reformatted again. This is notwithstanding the fond, and still fresh, memories of the four annual editions curated by former festival director Ong Keng Sen.

Part of the reason for this change is the new festival director Gaurav Kripalani who has brought with him many years of experience and international connections as the artistic director of Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT). It’s because of his vision that we Southeast Asian theatregoers had a chance to watch, without any jetlag, such internationally acclaimed productions as Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) “King Lear”, with Sir Ian MacKellen in the title role, as well as Sam Mendes’ “The Bridge Project”.

Ballet Prelcocaj’s “Playlist #1” : Photo/JeanClaude Carbonne

Kripalani explains: “I’ve been privileged to have travelled to several international arts festivals over the years where I have witnessed some of the best music, theatre and dance. This gave me a good foundation to begin programming Sifa over the next three years. The conversations and idea exchanges with the directors of these festivals has been a great resource and inspiration for me.”

In a city that hosts events and festivals all year round, Kripalani confirms that Sifa still stands out from the rest, saying: “Our goal is to excite audiences about new art forms, as well as how work is interpreted so that it is relevant today. Sifa reaches out to multiple audiences, art-heeled or otherwise. Audiences know that they can look forward to quality works from Singapore and around the world that they don’t normally see here. They can make their choices from the multiple genres and different art forms offered.”

Parable of the Sower : Photo/Paul Marotta 

As engaging and thought-provoking as they were, many works in the previous editions of Sifa have been criticised for being “too niche”. Kripalani has a totally different approach.

“I grew up looking forward to the Singapore Arts Festival every year. Watching shows across different genres from around the world played a big part in shaping my artistic sensibilities. In the 1992 Festival, [late Japanese director Yukio] Ninagawa’s ‘Macbeth’ changed my perception of how Shakespeare could be performed. I was blown away. It is this emphasis on great artistic experiences from the best in the world that is core to the festival, and will be familiar to those who have followed it over the years,” he explains.

Singular Screens “A Man of Integrity” : Photo courtesy SIFA

“What I’d experienced years ago with the arts festivals is the very same experience I want audiences to walk away with. Sifa will be festival for the people, and everyone who comes should feel there is something in it that speaks to them personally.”

Instead of one major theme for each edition in the recent past, this festival has multiple themes.

“We want to grow audiences, to include new and occasional theatre-goers, and with the multiple themes, we hope to reach out to a more diverse audience with which these various themes might resonate. The multiple themes allow us to explore, and have discourse on the many different aspects of life that we face today. Many of the topics presented through our shows confront audiences with the current issues of the day. The world we live in does not just have one theme; daily, we face universal issues, and we believe by offering multiple themes, the mind and heart of audiences can be expanded, and in the process, lives enriched.”

Jacob Collier: Photo/Betsy Newman

And while the previous editions of Sifa have been accompanied by pre-festival “OPEN”, and the total combined period of the two was a few months, this year’s Sifa will last only 17 days.

“The shorter timeframe aims to offer a more intense three-week experience that comprises multiple shows over the opening weekend, both indoors and free outdoor performances [like aerial circus “Sodade” by French collective Cirque Rouages and Korean indie band Sultan of the Disco at the Empress Lawn], as well as a closing concert by the legendary Duke Ellington Orchestra at the Singapore Botanical Gardens,”

Sultan of the Disco : Photo courtesy of SIFA

Kripalani explains.

“I want people to look forward to the festival and plan with their friends and loved ones what they want to catch.”

The historic building that once housed the parliament became the Arts House years ago and during Sifa this will become the Festival House.

“It will be the hub and pulse of discourse, conversations, discussions, book and poetry readings and master classes. Within its intimate spaces, audiences can engage in deeper discussion on the different subjects and themes that they have watched on stage. For example, [in the same weekend as its new theatre adaptation from the UK is staged at the nearby Esplanade Theatre] literary critic Dr Gwee Li Sui will lecture on how many of the themes in George Orwell’s dystopian classic “1984”– like surveillance, fake news and strongmen politicians – remain as relevant today.”

LEV Dance Company’s “OCD Love” : Photo/Regina Brocke

Also at the Festival House is “Singular Screens”, a mini festival showing 13 independent films. The opening film on April 28 is “A Man of Integrity” the Iranian movie that won Un Certain Regard recognition at Cannes Film Festival last year. Thailand’s sole representative in this year’s Sifa, multi-award winning director and screenwriter Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, will see his “Die Tomorrow” screened on April 30 and May 1.

“Many of these films centre on issues that we face in our everyday lives –love, grief, suffering, mental health, social and political injustice, religion and, of course, death, as seen through the eyes of Nawapol, one of Thailand’s most promising young directors. In ‘Die Tomorrow’, I like his combination of documentary-style interview footage, news reports, sound recordings, statistics and archive materials in presenting the subject of death. There is blurring of the divide between art and reality, and this resonates with many of the underlying themes in some of our Sifa shows – where the topics dealt with are often too uncomfortably close to reality. In fact, death and mortality is something everyone will experience, but they are topics a lot of us would rather avoid.”

Schaubuhne Berlin’s “Enemy of the People” : Photo/Arno Declair

Kripalani finishes our interview with a personal invitation, saying: “We welcome visitors from Thailand to fly down to join us at Sifa 2018. There are some unique performances for both English and non-English speaking audiences. Besides the English-language theatre productions, dance, music and lovers of innovative and funky art are also in for a treat.”

To illustrate his point, he describes Israeli dance company L-E-V’s “OCD Love” as “compulsive and contemporary”; French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj’s “Playlist #1” as “a sublime ballet repertoire of ten beautiful solos, duos and emsembles”; and “The Blues Project” as “an emotive evening of tap dancing set to emotive blues music by the [American] powerhouse team of Michelle Dorrance, Derick K. Grant, Toshi Reagon and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards”.

And so, it’s time to plan our trip to Singapore again. See you there!

The writer wishes to thank Christina Stanley Lee and Willy Beh for all kind assistance.

MULTIPLE LAYERS IN 17 DAYS

Sifa 2018 runs from April 26 to May 12 at the Arts House, a short walk from MRT City Hall station, and other nearby venues. There are both free-admission and ticketed events.

For the complete line-up, visit http://www.SIFA.sg, and http://www.facebook.com/SIFA.sg.

THE FIRST Van Gogh painting to go under the hammer in France in more than two decades was unveiled on Wednesday.

“Women Mending Nets in the Dunes”, which the Dutch artist painted early in his career at Scheveningen near The Hague, is expected to go for around five million euros (Bt192 million) when it’s auctioned in June.

But with the art market booming and prices for artists like Vincent Van Gogh rocketing, experts say it’s hard to predict exactly where the bidding would stop.

The scene dates from the same period in 1882 when Van Gogh painted “View of the Sea at Scheveningen”, which the Italian Camorra organised-crime syndicate stole from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2002.

It was recovered in Naples in 2016 thanks to a tip-off from a suspected drug trafficker.

The oil on paper, which belongs to a European collector, also graced the walls of the Van Gogh Museum for several years after being previously on show in Montreal.

Bruno Jaubert of auction house Artcurial says the work comes from very early in Van Gogh’s career, when he was painting working-class people in his homeland.

“He had only started painting two years before,” says Jaubert.

“He describes the sale, “with fewer and fewer Van Goghs coming to the market”, as an art-market event.

The world record for a Van Gogh was for his “Portrait of Dr Gachet”, which sold for $82.5 million in 1990 (Bt2.58 billion).

“Women Mending Nets in the Dunes” will be sold on June 4 along with five minor works by Van Gogh’s friend Paul Gauguin.

One of them, a portrait of the artist’s childhood friend Claude Antoine Charles Favre, is expected to go for between 180,000 and 250,000 euros.

LED BY CO-ARTISTIC directors Danny Yung and Matthias Woo, Zuni Icosahedron, Hong Kong’s leading experimental, and multi-disciplinary, arts company, has been organising the Hong Kong-Taipei-Shanghai-Shenzhen City-to-City Cultural Exchange Conference and Asia Arts Net since 1997, when Hong Kong returned to the sovereignty of China.

An internationally acclaimed artist as well as a scholar, cultural administrator, independent cultural worker and creative industry operator, Yung once said that the historic handover “would be a cultural opportunity to initiate an important discourse on Chinese culture, Chinese and foreign cultures, as well as Eastern and Western cultures”.

Hong Kong Cultural Centre recently hosted an open discussion of cultural exchange issues. /Photo courtesy of Zuni Icosahedron

The recent Four-City Conference, as it’s commonly referred to, expanded its scope to become “Hong Kong Belt-Road City-to-City Cultural Exchange Conference”, with the aim of “promoting arts and cultural exchanges and collaborations among the respective cities, and to provide an impetus to the new paradigm of multicultural interactions between the East and the West”.

In her opening speech at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s (HKCC) Grand Theatre, Hong Kong SAR chief executive Carrie Lam noted: “For a few years now, much has been said about the Belt and Road Initiative and many conferences have been held in Hong Kong harping on this important theme. But placing ‘culture’ as the theme of a Belt and Road conference is both pioneering and commendable.

“The Belt and Road Initiative is not only about trade and business. One of the five main areas of connectivity that this Initiative aims to boost is a people-to-people bond,” she added, then quoted chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee Zhang Dejiang’s observation that Hong Kong has been an important window for cultural exchanges between the East and the West given their open and inclusive cultural atmosphere.

“My government will continue to provide the policy and resources for transforming Hong Kong into Asia’s cultural hub and take advantage of our cultural foundation to promote people-to-people interactions along the Belt and Road,” Lam added.

At the HKCC’s Studio Theatre, the first two days marked the 20th anniversary of the four-city conference, where the main speaking language was Putonghua with English simultaneous interpretation. That was reversed for the latter two days when more international arts scholars, practitioners and cultural administrators spoke. The theme was “cultural exchange and city branding” and both parts were divided into four forums in accordance with four sub-themes. These forums explored the challenges, evaluation and way forward of, first, international arts events and arts festival organisations; second, government and legislatures; third, universities and research institutes; and last, foundations, public media and awarding bodies for arts awards on enhancing cultural exchange and city branding.

On the first two evenings, when chairs and tables were removed from the floor of the studio, conference participants and the public witnessed an example of cultural exchange in “One Table Two Chairs”, a concept for interdisciplinary and intercultural collaboration initiated by Yung. Such renowned international artists as classical Chinese opera master Ke Jun, classical Javanese dancer and choreographer Didik Nini Thowok, Israeli contemporary theatre director and choreographer Saar Magal and New York-based Japanese choreographer Yoshiko Chuma showcased what they had been working together with international participation from the Eurasia Young Performing Artists Cross-Cultural Exchange and Education Programme, members of which had previously been to workshops and masterclasses in Zurich and Taipei. On the third evening at the grand theatre, we watched the conference’s co-curator Woo’s “Architecture of the City”, a music theatre performance inspired by Italian architect Aldo Rossi’s book of the same title, as part of Zuni’s biannual “Architecture Is Art Festival”.

Jitti Chompee

Thailand was well represented in all aspects of this conference. Young artist Junior Dearden, a graduate of the Patravadi School in Hua Hin, was part of the aforementioned exchange and education programme and performed in both Magal’s and Chuma’s creations for “One Table Two Chairs”. Contemporary dancer and choreographer Jitti Chompee arrived early in the SAR to work with two acrobat students from the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts for his work in the same platform.

Member of the Bangkok Art and Culture Foundation’s board of directors Chatvichai Promadhattavedi and the foundation’s office manager Nongratt Thanjitt also spoke, commented and moderated different forums at the conference. National artist Patravadi Mejudhon was present and actively shared her thoughts.

Chatvichai Promadhattavedi, Danny Yung and Junior Dearden at the conference

In the end, the conference was more than a think tank but also a spark for an international network of arts and cultural practitioners and scholars. This can be sustainable if governments of other cities or countries pick up this initiative and develop on it, instead of starting a new network. For me, most noteworthy is the fact that young artists, most of whom are still students, were not only attending workshops, masterclasses and rehearsals and performing for the conference participants and the public, but also openly sharing their thoughts and opinions in the conference’s last session. In many cities and countries, the gap between arts academia and professional practice is becoming wider. For example, one arts department chairperson resigned because her colleagues reached a consensus to continue to teach the way they had been doing and leaving professional artists to continue doing whatever they want. In addition, the gap between artists, who seem to be unable to receive enough state support, and cultural administrators, who appear to create new policies every few years, is also getting wider.

Patravadi Mejudhon

And for this, Yung has a good suggestion, writing in his preface to the city reports on cultural exchange: “As an artist, one ought to constantly expand the horizon through the crossing over of many roles. It is through crossing over many different roles that we become enriched by our experience. Enriched by more experiences, we can remain calm and rational, and be more outspoken in addressing issues of cultural policy and institutions, economics and politics, and taking up the role of reflecting on social responsibility.

“In the very first place, creativity is in fact about commentary, communication and advocacy. Yet we know that as we can go onstage, we can also detach ourselves and go offstage in order to return to the role of an ordinary citizen. In this way, we affirm our duty as artists who are capable of independent thinking and dialectical investigation in a detached manner.”

The writer’s trip was fully supported by Zuni Icosahedron and the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.

CHECK IT OUT ONLINE

For more information, visit http://www.ZuniSeason.org.hk. To read reports on cultural exchange written by experts from Bangkok to Zurich, go to Issuu.com/zuni_icosahedron/docs/city_reports.

THOUSANDS of visitors have posed on his trompe-l’oeil facades, he made the pointed tip of the Buenos Aires Obelisk disappear, and he even tricked visitors into thinking they were seeing others underwater in a giant pool.

Argentina’s Leandro Erlich is shaking up the art world with his wonderful world of illusions.

The 44-year-old conceptual artist divides his time between his hometown Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the very liveable capital of neighbouring Uruguay.

Erlich poses inside “Elevator Maze” at his studio in Buenos Aires./AFP

In his dream factory – a three-storey studio in the Villa Crespo residential area of Buenos Aires shielded from the road by a giant metal barrier – Erlich creates his giant installations, which have earned cult status in London, Paris and New York.

Erlich has managed to wow both art amateurs and discerning critics with his work. The biggest display of his work to date – 44 pieces in total – drew 400,000 visitors to the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo last month.

“Erlich stimulates the senses, not just the intellect – he’s asking patrons to live through an experience, as one does at the theatre,” explains Andres Duprat, director of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires.

“Not only are his works making waves in the art world – they are reaching a much wider public. This is not someone who is doing special effects. He’s showing how it all works. Once the visitor understands the work, he or she can begin to savour it, and reflect on it.”

“Port of Reflections” /AFP

In “Port of Reflections”, colourful rowboats seem to float – except there’s no water.

“Swimming Pool” sees people walk fully clothed into a pool – except there’s no pool.

“Elevator Maze”, a matrix of elevator banks, confuses patrons when they don’t see their own reflection in the mirror.

Visitors are thrilled, confused, annoyed or experience an emotion somewhere in between, but they are never indifferent.

“When a work is well received, it brings great satisfaction. It opens up opportunities for the future. In concrete terms, my projects are difficult to do,” says Erlich.

“There is no single format. I’ve done video, sculpture, photography and of course installations. The idea of conceptual art is now broad enough to include all forms of expression.”

“Changing Room” /AFP

Erlich’s works play with optical illusions and our perception of sound. At his studio in Buenos Aires, he works with craftsmen and designers to bring his vision to life.

Erlich said his team “came together over time and depending on need”.

“Fifteen or 16 years ago, I did one or two projects a year. Now it’s more like four.”

In Montevideo he found refuge and the “distance” needed to work. “I have lived for a long time away from Buenos Aires – five years in the United States, five years in France – before returning to South America.”

In the Uruguayan capital, he finds inspiration and time to think. “I have trouble working in places where there’s too much stimulation, too much noise.

“With globalisation, the world is smaller now. My universe is indisputably very ‘Rioplatense’,” he says, using an adjective referring to the Rio de la Plata estuary separating Argentina and Uruguay.

In Buenos Aires, many remember when he made the tip of the obelisk vanish in 2015.

He covered the point with a sort of square cap, giving the impression it was cut off. In tandem, a replica of the tip was built and placed in a museum.

“The idea was for people to take back the monument,” which cannot be entered, he says.

“Building” /AFP

The artist’s work has been displayed in New York, Paris, London, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Venice, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo and Sao Paulo.

In “Building”, visitors from a dozen countries placed themselves on a building facade installed on the ground, but reflected in a mirror to the side.

“All of my work has an aspect of public participation,” Erlich says. “The starting point is my passion for challenges, and being able to express my ideas.”