Around a dozen humped sculptures, some of them damaged from erosion and vandalism, are possibly around 2,000 years old and were recently found in a private property along a desert crossing in the northern province of Al-Jouf.

Chiseled on three rocky spurs, the sculptures, which also depict equids, or hoofed mammals, show a level of artistic skill unseen in other rock art forms in the Saudi desert.

They could help unravel the mysteries of ancient life in the Arabian peninsula.

“They are a work of artistry and creativity,” Khalifah said, giving AFP a tour of the desolate area in Al-Jouf, now well known in archeological circles as “the camel site”.

Khalifah, part of a Franco-Saudi research team that explored the site in 2016 and 2017, said he accidentally discovered the carvings some years ago when a local friend told him about a “camel-shaped mountain”.

“Instead when I visited the area, I found camels were carved in the mountain outcrops. This is truly unique,” he said.

Camels — for centuries venerated as the “ship of the desert” — are a familiar motif in artworks from the kingdom.

But the three dimensional engravings in Al-Jouf, some featuring only part of a camel’s body such as the hooves, differ from those discovered at other Saudi sites.

Many are perched high on the outcrops and would have required ropes or scaffolding.

One engraving in particular stands out — a camel facing what appears to be a donkey, mule or horse, animals that have rarely been represented in the region’s rock art.

“The three dimensional carvings show great skill in their level of naturalism and their sheer size,” Maria Guagnin, from the Germany-based Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, told AFP.

“This may potentially change our understanding of prehistoric population dynamics and cultural traits.”

But the site is shrouded in mystery, with little information on who created the carvings or the tools they used.

Khalifah said the closest may be the Nabateans, a nomadic Arab tribe known for founding the city of Petra in modern-day Jordan that was carved out of sandstone desert cliffs.

– Rich past –

The discovery has shone a spotlight on Saudi Arabia’s rich bedouin heritage. The kingdom is endowed with thousands of examples of painted rock art and ancient inscriptions.

Archaeologists last year used Google Maps to find hundreds of stone “gates” built from rock in a remote Saudi desert, which may date back as far as 7,000 years.

They also discovered evidence of 46 lakes that used to exist in Saudi Arabia’s northern Nefud desert, which experts say has lent credence to the theory that the region swung between periods of desertification and a wetter climate.

The carvings in Al-Jouf may be the most significant recent discovery.

“This is an important scientific discovery which reminds us of the important pre-Islamic history of Saudi Arabia,” archaeologist Guillaume Charloux, from France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), told AFP.

“I can only hope that it will lead people to discover the variety and richness of the Saudi Arabian past,” said Charloux, who led the research team with Khalifah.

The carvings have different styles, which suggests there was more than one artist behind them.

It is possible, archaeologists say, that the Al-Jouf site was one of veneration or on a caravan route used as a resting place or boundary marker.

“My hypothesis today is that the sculptors are local people, and that the site is an emblematic place on the regional and caravan routes towards Mesopotamia,” said Charloux.

– Unanswered questions –

More fieldwork is now needed to find the answers.

Many of the eroded sculptures are hard to date, but archaeologists estimate they were possibly completed in the first centuries BC or AD.

“If they pre-date the domestication of the camel, then they represent wild specimens who may have been hunted, and a successful hunt may have been vital for the survival of the local human populations,” said Guagnin.

For now, Saudi authorities are closely guarding the Al-Jouf site from any treasure hunters, amid local speculation of hidden gold.

The government is also seeking ownership of the site from the local landowner.

Saudi officials who gave AFP the tour pointed out how one of the rocky spurs seen from an angle appears like a human face, with a nose-like protrusion.

Also visible alongside the engravings were painted art forms, which showed human and mythological beings and an object that appeared to look like a chariot.

Khalifah, however, dismissed some of the art as amateurish, “like a child drawing on paper”, with no indication whether they came before or after the sculptures.

“There are so many unanswered questions,” Khalifah said.

DO YOU like talking to your taxi driver? I do: I enjoy talking to, and learning from, strangers and because he meets many people from many walks of life everyday, he always has a lot to share.

Have you ever asked your taxi driver to change the radio station? I’ve thought about it but then realised who’s behind the wheel. And so whatever makes him happy, I’m okay with that.

Have you ever engaged into a heated argument with your taxi driver? When my house was flooded for six weeks and I had to rent an apartment in the city, I took taxi almost every day. And one afternoon, he said right after I got in, “That university is full of homosexuals: what’s wrong with them?”

“And you think they’re worse than corrupt politicians?” was my response, having forgotten who was actually behind the wheel.

Night-time stories from the streets of Bangkok are deftly told through monologues and songs. Photo/Ben Kosolsak

Veteran playwright and director Nophand Boonyai, whose previous work “[Co/Exist]” won IATC Thailand awards for best play and original script last year, is a keen observer, and commentator, of life, especially that in contemporary Bangkok.

His new work “Taxi Radio”, now onstage, has a fitting subtitle “Bangkok City of Stories”. He narrates four stories, back and forth, from four walks of Bangkok life. Some cross paths; others, we wish they did, but actually don’t. Of course, some are more engaging, and less predictable, than others.

Photo/ Sirima Chaipreechawit

In a lively set-up that looks more like that of a concert, four actors – some also have roles in another’s story, vocally or physically– almost always use microphones. Two musicians, on drums and keys, accompany them with both sound effects and music. Duck Unit’s lighting design is also in fine accordance.

Last year, room temperature, acoustics and mosquitoes barred me from enjoying performances at Warehouse 30. The first two have well been taken care of and the whole complex has become another hip spot to hang out in this new creative district. Our favourite insects are not my problem, but they did bother some of the audience last Tuesday. My fellow critic was also seen lifting her leg up when she spotted a cockroach.

My lifelong theatregoing companion also noted that all performers, actors and musicians, do not, unlike many performances she’s been to, look familiar. And that’s indeed a good sign for Full Fat Theatre.

FIVE MORE NIGHTS

“Taxi Radio: Bangkok City of Stories” continues every night until Friday, 8pm, at Warehouse 30 in Soi Charoenkrung 30, close to Si Phraya pier, and within walking distance from BTS Saphan Taksin station.

It’s in Thai, with no English translation.

Tickets are Bt600 at (065) 420 8596.

Find out more by joining the conversation at Facebook.com/FullFatTheatre.

WHEN I first received an email about the new play “Retire-men” by Japanese playwright Yayoi Shimisu, which ended its tour at Creative Industries in Bangkok after touring to Manila and Chiang Mai, the title was written without the hyphen. As a former English major at university, I wrote back to ask whether it was a typo. The answer was that it was the Japanese team’s intention. It didn’t make sense until I got to watch the play and realised I hadn’t been to a Japanese noodle shop for a while.

The play’s brief description brought to mind a fellow Indian passenger on a Bangkok-bound flight from New Delhi almost 10 years ago. Having spent most of his professional career in the US and then retired, he was coming to spend his golden years in Thailand and intended to look for a Thai wife. Our conversation went so well, or perhaps the drinks were so good, that I gave him my mobile phone number and two months later he called, asking me to translate a love letter he had written to a Thai woman. I didn’t and that was the last time we talked. Thailand is, to all extents and purposes, a paradise for foreign retirees.

“Retiremen” had its Thailand debut at Thepsiri Gallery in expatfriendly Chiang Mai before showing in Bangkok. Photo/Pornthep Chitpong

Despite its title, this play also discussed the other side of the coin – for example, how Filipino workers and Japanese-Filipino children, are not as well-accepted by Japanese society as Japanese retired men are in the Philippines or Thailand.

The play reminded us too how there’d be no demand if there were no supply, and how we’d gone out of our way to make foreign expats, and not only Japanese ones, happier than they are back in their home countries.

Notwithstanding the play’s heavy messages, all of them fuelled by a good amount of research in the three countries, directors Yoji Sakate and Silpathorn artist Nikorn Sae Tang deftly used humour to reel in the audience. When the three senior Japanese actors sang the main song “Retire-men”, the audience understood why this title was, linguistically and culturally, more appropriate than “Retired Men”. The minimal use of set props, particularly wooden stools, also moved the play along smoothly and the audience got to exercise its imagination occasionally, without ever getting confused.

Photo/Pornthep Chitpong

Rather confusing sometimes, though, was the use of four languages in the dialogues – Japanese, English, Thai and Tagalog – and three in the surtitles – where Tagalog was omitted. Most actors spoke more than one language and as a result the audience, most of whom were familiar with more than one language, didn’t know whether to listen or to read.

Photo/Pornthep Chitpong

“Retire-men” is an affirmation that a good play not only entertains but also informs and leaves its audience with some questions to debate –the fact that most audience members stayed on for the post-show Q&A on opening night is evidence of this. And, interestingly, while the funding is mainly from Japan, especially the Japan Foundation’s Asia Centre, which continues to promote the exchange between Japan and Southeast Asia, this issue is more internationally relevant.

The play is openly critical of the Japanese government’s policy on immigrants as well as that country’s strong belief that, no matter how old, one should never be a burden on others. I can’t imagine a contemporary Thai production revealing some of our country’s dark sides, like sex tourism, corruption or politics and still remaining a candidate for government support.

Visit Rinkogun.com for more details.

The “Chalerm Phrakiat HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn” emergency centre will be built at Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital.

Nearly 100 collectors gathered at Queen Sirikit Art Centre, where 23 works of art were sold. Conducted by Yawanee Nirandara of Christie’s auction house, the sale fetched a total of Bt10,235,429. Jay Mart chief executive officer Adisak Sukumvitaya was among the big spenders at the auction. Spending over Bt3 million, he went home with eight works of art including the most expensive one – Chatchai Puipia’s 2018 oil painting “Kaewta Kwanjai” depicting His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX) and HM Queen Sirikit. It fetched Bt2 million although the auctioneer’s estimate was only Bt400,000. Others bidders included former prime minister Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, and collectors Kongkiat Opaswongkarn, Prapawadee Sophonpanich and Punchalee Penchart

The hospital has been raising funds by hosting various events, including runs and concerts, along with other donation campaigns that have so far earned more than Bt400 million. The “Mercy Mission” is the first time the hospital has raised funds by hosting an art auction and it received good feedback.

“The new emergency centre aims at to reduce the loss of life,” said Dr Somchai Assawasudsakorn, director of Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital.  “Our hospital is overloaded. We service patients in Nakhon Ratchsima, Chaiyaphun, Buri Rum and Surin. We have around 4,300 outpatients per day. The 1,300-bed hospital services over 1,600 inpatients a day. We have over 300 emergency patients a day.”

As it is the gateway province to the northeast of Thailand, road accidents often happen in Naknon Ratchasima during holiday seasons. During the New Year holiday last year, the province had the Kingdom’s highest road fatality rate, with 17 deaths.

The exhibition itself will be held at Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles inside the Grand Palace from March 21 to June 30 and will feature royal gifts and letters exchanged between their Majesties King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit, and earlier Kings of the Chakri Dynasty and various American presidents.

“Great and Good Friend” is the salutation President Abraham Lincoln used to address King Rama IV in February 1862 when he wrote to thank King Mongkut for sending “rich presents … as tokens of goodwill and friendship for the American people.”

Collections from three major American national institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives and Records Administration (which oversees presidential libraries), and the Library of Congress will be displayed in the exhibition, most of them for the first time in Bangkok.

The letters from King Mongkut, King Chulalongkorn, and Viceroy Pinklao are windows into both royal court customs and early US-Thai relations. With elaborate introductions and valedictions framing the dignity of the monarch’s words, these letters evoke the grandeur of royal court traditions, while also conveying each king’s personal sentiments. Between the regal and formal rhetoric of the court, the message is clear, as each king shares his hope for mutual esteem and goodwill between the Kingdom of Siam and the United States.

Their Majesties King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit frequently gifted royal portraits, often within decorative niello frames, in their exchanges with presidents. Although the two never met, President John F Kennedy (1917-1963) received this royal portrait with a hand-written inscription from King Bhumibol in 1963.

Merrion will give an insight into the organising of the exhibition. He is an independent researcher and anthropologist based in Richmond, Virginia and Washington, DC who specialises in museum-related curatorial projects and publications. He is currently assisting Meridian International Centre as an independent curator with this exhibition.

Since 2010 he has worked closely with the Asian Cultural History programme at the Smithsonian Institution on numerous publications, exhibitions, and outreach programmes, with projects in Turkmenistan, Korea, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Madagascar, and Thailand. His most recent publication, “Tribal and Indigenous Inspirations in Today’s Arts of Turkmenistan”, which was featured in the 2016 edition of the Barbier-Mueller Museum’s “Arts & Cultures” journal and co-authored by Smithsonian curator Paul Michael Taylor, explores the ways in which contemporary art is inspired by tradition, a theme that informs much of his research.

Bradford Smith is an independent ethnomusicologist based in Falls Church, Virginia, who specialises in ethnographic research publications, exhibitions, and outreach. He has worked as a contract researcher with the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Cultural History programme since 2009.

He is co-author of the Smithsonian publications “Turkmenistan: Arts from the Land of Magtymguly” (2013) and “Turkmenistan: Ancient Arts Today” (2011) and has recently submitted the article “Instruments of Diplomacy: Nineteenth-century Musical Instruments in the Smithsonian Collection of Thai Royal Gifts”, co-authored with Smithsonian curator Dr Paul M Taylor”, for publication in the Siam Society’s Journal of the Siam Society.

The lecture is free of charge. The Siam Society is on Soi Asoke in downtown Bangkok.

Call (02) 661 6470-3 or visit http://www.Siam-Society.org.

The Bangkok-born and bred Thai-German, who studied fashion photography at the London College of Fashion, “absorbs the pageantry of life like a porous leaf in sunshine”, the gallery says in its promotion.

“In a field worn out by imitation and cross-imitation, how rare to discover a hatchling self-identified ‘fashion photographer’ with a totally fresh eye, becoming himself the source of creativity and inspiration; an artist.

“One catches fashion like a disease, through sensory contact. Like the other arts, but on the literally superficial level, the dimension of appearances, fashion reflects the emanations of the world at a given moment.

“Originators of designs and looks that others copy send out their feelers to be seduced by the sensory conversation. As with Shakespearean synesthesia, they can hear colours and see sounds, taste good and evil and sniff out fake memes and real. Jakrin talks to us wordlessly of ideas and ideals through singing colours and visual sounds, through youth and the acidic ravages of time.”

“I like not being able to see the images immediately,” says von Bueren. “I like the surprise when I see my work later. For the rotten effects, the vinegar and rusting wire wool, the bleaching, the words of peace from the Bible, Psalm 46/9: ‘He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire’ – I don’t know the reason, I just like it.”

“Jakrin’s photographs,” says curator Manit Sriwanichpoom, “are fresh and vibrant with the energy of youth yet simultaneously imbued with alchemy, spiritual and physical; he has the guts to take crazy risks to achieve interesting work.

“His portraits of his models and his friends revive our memories of what it was like to be a teenager. Immaculate faces unlined by life contradict eyes full of anxiety over future uncertainties; they can struggle meanwhile to search for identity through fashionable clothes.

“To get at what is beyond such superficial expression, Jakrin corrodes his black and white negatives with bleach and vinegar, sometimes immersing them for months to rot and ripen in extraordinary ways, as in the series ‘Decay: Degeneration of All Things’ (2015) and ‘Skinheads: A Political Statement Turned Fashion Subculture’ (2016).

“Even now, the source negatives of these pictures are still continuing their transformation.”

Find out more at (02) 234 6700 and http://www.KathmanduPhotoBkk.com.

Danish “hygge” and Thai “sanuk” are two examples of words that represent a conscious effort within each respective culture to connect the individual experience happily into the greater society. Though different in their communal ambience and energy, both expressions signify a focus on life to remove stress, to be kind, and to enjoy the present moment.

The works of Torlap and Schulenburg provide the space to feel comforted in today’s climate of anxiety.

Torlarp, 40, is a multidisciplinary artist who is interested in the interaction between people and artworks. He is also the founder of Gallery Seescape, an alternative art space in Chiang Mai, which he set up in 2008 with the aim of creating connections between people and contemporary art.

In “I-solated Beings”, he creates the USO (Unidentified Standing Object) and invites viewers to discuss the correlation between object and space. Ever-present in his works are reassessments of the value of functions, materials, and locations.

USO explores an epiphany of narrow mindedness. What viewers witness as a fully functional living space is an otherwise overlooked 20-year-old home water tank .The practicality of the object and its new mobility set ask if we settle on the functionality of our creations prematurely.

The tank has been fully repurposed and equipped with the makings of a modern living space, complete with bed and air con unit. The pre-existing conditions of the tools could be altered by a community that seeks to establish new connections to its environment. The appropriation of the water tank is guided by following the changes in surroundings whether remote in nature or active in public space.

This work explores aspects of community by offering new engagements through the compact and migratory living space. It acts on the expectations that society is curious when presented with unknown stimuli. It also offers a new-found public familiarity with an often neglected product from everyday lives.

Torlap’s previous work, the mobile gallery “3147966” from 2009, introduced this aesthetic of the compact, travelling unit. Outfitted in the back of an old truck, “3147966” brought the structure and function of a contemporary art gallery into a miniaturised form. The USO is a continuation of the mobile gallery’s conceptual community and provides a common experience to that of its predecessor; an imaginative and curious new possibility for a way to live one’s life.

Schulenburg, 42, produces works in a variety of media and perspective such as ceramics, drawing, felt and sculpture. Felt is manifested in works of sculpture and 2D imagery in a range of sizes. This material continues to be his preferred medium as seen in this exhibition.

The common theme in his work is a profound focus on the imaginative and its relationship to nature and culture. His felt works hold a rather poetic sensibility, where the soft expression of the felt always covers serious issues that often refer to the human existence and its different threats such as natural disasters.

Through the engagement of the felt sculptures and objects there is a space to change people’s usual view of the logic of things. The perspective is often comedic and bizarre giving pause to our traditional ways of thinking about the environment or society.

The juxtaposition of the cushy felt and the socially distant content give off an almost surreal image. Many of the objects radiate a hallucinogenic tone, one that manipulates the viewer into feeling comfortable. The deconstruction of these intense moments into comfort is uniquely absurd and funny. There is a deeper phenomenon under the surface of these works, one that requests a playful imagination and an aim to reverse logic.

For this exhibition, he brings his latest felt-produces works that are centred around the night. The representation of this is delivered through the darkness and the light that emerges from this void. He tries to point out the fine line between the calmness of the night and the alarming sense of darkness/ loneliness/ the unknown in this series. There are uncertain reactions to situations which rest below the veil of the attractive.

The gallery in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 33 is open daily except Monday.

Call (02) 258 5580 or visit http://www.Sac.gallery

VISITORS to Vienna’s art history museum on Monday enjoyed a closer look at 13 of Gustav Klimt’s unsung masterpieces thanks to a walkway erected over a monumental central stairway.

The sprawling Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM), opened in 1891 under Emperor Franz-Joseph, houses one of Europe’s most important art collections while also showcasing interior design by the cream of Vienna’s artists and sculptors.

Among those commissioned to decorate the building was Klimt, then 28 and considered a rising star of the Austrian neo-classical school.

But until now the museum’s 1.4 million annual visitors could only admire the paintings from afar.

A visitor stands on a suspended bridge and looks at paintings by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt./AFP

The eye-level experience is well worth the climb up the “Stairway to Klimt”, as the museum has dubbed the new installation, in a nod to the song by heavy-metal band Led Zeppelin.

Paying homage to the Venetian, Roman and Florentine traditions of the Quattrocento, as well as to Egyptian art, the superbly preserved works are testament to the young Klimt’s artistic maturity and hint at the future course of the Vienna Secession.

They show his use of gilding, full-length portraits, monumental motifs inspired by Japanese prints and above all a delicate sensuality.

“Even though still attached to historicism, the work already shows the beginnings of Modernism,” says Daniel Uchtmann, art historian at the KHM.

Of particular note among the works is a nude Egyptian-inspired goddess depicted in a provocative pose. “Even though it didn’t cause any particular scandal, this sort of representation was quite daring in the context of a public building,” Uchtmann notes.

The exhibition, marking the centenary of the death of Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), allow visitors to access 13 paintings, commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph. /AFP

Klimt had already been commissioned for several public projects with his brother Ernst, with whom he founded a company in 1883 for this purpose, the Kuenstler-Compagnie.

He continued pushing artistic boundaries before breaking free of the Association of Austrian Artists and helping to found the Vienna Secession movement.

In 1905 Klimt found himself forced to buy back three canvases from the University of Vienna after outrage sparked by their “provocative” nature.

The “Stairway to Klimt” is part of dozens of exhibitions being held in Austria this year to mark the centenary of Klimt’s death on February 6, 1918, as well as to honour three other major figures of Viennese modernism, Egon Schiele, Koloman Moser and Otto Wagner.

The stairway will stay in place until September 2.

AT THE 2004 edition of Patravadi Theatre’s Bangkok Fringe Festival, Singaporean producer Tang Fu Kuen, the festival director and this work’s dramaturg, introduced French choreographer Jerome Bel to our Pichet Klunchun. Their ensuring dance dialogue “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” was watched by the director of Belgium’s KunstenFestivaldesArts who invited them to Brussels for the work’s international premiere a few months later. The rest fills a whole chapter in the history of not just contemporary Thai dance but also intercultural performance, as this work has been staged more than a hundred times in many cities around the world.

The restaging of “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” was a highlight of “La Fete 2012” at Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts.

Praise has been lavish. When the European Cultural Foundation awarded Bel and Pichet Princess Margriet Award for Culture in 2008, the international jury explained, “The piece consisted of a staged conversation between two professional dancer-choreographers with very little in common. This dialogue, despite its seeming simplicity, offered a brave and masterful deconstruction of cultural difference. Bel and Klunchun managed to turn a conversation between two artists into a moving and often hilarious encounter that questioned what is usually taken for granted when two cultures meet.”

Bel himself even noted, “A lot of Western artists say: ‘Let’s unify!’ That’s a mistake. Better to perform the differences.”

When “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” was part of La Fete 2012 at Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts and Vic Hua Hin, the word was that it would be the last time the audience would get to watch this seminal work. In her review for The Nation, Jasmine Baker wrote: “Pichet and Bel performed impeccably, having polished the duet since its premiere at the 2004 Bangkok Fringe Festival, and yet they talked as if meeting for the first time. Neither seemed to have any idea what the other would do next. It was as entertaining as it was informative.”

But in the end, like many rumours in this country, it’s not true, and we’ll soon have a chance to enjoy it again at Pichet’s Chang Theatre.

Pichet, whose new collaboration with Lao-French choreographer Ole Kamchanla “Negotiation” just finished its run in Paris last Friday, says: “This work still answers many questions by people both in the East and the West, on interculturalism, the relationship between tradition and contemporaneity as well as how to live among differences. I think it’s a timeless work as both of our answers [in this dance dialogue] remain keys for contemporary people who are questioning their own culture, and others’, in this increasingly multicultural world.”

He continues, “Over the past few years the Thai people have discussed the definition of ‘contemporaneity’ as evidenced in performances, festivals, seminars, and so on, with the word ‘contemporary’ in them. And so I think ‘Pichet Klunchun and Myself’ can share this discussion. Besides, this work can also show an option for those who’re studying classical Thai dance and finding a way to make it relevant in contemporary society.”

Pichet also notes that the content of the performance is more condensed and the running time is down from 130 to 105 minutes.

And since his French colleague is back in town, Pichet is making sure he’s not on beach vacation, like many of his compatriots, but working.

Jerome Bel has worked with many performers and non-performers in cities around the world for “Gala”. photo/Josefina Tommasi

Bel’s 2015 creation “Gala” which has been to London’s Dance Umbrella, Paris’ Festival d’Automne, KunstenFestivaldesArts and Penang’s Georgetown Festival, among many others, is now in rehearsal here in Bangkok, and will be on stage only 48 hours after “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” at the same venue.

With 20 Thai performers and non-performers from all walks of life, “Gala” asks, “How can we bring to the realms of onstage representation individuals and bodies that are all too often excluded from such a possibility? How can we make best use of all the various resources of this unique apparatus, the theatre – with its codes, venues, genres and professionals– in order to enlarge the perimeter of what can be shown in it? And how can we (re)shape it into a democratic means that lies within the grasp of all those drawn to dance, singing and the performing arts?”

The Guardian dance critic Judith Mackrell raved, “The results are haphazard, funny and touching, but entirely individual,” and that “[Gala]

bears the stamp of [Bel’s] special genius, both in eliciting so much of his performers’ trust and in winning over his audience.”

Pichet explains why he, with the support from the French Embassy, is bringing this conceptual dance work to Bangkok,

“This work is the total opposite to the Thai audience’s myth about stage performance – for example, it needs to be grand-scale, larger-than-life and the performers should be special, in their physicality, capability or even education. This myth has made our stage a kind of holy ground that ordinary people [with some flaws] do not want to set their feet on. We hope that ‘Gala’ will help change the Thai audience’s perspective so that there’s less sense of authoritarianism in which our leaders simply decide what’s good or not.”

As for the casting of non-performers, Pichet doesn’t view it as a trend in contemporary performance; rather, he asks, “Why can Thai stage not feature non-performers? They’re also part of our society. And if you’ve been following Bel’s works [like ‘Disabled Theatre’ at Singapore International Festival of Arts, reviewed here], you’ll see that he’s always interested in equality.”

TWO DATES WITH CONTEMPORANEITY

“Pichet Klunchun and Myself” is on March 3 and 4, 7.30pm. It’s in English with no translation. Tickets are Bt500.

Part of “French Highlights #3”, “Gala” is on March 6 and 7, 7:30pm. Tickets are Bt700.

Chang Theatre is in Soi Pracha-uthit 61, in Thung Khru, Thonburi.

No student discounts are offered for either performance. Book at (099) 213 5639 and (095) 956 9166, or online at http://www.ChangTheatre.com, where you can also find the whole year’s programme.

Also visit http://www.JeromeBel.fr (in French and English).

Museum Siam has also developed new functionality through mobile application which users can buy and access online. This year, it welcomes additional museums and interesting centres to the project including Siamgems Heritage, Owl Art Museum, Rubberland, Peranakan Phuket Museum, Bank of Thailand Learning Centre, NSM Science Museum, NSM Science Square, Siam Serpentarium, Krukung Museum, Natural History Museum Khon Kaen, Peranakan Nitust, Magic Museum and Chiang Mai Zoo Aquarium.

“Museum Siam acknowledges that crucial benefit of museum and learning centre is to encourage people an education,” said Rames Promyen, general director of Museum Siam. “This is why we have constantly run this campaign along with the Muse Pass since 2013 to inject museum culture up in today’s society and to let people enjoy themselves visiting museums around the country.”

To add even more fun and liveliness, Museum Siam has classified museums into four groups; science and technology, life and nature, art history and culture, and has expanded access up to 63 museums nationwide.

Users can convert the Muse Pass into a digital card for a smartphone, which supports both IOS and Android, making it even more convenient to use.

“Muse Pass Season 6” is valid for one year from the date of purchase. It is available now at 44 participating museums, KTC Touch Centre, and through online channels at www.MuseumSiam.org, KTC World Travel Service (ktcworld.co.th) and on mobile application “Museum Thailand”.

For more information, call (02) 225 2777 extension 527 or visit Facebook.com/musepass