Exhibitions
WTF gallery
Jul 02 - Aug 23, 2020
Prakit Kobkijwattana, THAILAND’S NEW NORMAL 1-6, 2020
All images by Courtesy of WTF gallery
WTF gallery is pleased to announce a contemporary political art exhibition titled 'Conflicted Visions AGAIN’ by 6 Thai artists namely:
Prakit Kobkijwattana
Sutee Kunavichayanont
Manit Sriwanichpoom
Pisitakun Kuantalaeng
Jakapan Vilasineekul
Miti Ruangkritya
Curator: Somrak Sila
Since 2010, political unrest in Thailand has given rise to unprecedented public expression, with almost every demographic in the country voicing often long-repressed concerns and grievances. It has exposed deep divisions in society that manifest themselves in different political ideologies, driven by a powerful urge among Thai citizens to press their position for political advantage, communicate their dissatisfactions, and connect with – or as might be, lose themselves in -- something larger than themselves.
Conflicting, often self-contradictory definitions of morality, social norms, patriotism and established power have been propagated by those who would harness these concerns, desires and grievances to their own political ends, resulting in a cacophony of competing claims that has polarized the body politic from top to bottom, from grassroots to intellectuals to the highest levels of the social hierarchy.
Inevitably, in a situation which inhibits open conversation or attempts to safeguard monolithic structures, artists and intellectuals from all over Thailand have sought a number of strategies to express their views -- be it to criticize official policy, produce propaganda for one side or another, question the doctrines of culture and nation, or dissect mass thinking. Others are less interested in the surface issues in the political arena, but rather in examining their own inner response of confusion, anger, pride or doubt.
About Conflicted Visions exhibition in 2014:
“Conflicted Visions” consists of works made between 2010 and 2014 by seven Thai artists, new and established, who have worked in different media inspired by the seemingly never-ending political crisis.
Thailand's most established photographer, Manit Sriwanichpoom, in a series entitled “Obscene Mantra” reworks some of his pre-existing images into a propaganda campaign that criticizes the current government’s attempts to hide policy and performance failures by repeating the mantra of its own propaganda.
Despite coming from different ends of the political spectrum, Sutee Kunavichayanont and Prakit Kobkijwattana employ similar mockery of country and mentality, commenting on superficiality, hypocrisy and disorder in Thai society – Sutee with work produced in 2012 as part of an exhibition titled "Crazily Good!", Prakit with his first installation work entitled "Living in a pretentious world, life's gotta be pop" from 2014.
Jakapan Vilasineekul's installation "Hanging in the Air/Balancing On The Rope" is a metaphoric articulation of the constant shuffle of influential figures jockeying for benefits, which is at the heart of the complex and corrupt Thai political game.
Both Pisitakun Kuantalaeng and Miti Ruangkritya 's works are based on political speculation and the external and internal frustrations artists are subject to. Pisitkul returns to drawing as a way of documenting unfolding events on the streets, but also as a form of ”therapy’ to help him comprehend the current public and private turmoil. Miti's series of photographs "Thai Political No 2" (2010) and "Thai Political No 3" (2011) observe of the public's intense focus on and obsession with key players in the current political crisis — Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck Shinawatra and Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Lastly, the curator has included an anonymous artist whose works were originally created solely for display in online social media — one of the 21st century’s most effective propaganda tools, which has been fully embraced by the Thai public. The work uses the graphic format from 70s Thai textbook which was the first mandatory reader for all primary schoolchildren. By subverting the book’s benign sunlit world populated by children, their family and its dog, the scenes of aggression and conflict powerfully convey the parallel strains of innocence and deceit, pious cant and hate speech that exemplify the current dysfunctional state of Thai society.
The exhibition is not solely intended to articulate artists' political views or social critique, but is also an attempt to test to what extent an extremely polarized Thai society and artistic community can be brought into a small dialogue in a small space on a small lane along the roaring highway of conflict.
In The Tension, 2014
In the Tension, 2014 is a sequel to Sitting in the Air / Balancing on the Rope, 2010 that originally exhibited in Conflicted Vision 2014. I created tension using principles of physics to calculate center of gravity and center of pressure and used art to make us feel invisible force by combining non-correlated objects. Under the condition of pulling force and tension in balancing the objects, meaning and context of objects are created to reflect a challenge and resistance.
It came to light for me the accumulating anxiety of Thai society over a decade. We have been circulating around hard-to-admit conflicts between the attempt to maintain power from one side and the attempt to overthrow that power from another. I tried to explain a visual I have for Thai society through this work of art which shows a state that is difficult to maintain the balance and increasing tension.
Jakapan Vilasineekul
June 2020
Thai shrine, ladder, rope, pulley gas tank, Height 220 cm
Program will resume shortly, 2020
7 March 2020 – While watching Aljazeera news channel, suddenly the TV screen was replaced by a white panel with black text “Program will resume shortly.” This means Thai folks and foreigners in Thailand were not permitted to know the content of that news story. But it’s not hard for them to guess that surely the news must be related to the Thai Monarchy. Since the transitioning of the throne from King Rama IX to Rama X, this censorship has been happening more often in print media, TV and social media. Even after Thailand’s return to democracy with election 2019 after the 2014 coup d’etat, Thai citizens still have no rights to know how the foreign media view their beloved highest institution.
VDO Installation art, 3 minutes
THAI POLITICS no.8 (Dear Leader), 2016
Thai Politics no.8 is an 'emoticon sticker book' containing screenshots of General Prayuth Chan-o-cha's television broadcasts. The book is child friendly and allows each family member to express their emotions towards General Prayuth Chan-o-cha through the use of the 'emoticons'.
'Thai Politics' is an ongoing series developed from the first major protest in Bangkok since 2006. Whilst exploring the differing political attitudes in Bangkok, the project also examines photography within an image rich world. Punctuating each addition to the series is not only a different dimension to people's political views and behaviours, but also a different approach to how they are captured and presented. This includes curating images found across the web and social media (Thai Politics no.2, 4, 7, 8 and 9) to the more traditional approach of digital and film photography (Thai politics no.1, 3, 5 and 6).
Sticker book, 42 x 23.5 cm
THAILAND’S NEW NORMAL 1-6, 2020
Over 10 years that clandestine coup d’état/has prolonged their power/violated rights/ /exploited their power/prevented freedom/enforced curfew/overlooked human rights/hunted down political refugees/distorted justice system/devised a crackdown/silenced opponents/threatened/intervened with the media/prevented criticisms/jailed/abducted/forced disappearance
These events regularly happened in Thai society that they become the norms, or is this a New Normal that we must live with for a long time.
Prakit Kobkijwattana – Phony city, phony life.
มิถุนายน 2563
Acrylic on wood
ICONOCLASTOR STICKERS & Military Track down 2010, 2020
ICONOCLASTOR is a space to present different aspects of its creator and society towards a subject which they held important. The space of ICONOCLASTOR allows unconstraint projects so the ICONOCLASTOR itself carries no exact concept or style. We hope to generate income from this project to fund other projects in the future. ICONOCLASTOR STICKER is our project to use stickers as a tool to record events or concepts happening daily in historical and cultural senses, as well as other aspects, without constraint.
Stickers, box set, Variable
FREEHATESPEECH, 2020
In the modern time, hate speech has been covered by Freedom of Speech
(front) Neon light, wood and steel, 34.5 x 180 x 30 cm.
