19th March - 5th June 2008
Venue: The Jim Thompson Art Center
Participating artists: Jarupatcha Achavasmit, Yasumasa Morimura Yoshitomo Nara, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Wisut Ponnimit and Vachiraporn Limviphuvadh, Ryota Suzuki, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Curated by Gridthiya Gaweewong
Curatorial Assistants: Penwadee Nophaket Manont and Nunnaree Panichkul
“Tomyam Pladib” is an art exhibition of Thai and Japanese artists exploring the coexistence of the traditional the contemporary. It aims to show the complexity of Thai and Japanese contemporary art and culture through the multi-disciplinary works of Thai and Japanese artists.
This project will present multi-layered perspectives on this synergy and modern art, as seen and interpreted by Japanese and Thai artists, drawing on their short- and long-term cross-cultural experiences. The exhibition will feature Japanese artists who have visited Bangkok to create and exhibit their work. Some have fallen in love with the city, and continue to live and work here. It will also include Thai artists who have lived and worked in Japan.
The title “Tomyam Pladib” combines a famous dish from each country’s cuisine. Tomyam is a spicy Thai soup and Pladib (meaning “raw fish”) is the Thai term for sashimi. This new term reflects an understanding between Thais and Japanese who are familiar with both languages. It also symbolizes the special relationship between the Thai and Japanese communities. The title unites two of Asia’s great gastronomic traditions.
It was inspired and coined by Bangkok-based Japanese writer, Ryota Suzuki, who has long served as a bridge between his own culture and Thai culture. In his Thai language column for A Day monthly magazine, Suzuki shares Japanese responses to Thai culture, and reflections on everyday life in Bangkok. He also writes bi-weekly articles for Yomiuri Shimbun about Thai culture and Thai attitudes towards the Japanese.
Through the works presented in the exhibition, the artists explore the co-existence of the traditional and the contemporary in their respective cultures, using a variety of artistic strategies including video art, animation, installation, textiles and fashion as well as literature. Most of the works stem from memory, cultural collaboration and everyday life experience.
“Tomyam Pladib” is dedicated to an artistic dialogue and the strengthening of the cultural relationship with Japan, in response to the celebration of 120 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Thailand, and the 30th anniversary of the Japanese Volunteers Association relationship with the Jim Thompson Thai House Museum. Special events, curator’s and artists’ talks, seminars and a workshop will be conducted throughout the exhibition period.
For more information please contact:
Penwadee (Exhibition Coordinator) at 02-612-6741, 02-219-2911
penwadee@jimthompsonhouse.com or artcenter@jimthompsonhouse.com
TOMYAM PLADIB: EDUCATIONAL & PUBLIC PROGRAM
MARCH
A TEA CEREMONY
Date: Friday, March 21st
Time: 2:00 -3:30 p.m.
Venue: Ayara Hall at the Jim Thompson House Museum compound
Program Leaders: Fumiko Boughey and Chado Urasenke Tankokai Bangkok Association (CUTBA)
The Jim Thompson Art Center invites you to join a Japanese tea ceremony presented by a tea ceremony master, Fumiko Boughey and staff from Chado Urasenke Tankokai Bangkok Association (CUTBA). By joining in this serene ceremony, participants will learn more about Japanese culture and enjoy traditional Japanese sweets and green tea.
The program will be separated into two sessions with a brief explanation about the ceremony before the beginning of each session.
Please note that the program is limited to 30 guests, Reservations will be made in advance.
(The program will be in English with Thai translation.)
APICHATPONG ON VIDEOWORKS
An Artist Talk with Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Date: Thursday, March 27th
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Venue: William Warren Library, Henry B. Thompson Building
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the international acclaimed film director and Jury Prize winner of the Cannes Film Festival, will reveal his other side as a new media artist and talk about his past and present short film works and video installations, to include Morakot (Emerald), his latest video installation showing at the Tomyam Pladib Exhibition.
He will also speak on his role in the current project, Bangkok Experimental Film Festival (BEFF) March 25-30, 2008, in which he is participating as a festival’s co- director.
(The program will be in Thai with English translation)
A WORKSHOP BY APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL
Date: Saturday, March 29th
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Venue: William Warren Library, Henry B. Thompson Building
Workshop Leader: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, a renowned Thai independent filmmaker, will conduct a workshop program entitled, “-uck the Fame, Hurray for Love!†This is a workshop about an imaginary actress where the workshop leader, Apichatpong, will ask participants to imagine her story taken around the area. Participants will learn how to use association techniques of words and images to create a fabulous story.
The program is limited to 10 participants only. Applications are open to anyone over 15 years old who has a proper digital camera. To apply, applicants should send CV with a short essay (1 page long) describing his/her perspective towards films to the Jim Thompson Art Center by mail or email. The deadline for applications is March 15, 2008.
(The program will be in Thai with English translation)
APRIL
TOMYAM PLADIB SEMINAR
JAPANESE ART AND CULTURE: INSIDE OUT/ OUTSIDE IN
Date: Thursday, April 24th
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Venue: Ayara Hall at the Jim Thompson House Museum compound
Speakers: Alex Kerr, Yuko Hasekawa, Mami Kataoka and Raiji Kuroda
The Tomyam Pladib Seminar on Japanese contemporary art and culture is a one-day seminar that will feature presentations by three renowned curators and a specialist on Japanese contemporary arts and culture.
Alex Kerr, an American scholar and writer who writes on Japanese culture (“Lost Japanâ€), will share his observations and comments on his experiences in Japan and Thailand. From an outsider’s perspective, Kerr will discuss Japanese and Thai cultural traditions in their economic and social contexts.
Three Japanese curators will give lectures on the phenomenon of Japanese contemporary art, its booming market and current trends. Three distinguished curators have confirmed their participation: Yuko Hasekawa, Chief curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Mami Kataoka, Senior Curator, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo and Hayward Gallery, London; and Raiji Kuroda, Chief Curator, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka.
Please note that the program is limited to 80 guests. Reservations will be made in advance.
The program is partially funded by the Japan Foundation, Bangkok. (The Program will be in English with Thai translation)
Symposium Program:
9:30 Registration
9:50 Opening Speech by Director of the Japan Foundation,
Bangkok
10:00 - 12:00 Lost Japan / Bangkok Found
Speaker: Alex Kerr
(Including a 30 minute Question and Answer session)
12:00 - 1:45 Buffet Lunch at Thompson Bar and Restaurant
2:00 - 3:30 Japan Contemporary Art and Culture
Speakers:
- Yuko Hasekawa, Chief curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo,
- Mami Kataoka, Senior Curator, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo and Hayward Gallery, London
- Raiji Kuroda, Chief Curator, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka
3:30 - 3:45 Coffee Break
3:45 - 4:15 Question and Answer session
4:15 – 4:30 Closing speech by the Artistic Director of The Jim Thompson
Art Center
MAY
WEAVING THE UNSOLVED RIDDLES
A WORKSHOP BY JARUPATCHA ACHAVASMIT
Date: Saturday, May 10th
Time: 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Venue: William Warren Library, Henry B. Thompson Building
Workshop Leader: Jarupatcha Achavasmit
The workshop of Jarupatcha Achavasmit, a textile artist at the Tomyam Pladib exhibition, will invite participants to explore and express life riddles in a form of writing and weaving. Participants will be invited to write the unsolved riddles on pieces of paper which will be folded, again and again, and hand woven on a tapestry frame. Participants will decide the shape, size and the colors of their ‘art’. The frame will then be placed into a glass box and permanently sealed.
The workshop is opened to 30 participants (age 12 years old or over). For further information on how to join this program, please contact Khun Somsuda, the Education Program Coordinator, The Jim Thompson Art Center at 02 612 6741 or 02 219 2911 or somsuda@jimthompsonhouse.com.
(The program will be in Thai with English translation)
RYOTA VS PRABDA
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN RYOTA SUZUKI AND PRABDA YOON
Date: Saturday, May 24th
Time: 1.30 – 3:30 p.m.
Venue: William Warren Library, Henry B. Thompson Building
Ryota Suzuki, a Bangkok based Japanese columnist, will team up with Prabda Yoon, a SEA WRITE laureate, to talk about their perspectives towards Japan and Thailand and share their experiences as persons who have had a chance to live in both countries.
(The program will be in Thai)
ALL TIME ACTIVITIES
CHILDREN€™S PROGRAM: €˜EVERYONE LIKES SOMEONE AS YOU LIKE SOMEONE€™
BY TSUYOSHI OZAWA
Tsuyoshi Ozawa is a prominent Japanese artist who often works with communication, participatory installation and cultural exchange in a humorous manner. He invites children to participate in his artwork “Everyone likes someone as you like someoneâ€, a mountain-sized pile of futon cushions exclusively installed in the Jim Thompson Art Center. Children can sit down or climb up over the mountain and draw postcard pictures of their loved ones. Their drawings will be swapped for one made by a child in Australia where the project was presented last time in the 2006 Asia Pacific Triennial. Tsuyoshi Ozawa will later use drawings left at the exhibition in his future projects.
DOCENT SERVICE PROGRAM
The Docent Service Program aims to provide a better understanding of the Tomyam Pladib exhibition to a wider audience through public presentations. The program will have university juniors or seniors whose interests are art and culture to participate as exhibition guides at the art center for general visitors, school and university groups.
A CURATOR’S WALK
VIDEO DOCUMENTATION WITH GRIDTHIYA GAWEEWONG
Gridthiya Gaweewong, the curator of Tomyam Pladib exhibition, will give detailed information about the artworks exhibited in this fascinating exhibition. The video document of this program will be showed daily at the exhibition hall of the Jim Thompson Art Center during the exhibition period.
For more information please contact:
Ms. Somsuda Piamsumrit
Education Program Co-ordinator The Jim Thompson Art Center
Tel : 02 612 6741
Fax : 02 219 2911
somsuda@jimthompsonhouse.com or education@jimthompsonhouse.com
