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Bangkok Bulletin
BANGKOK BULLETIN
joel quenby reveals bangkok’s latest news and views
ROYAL BIRTHDAY BASH
A vibrant Royal Command Performance in honour of His Majesty the King’s 80th birthday (this year) was held at the Thailand Cultural Centre on 12 December 2006, providing a show-stopping end to a year of colourful celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the King’s accession to the throne.
The two-hour performance was presented courtesy of the Friends of the Arts Foundation, and featured international performers, including Israeli opera-singer-turned-pop-star David D’eor and mime artist Ulrich Gottlieb, who teamed up with Thailand’s Company of Performing Artists for the show.
AN ANIMATED AFFAIR
The Thai capital will fill with stars of the screen during the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival, taking place on 26 January to 5 February.
VIP guests might include Sylvester Stallone, who is in the Kingdom on location shoot for Rambo IV: The Serpent’s Eye, pictured here with HRH Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Mahidol of Thailand.
This year’s festival will honour legendary Oscar-winning stop-motion film-maker Ray Harryhausen (who produced the famous skeleton swordsmen in Jason and the Argonauts) with a career retrospective, as well as awarding him the 2007 Golden Kinnaree Creative Achievement Award for his contribution to cinema. www.bangkokfilm.org
CULTURAL CRESCENDO
Following a run of impressive shows last year, Bangkok Opera’s adventurous programming is set to continue in 2007.
Entering its sixth season, expect to see increased international collaboration with the Opera Studio Nederland and Vietnam National Opera and Ballet (VNOB), now that the three countries have laid the foundations for long-term cooperation.
The first scheduled exchanges include The Rape of Lucretia in February and the VNOB’s production of the ballet La Sylphide later on in the year.
In addition, Monday night salons are destined to become a regular feature of the cultural life of Bangkok. Held at Bangkok Opera’s premises at 232/14-16 Sukhumvit Soi 22, the weekly gatherings feature house concerts, lectures, poetry readings and art films. Doors open to the public at 7pm.
Tel +66 (0)2 663-3236-7, www.bangkokopera.com
POETRY CORNER
After a long lay-off, Bangkok Poetry – an often colourful alternative expat night-life event – is resuming its readings at the Goethe Institute. Now in their seventh year, the bi-monthly open-mic meetings have a new man at the helm – Malcolm “King of Welsh Noir” Pryce. www.bangkokpoetry.com
SWING WHEN YOU’RE WINNING
Some of the world’s finest swingers and putters will tee off at the second annual Royal Trophy golf tournament on 12-14 January, which pits a best-of Europe team versus a line-up of Asian all-stars at the Amata Spring Country Club on the outskirts of Bangkok.
The three-day event was held for the first time in 2006, with Spain’s legendary captain Seve Ballesteros leading a victorious European team that included Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam. This year, Ryder Cup heroes Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley will be re-united under the European banner.
With the 16kg Royal Trophy donated by His Majesty the King of Thailand, the country will play host to the first five events, after which the competition will alternate between different European and Asian cities. www.theroyaltrophy.com
MAID TO MEASURE
If you see a gaggle of oddly-garbed adolescents posing round the bustling Siam Square shopping district, it’s probably patrons (or wandering staff) of Akiba, a new “manga maid café” drawing scores of gawkers and enthusiasts alike.
Designed for the devotees of Japan’s wildly popular anime cartoon culture and aptly named after Tokyo’s Akibahara electronics district, Akiba offers their customers a manga-themed menu, a Gaming Point and a store crammed with assorted manga merchandise.
Maid café culture, with its attendant Gothic Lolita costumery, took off in Japan in 2000 and quickly spread to South Korea, China and Hong Kong.
However, manga’s biggest market is the US – and with mainstream publishers like Random House opening dedicated imprints whose titles have topped The New York Times best-seller’s list – the Bangkok branch (with the tagline “Let Your Dreams Fly”) can expect several more imitators in the not-too-distant future. 2F-3F 430/35-36, Siam Square Soi 7, tel +66 (0)8 2654-6228, www.akiba.co.th
ART FOR ALL
The Mekong Art and Culture Project (www.mekongart.org) is a new two-year collaboration of leading art institutes across Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It aims to expand the contemporary art movement, as well as foster a valuable regional learning community. We spoke to Panya Vijinthanasarn, Dean of the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts (PSG) at Bangkok’s Silpakorn University about the project.
How did the project come about?
Since 2003, the College of Arts at Hue University in Vietnam, and our Faculty of PSG at Silpakorn University have carried out a collaborative project entitled “The Mekong Arts and Culture Scholars in Resident Project”. This was made possible by the generosity of The Rockefeller Foundation and aims to exchange academic resources through collaborative activities.
The College of Arts and PSG hope to expand these valuable learning experiences to include other art institutes. The general public and the wider arts community should also have some opportunity to participate. Therefore, regional activities are being planned to include a broad spectrum of other creative individuals, groups and organisations.
What is the purpose of the project’s “art camps”?
The camps will take students outside the walls of their home institutes in order to explore their potential. They are designed to heighten students’ access to their own experience, observations and imagination. Activities can include peer-sharing discussions, field trips, and talks by local artists, art critics and art historians. Two-week-long art camps are planned within two years, with an ideal maximum of 20 participants per camp.
Each student should enjoy plenty of individual attention for a unique and rewarding experience of a carefully selected location.
How many awards are available?
Proposals for research and seminar awards are invited in the categories of Traditional/Historical Art, Art Practice/Technique and Contemporary Art – all of which connect to current trends in the art world of the Mekong region. We are now providing for five projects, each with a predicted duration of 18 months. Every successful project will receive $7,000 to carry out the work.
What is your most memorable recent experience of art in Bangkok?
The Bangkok Art Project, which took place when Thailand hosted The Asian Games in 1998-1999. Thai and international artists had the opportunity to install their work around Rattanakosin Island, choosing their own location (temples, corporate buildings, and so on) and creating an artwork in response to the cultural and historical contexts of the environment. The outcomes of the project were fantastic and encouraged a better public understanding of contemporary art.
Which young artists should we look out for in the near future?
For the time being, I think Sakarin Krue-On. He creates many styles of artwork and always develops his critical thinking. What I really like about Sakarin’s work is that it truly represents his own cultural background.
What do you think of the Bangkok art scene?
There are so many interesting creative activities in Bangkok. However, I think the art scene still needs concrete plans and policies. Without these, the art policy has no direction and has less to do with Bangkok everyday life.
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