ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [31 January 2010]

      In 2004, the whole building of the fine art department of KMITL, Bangkok, was opened for the public. Every studio was occupied by art activities and was crowded by people who were interested in wanting to experience art. At the end of that day on the sculpture fields besides the department building, they were changed into a concert ground and contained half a football field audience. Around the field and on stage were decorations of huge cartoons heads approximately three meters high made from transparent paper and bamboo sticks. These temporary sculptures brought dynamism to the entire concert field. Another projection, which I was involved in, was converting an abandoned house to an alternative art gallery and community’s activity space. It generated what I might call ‘rickshaw art’, where general visitors could comprehend the situation and access easily no matter their understanding of art. However, both of these projects achieved their aims in the sense of highly attracting the anticipation and inclusion of the audience. The idea be hide these two projects was encouraging the artists to form projects that dealt with conditions in the specific place, its building, surrounding and the political circumstance of the society in community.

      Recently, I am interested in the enigma of the obscure ways in which place can shape and affect us or answer differently to how we understand ourselves in a place. The aim of my project is to question the viewer to consider their own identity between the relations of place to the objects within and surrounding it. I seek to produce the works that invoke some kind of wonder against the limits of aptitude and identity to impose meaning, perception or interpretation on space or objects. It seem that the purpose of site-specific is allowing viewers to position their self on site and share experience with potential of location or situation of the viewers. For me I found it difficult to comprehend with surroundings. This might be because of the relationship between different forms of familiarity and they offer me some kind of feeling other.

From this, I attempt to see the physical affect of the viewers who encounter with the place where he expect the same politic of their own place. Then the politic or ideological of the site has been distorted. If the otherness were displaced with an invitation in place it would perhaps direct viewers to become more conscious of their relationship to that place.