Bangkok - found sounds and art

Submitted by AliaK on Sun, 08/05/2011 - 04:02

some links on Bangkok sound art and digital art and other interesting blogs / media

art
BAM - Bangkok Art Map - BAM is a printed art map available at galleries, hotels, art-cafes and various other places around the city. there seems to be a different issue each month. I found a copy of the 05.2011 version at the Kathmandu Photo Gallery off Silom Rd in Bangrak. the website has art listings and information also and is definitely worth checking out - you can even download a pdf version of the current BAM if you don't find one on the soi

Kathmandu Photo Gallery - there's books, art prints, and a gallery upstairs. it's a great old pre-war building, painted pale green - which reminds me of the smaller rooms in the old RSL halls in Brisbane in the 1970s where we did ballet classes - even the same pale green paint on the wall boards - it's very fresh and colourful. owned by well-known Thai photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom and artist/filmaker Ing K.

Bangkok 101 - a website listing events, arts, hotels, restaurants - seems to be aimed at the tourists staying in fancy hotels. the arts listings are good

Thai Bank Museum - there's a museum and gallery with regular exhibitions

The PiKture Gallery - a gallery that shows a major and minor artist exhibition and also runs artists residencies via their ARTIST@WORK project

Serindia Gallery - a gallery and bookstore. there's lots of nice books there - on art and topics on Tibet. it's at OP Gardens building complex on Charoen Krung Rd Bangrak (Bangrak is a nice place to stay especially if you want to be close to the galleries (mentioned on the BAM art map) and river - I've been staying at the Royal Orchid Sheraton, and work colleagues at Le Meridian - both of these are nice hotels) Serindia also has a publishing company - http://www.serindia.com has details

Thailand Creative & Design Center (TCDC) - there's a library, gallery, permanent and temporary exhibitions. covers digital art, design, gaming and animations. often has conferences, and also has sound art / music performances and exhibitions. I haven't been yet, but it's next on my list

Gallery VER is on Tanao Road - just around the corner of Khao San Road. I finally found it but it was closed so I haven't been inside yet. there's a profile which mentions the publishing arm of the collective - they produce a magazine called O ver, as well as have artist gallery exhibitions. I really like this idea - it sounds great:
[quote]O ver magazine is the first publication from PLAN.b publishing station. It involves stories taken from everyday life: food, music, sport, travel, fashion, fiction, non-fiction, art, architecture, living culture, politics and science.

In the founding context of our name, "Ver" is a common Thai slang word derived from the English word "over" and can be translated as "severe." We are interested in various senses of the word "over" - across an intervening distance "from an upward to an invented or reversed position‚ in repetition and again. But we are not interested in its sense as the end".

Thus each issue of O ver magazine is a memoir - of passing, of crossing an intervening distance, of going from an upward to an inverted/reversed position, of again. We approach the notion of life and living in a realistic manner, according to the Thai saying, "let it go".

The magazine is divided into two sections: image (the paper part) and sound (audio CDs with music and ambient noise and spoken text).[/quote]

Art Stalkers - Elizabeth Briel is running a monthly Art Stalkers event where people meet up and then go explore the art in Bangkok. there's a nice write up of the first one on travelfish website.

sounds
See you in Siam II soundscape - sounds + stories by regina burbach

Sound, Class, and Sound Clash Over Bangkok - third episode of Ben Tausig's "Bangkok Is Ringing" series for triple canopy - this one is also hosted on disquiet

Bangkok is Ringing episode 5 on triple canopy - sound recordings with "motosai, the motorcycle taxi drivers known as the ears of the street" by Ben Tausig http://bit.ly/l3UGuT

Bangkok Is Ringing, Episode 4 by Ben Tausig - what locals are listening to on the radio

Bangkok is Ringing # 3 - by Ben Tausig - "explores what different layers of transportation in Thailand‚Äôs capital sound like"

http://www.weirdvibrations.com/tag/bangkok/ Ben Tausig's blog - Bangkok articles

books + libraries

The Reading Room - "a 1,000-plus items contemporary art library in a compact three-story shophouse, containing two distinct resource sections: a contemporary Thai art archive; and art reference books from all over the world, including art history & theory books, monographs, exhibition catalogues, art magazines, and electronic resource. In complementary to archive and research, The Reading Room regularly organizes and hosts series of events, especially talks, screenings and workshops from various fields from art, literature and film to sociopolitical issues that are relevant to contemporary culture." there's also residencies program and a blog

Soul Space - yoga studio and art space - in the same building as The Reading Room

Neilsen Hays Library - this is an English books library. they sometimes have book markets in the gardens and there's also a writers festival / symposium called Word Play - "Bangkok's first Literary Festival" - (in May 2011). it's a lovely building and I especially love the old catalog drawers with index cards rather than a computer database - there's Dewey Decimal guides on the ends of each row of bookshelves. the bookshelves are beautiful too - old dark wood cupboards with glass doors. there was also a workshop & exhibition on wood cut printing

the WordPlay literary festival blurb:
[quote]In the main Library and Garden Cafe we will be listening to world-famous author-chefs Ken Hom ("My Kitchen Table"; Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery BBC series) and David Thompson ("Thai Street Food"). We will take a walk on the darker side of our city with acclaimed Bangkok Noir writers Christopher G. Moore ("Vincent Calvado Private Eye" series and editor of recently published "Bangkok Noir" and his fellow authors John Burdett ("Bangkok 8") and Stephen Leather ("Private Dancer"). Philip Cornwell Smith (author of bestselling "Very Thai" and editor of Time Out) will talk about trends in Thailand. The translators of the Thai classic "The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen", Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit, will discuss their craft. Acclaimed photographer and author Nic Dunlop ("Lost Executioner") will tell us about his gritty and sometimes dangerous research. Sandy Dodd and Jennifer Baccon (literacy promotors) will explain how to create a life-long love of reading in children. Author Tom Vater ("Sacred Skin") will talk on the rapidly changing media landscape and the challenges for writers. Short story writer Ruth Heald wlll introduce us to multimedia and short stories. Childen's author Janice Santikarn ("Little Blue Tuk Tuk" series) will share the inspiration behind her much-loved books. The day will close with reading form the Bangkok Poetry Group.[/quote]

museums
Museum of Siam project site & Museum of Siam official site (I could only get the Thai version to work at time of writing this, could have been a problem with my computer) - this is a very interactive museum showing "The Account of Thailand" - looking at the history, way back to pre-historic times, through to today - what does it mean to be Thai? and who are the Thais? here's some photos from my visit to the museum. it's well worth buying the museum book too - it's about 1000THB, but is a great book. much of the text is from the actual exhibits, and it has great design & typography, and has fold out sections, cut-out pages, and different paper and printing methods in the book. recommended! my favourite part was the Map Room - especially the hand-drawn maps which have been backlit for easier viewing.