Bangkok - Let’s Panic: meet the talent from the flood-art exhibition

You know the drill – in the face of a tense situation you laugh at your predicament in an attempt to make sense and trivialise it. Well, that’s exactly what the Bangkok Art & Culture Center seems to be doing right now concerning the floods.

Of course, the truth is that the organisers of ‘Let’s Panic’ (or ‘Muang Jom Nam’ in Thai), an exhibition that imagines a sinking Bangkok and asks 15 artists and designers to present their ideas for how they would deal with and prevent such disasters, could never have predicted just how eerily timely it would be. Exhibitions of this scale take months to prepare, and curators Bangkok University Assistant Professor Sansern Milindasuta and Silapathorn Award laureate Santi Lawrachawee, along with the Design for Disasters environmental network, apparently started working on this one back in June, long before anyone knew what was to come.

Among the creative minds contributing to the show is Manon Taranurak. For her the flood is about food. Or, more specifically: starvation. In a dark room she exposes three burgers boxes designed by one of the world leaders of junk food. However, instead of a classic Mcmeal, here the visitor is offered a coackroach sandwich and some bug french fries. Question: would you or wouldn’t you? “This is what this event is about,” says curator Santi Lawrachawee. “We want to make people laugh but also to make them feel uncomfortable.”

Other artists are just willing to make us hope, such as digital artist Nattavut Luenthaisong. “Rain is the problem. It comes from the clouds. So, it means that if we can reverse water back to the sky, there would be no problem”. And just like that, by raising your arms in front of the big rainy screen of Luenthaisong’s installation, you can solve a problem that millions of Thais are suffering the life-shattering effects of as we speak. Annabelle Azadé Kajbaf

Let’s Panic is on view until November 25 on the 8th floor of the Bangkok Art and Culture Center (BACC).

Where BACC, Rama Road I, Wangmai, Pathumwan; www.bacc.or.th
Open Tues-Sun 10am-9pm

Source http://bangkok101.com/2011/11/panic-meet-artists-timely-floodart-exhibition/


BACC




939 Rama I Road, Pathumwan, 02-214-6630; www.bacc.or.th. Tue-Sun 10am-9pm. BTS National Stadium.

The eleven-storey Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) structure is engulfed by neighbouring shopping malls and looks out towards the city’s elevated skytrain. The Guggenheim meets a mall, the parabolic white concrete design has an interior defined by a circular atrium accentuating smooth curves around which exhibitions are hung. Potentially an important player in Thailand’s contemporary cultural development, the centre plans to nurture a scope of creative fields including theatre, film and design, with the upper levels boasting 3,000sqm for hosting art. Combine a trip here with a shopping assault at the nearby malls, which it’s linked to via a raised concrete walkway.

source http://bangkok101.com/2010/12/bacc/