Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), My Inspiration Playground
Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) is one of my absolute favorites places in Bangkok. It is my calm little oasis in the hustle bustle Siam area, where I go to get inspired, by soaking up arts and creative work of both local and international artists. Mainly, a glimpse into the art and culture of Thailand.
The building itself is stunning too, a work of art.
I have not been to BACC for a long, long time. The exhibits change regularly, and it has been a let down the last few times I was there. But, I did enjoyed the recent visit immensely, as there were many interesting exhibitions:
- “Look Young” Art Thesis Exhibition 2015, at Hall, L floor, Hall 1st floor and Curved Wall, 3rd – 5th floor (14 June – 26 June, 2016)
- Shifting Horizons: music, myth, and memory, The media art of John Sanborn, at Main Gallery, 7th floor (25 Mar – 10 July, 2016)
- Omnivoyeur: Electromagnetic Sound And Visual Project, at Main Gallery, 7th floor (1 Apr – 4 Sept, 2016)
- Thai Contemporary Art Exhibition “Thailand Eye”, at Main Gallery, 8th floor (18 Mar – 7 Aug, 2016)
- “Love And Relationship” The 5th White Elephant Art Award, at Main Gallery, 9th floor (24 Mar – 21 Aug, 2016)
You’ll need to deposit your bags to access the Main Exhibition floors on the 7th-9th floor. Free locker service, but you need to hand over your ID card (with photo) or passport at the Information Counter, 5th floor. Otherwise, a 100 baht refundable deposit works too. If you do not wish to provide an ID card or deposit fee, coin-operated lockers are available too – 10 baht (small locker) and 20 baht (big locker). All belongings cannot be deposited for more than 2 hours.
“Look Young” Art Thesis Exhibition 2015
‘LOOK YOUNG’ Art Thesis Exhibition 2015 by The Graduating Class of The Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University Department of Painting, Sculpture, Thai Arts, Mixed Media & Art Theories.
There were few interesting pieces:
“Warm & Chaotic Relationship” captured my attention, because I can relate this to Aunt Chai’s family at Pad Riew, where home is also used for business. The artist’s home is also used to run a restaurant business, where most spaces are used for various activities. The shortage of space, means everything are on ‘sharing basis’ .. and the artist feels the warmth of love.
“Consumer Object” – Meats are available everywhere, and we consumer it on daily basis. People started buying the amount they want, not what they need. We took animal lives and take it for granted. The artists wanted us to respect all living things.
For more info, visit their FB page here https://www.facebook.com/ARTTHESISLOOKYOUNG/
Shifting Horizons: music, myth, and memory, The media art of John Sanborn
The exhibition was temporary closed when I was there. A sign says “this exhibition is on view from 10am-2pm, and 2pm-7pm effective from May 27, to preserve artwork quality and equipment efficiency.”
Omnivoyeur: Electromagnetic Sound And Visual Project
Described as “an electromagnetic sound and visual project, it captures ambient sounds from around the city which are inaudible to the naked ear.”
Audio guide plays such a critical part; it is necessary to make the whole experience complete. So, it was a shame that BACC’a “no bag” policy had made it next-to-impossible for visitors to get hold of one. You see, in order to get hold of one, an ID card was imperative. And our ID card is already used for the locker service. Otherwise, it is already stored inside the locker, with our bags.
Most of the visitors were walking around, sans audio guide. What a shame.
Thai Contemporary Art Exhibition “Thailand Eye”
Love it, love it, love Thailand Eye the most, you must drop by!
‘Pink Man’ by Manit Sriwanichpoom, where performance artist, writer and poet, Sompong Thaweem pushes his shopping cart through Thailand’s consumerist society!
‘Shredded Self-portraits’ by Kamoplan Chotvichai, the artist focusing mainly on prints, to weave a narrative of existence and non-existence. Repeatedly cutting up images of her own face, hands and body into thin strips, she works at eroding her ego into non-existence.
‘4 Monkeys in The House’ by Sakarin Krueon, had many visitors taking photos of themselves with the monkeys.
‘Kanlapapruk’ by Chusak Srikwan, using leather engraving skills (which was used to make Thai shadow play puppets), he portrays many aspects of modern Thai life – superstition, Buddhism, politics, government, and rural and urban lifestyles.
Kawita Vatanajyankur’s color video series uses her body as an art object, based on the history of paintings of women in domestic settings. Her use of her own body as an object in many of her works questions the role that women have played in carrying out mundane, household tasks.
‘Lily Ovary’ by Kosit Juntaratip, theme of shared definitions of love and passion which transcend nationality or religion.
This exhibition will run until 7 August, so do come in and understand a little bit more about Thai culture.
For more info, visit their FB page here: http://prudentialthailandeye.com/
“Love And Relationship” The 5th White Elephant Art Award
This is the fifth year for the White Elephant Art Award, under the theme ” Love and Relationship”.
Bangkok Art & Culture Centre
Opening Hours: 10:00-21:00, Closed Monday
Location: 939 Rama I Road Wongmai, Patumwan – Opposite MBK shopping mall
BTS: National Stadium
Free entry
Website: http://en.bacc.or.th
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/baccpage
Very yau “Mun far”…
Haha, yeah I can get arty-farty, sometimes
I Love the Bacc. Look Young Art Thesis was very interesting with a lot of great Art Work, especially Patdanu Tameekul, Phatsaphum Pookerdluck or Pissanu Thongmee and many others … 😉