Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Getting soft power right
Life, Published on 08/01/2024
» After three months in office, the Srettha Thavisin government has raved on about populist policies in the guise of digital wallets and soft power projects that will create income to boost our declining economy. With optimism, we learned that Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Pheu Thai party leader and head of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee (NSPSC), has drafted a budget of 5.1 billion baht to boost festivals and creative industries. It is welcoming news to hear this government is priortising art, music, literature, design, fashion, film, food, games, sports and festivals as essential sources for the creative economy. Where this enormous chunk of budget will come from, like digital wallets, remains to be seen.
An art renaissance
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 27/12/2023
» In 2023, Thailand's art industry continued to grow. Among the numerous events held nationwide, Adulaya Hoontrakul, director of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), highlighted three significant exhibitions: "Colorful Bangkok", "Thailand Biennale Chiang Rai 2023" and "Womanifesto: Flowing Connections".
A monument of emptiness and embarrassment
Life, Apinan Poshyananda, Published on 15/05/2023
» On Thiam Ruam Mit Road, Huai Khwang, a huge and empty building with a triangular façade has stood for years. A big plaque on the lawn in Thai translates to The National Gallery of Art. With no activities inside, people are left wondering when it will open. Is it true that there are plans to convert it into mixed-use spaces instead of a display of national treasures of modern and contemporary Thai art?
Netflix partners with TAT, DNP & CEA to launch ‘Uncover Thailand: A Creative Travel Guide’
Guru, Nianne-Lynn Hendricks, Published on 19/02/2023
» Netflix recently joined hands with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), and the Creative Economy Agency (CEA) to launch the “Uncover Thailand: A Creative Travel Guide'', a first-of-its-kind Thailand travel guide (thailandtravelmap.com).
Freelance artists need rights protections, union says
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 06/12/2022
» A recent survey by the Creative Workers Union Thailand (CUT) shows that almost 80% of illustrators have commission-based, underpaid jobs, highlighting the precarity of freelancers who have no access to financial security, welfare benefits orlegal protection.
Reading for a better future
Life, Tatat Bunnag, Published on 19/10/2022
» The Book Expo Thailand 2022 is well under way. The 27th edition of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand's (Pubat) book fair returns to the newly renovated Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok and will run until Sunday at Exhibition Hall 5–7, LG Floor.
Uniting the world through art
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 21/09/2022
» The third edition of Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) 2022 is set to return from Oct 22 to Feb 23. Under the theme of "Chaos: Calm", BAB will showcase over 200 art pieces by 73 artists from 35 countries at 12 venues in Bangkok including Wat Pho, Wat Arun, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Museum Siam, JWD Art Space and CentralWorld.
Two deaths in Bangkok in 1856 and their consequences
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 17/12/2021
» The Bowring Treaty of 1855 is a landmark of Thailand's modern history. The treaty opened the door for the colonial invasion of Siam's economy, and helped drag Siam into the modern world. It's a story about the great wheels of history, especially of colonial expansion and the cultural collision of East and West. But such events of great practical and symbolic significance are also about people, about the "big people" who shape these events, and the "little people" who get caught up in them by fate.
Contemporary mediocrities
Life, Apinan Poshyananda, Published on 03/05/2021
» At the recent ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture's (OCAC) Art Collection in the spacious art hall on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, a group of ageing male artists covered in sanitary masks surrounded the director of OCAC, Vimolluck Chuchart, who gave a self-congratulatory speech. She proudly announced that the public will be able to view for the first time the national collection of the Ministry of Culture's contemporary Thai art. Beside these elderlies stood a white giant fibreglass sculpture by Sutee Kunavichyanont in Thai military uniform wearing a helmet with a rifle erect. Sutee's Equality; Thai Soldier (2016) is inspired by the cultural mandates between 1939 and 1942 during the premiere of Phibul Songkhram that aimed to uplift the national spirit and moral code of the nation and instil progressive tendencies and newness into Thai life.