Showing 1 - 10 of 16
A call for preservation
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 24/10/2022
» The demolition of the Scala Theatre, Dusit Thani Hotel and Siam Intercontinental Hotel had widespread media coverage. However, many people may not know that other important modern structures such as the old parliament building, Arkanmai at Suan Amporn and the Telephone Organization of Thailand building in Chidlom were also demolished. As time passes, more examples of modern architecture are gradually vanishing without the attention and knowledge of most people.
BAB in Brief
Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 06/11/2020
» Bangkok Art Biennale 2020 is in full swing, showcasing more than 200 artworks by 82 artists at 10 venues until Jan 31, 2021. River City Bangkok was the last to be added as the tenth venue. If you don't know where to begin, allow me to present a cheatsheet to help you discover pieces that you shouldn't miss from BAB.
A broken hourglass
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 08/01/2020
» While Thai people have shown more concern about environmental issues, especially plastic, air and water pollution, we may have overlooked sand shortages. A Canadian photographer has underlined the sand shortage issue through his photo exhibition "Sand By Tim Pelling", now on view at River City Bangkok.
Staying afloat on a sea of despair
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/12/2019
» Chakra (Sarm Heng) is a Cambodian peasant boy who wants to escape a rural existence that offers him no future. "How's Thailand?" he asks a friend who returns from working at a construction site in Bangkok. "If you work hard, there's no problem," his friend assures him. Through trafficking agents, Chakra is smuggled across the border, but instead of being sent to a factory or a construction site, the boy is thrown onto a fishing trawler and forced to work without pay in conditions resembling a floating prison.
Building them up
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 02/01/2019
» Construction workers are usually overlooked even though their work is fundamental to the building of cities. To shine a spotlight on them, German photographer Ralf Tooten exhibits construction-worker portraits in his exhibition "A.W.C. -- Asian Workers Covered", as a reminder of how and by whom Thailand's cities have been built.
Inspired by India
Life, Published on 01/03/2018
» A visit to a temporary exhibition at the National Museum Bangkok at the former Front Palace near Sanam Luang is a good way for tourists to explore India, Thailand and some other Southeast Asian countries through Buddhist art. The ongoing exhibit entitled "Buddhist Imagery From Bharata To Suvarnabhumi" celebrates the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Thailand and India and the 25th anniversary of the Asean-India relationship.
A new vision on Siam's enduring symbol
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/04/2017
» The elephant and the man, walking down the road to redemption and encountering the wounded and the marginalised, the madmen and the prostitutes. In the film Pop Aye, which will kick off Bangkok Asean Film Festival 2017 this evening (see sidebar), the fine-tusked beast accompanies the lost soul as the duo find their way home from Bangkok to the Northeast.
A trip to Diamond Island
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/04/2017
» It's a story of Cambodia but also of Southeast Asia: the new rich built on the back of rural labour, young men who leave their homes in the countryside to carry bricks and build real-estate edifices in the capital. The promise of the future is built on the uncertainty of the present.
SEA photography in perspective
Life, Published on 02/03/2017
» For writer, curator and artist Zhuang Wubin, curiosity and years of oral interviews culminated in a survey of photography in Southeast Asia.
At Cannes, humour makes a surprise visit
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/02/2017
» Humour is hardly ever associated with Cannes competition films -- to win the Palme d'Or, for example, it's assumed a film should possess art house gravitas, serious humanity, or weighty, topical, discourse-stimulating subject matter (last year's winner, Dheepan, is about immigrants in Paris, and before that, the three-hour-long Turkish drama Winter Sleep).