Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Reforming Thai cinema
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 03/06/2024
» It has been eight months since the National Soft Power Strategy Committee was established under the government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Meanwhile, the Thai film industry, supported by the Thailand Creative Culture Agency, has not seen any significant changes.
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.
Messages hidden in art
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 14/06/2023
» Nakhon Phanom airport was established during the Vietnam War to facilitate the transportation of supplies and troops for the US military. The airport served as a strategic location for the US Army to access Vietnam by flying over Laos which borders Thailand.
Ancient art moves to modernise
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 10/05/2022
» After a two-year hiatus, Thanyaporn Khongkrathok, 17, and her friends dusted off their kaleidoscopic bird-like costumes. When the curtain was raised, they danced gracefully to pay respect to their ancestors. Thanyaporn has practised nora, the southern performance art, from an early age because she wants to preserve it.
The healing power of art
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 05/04/2022
» Seated at an easel, a boy put his heart and soul onto blank paper. With bold brush strokes, he painted a red house with six yellow fish. As Tommy put it in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, art says what is inside of you. Little does anybody know this is part of art therapy for patients with rare diseases.
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.
Unanswered questions
Life, Published on 03/10/2018
» Tensions were running high last Wednesday at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) as hundreds of concerned artists, art enthusiasts and press dropped by to listen in on the news conference about the fate of the country's biggest public arts centre.
Textbook Thailand: Truth & Fiction
Life, Published on 20/10/2014
» 'I want to be a farmer," says a little girl character in a primary school textbook from the series "Tales With A Hundred Lines". "But my social class doesn't allow it. My mother has asked me to stay home, so she no longer has to worry about taking care of the household."
The sky's The Limit
Life, Kanokporn Chanasongkram, Published on 14/11/2013
» Life is a balancing act for James Tanabe, a professional acrobat and former artistic director of Cirque du Soleil. Today, with his own company, Tanabe is juggling projects in India, Uganda and Thailand. This weekend, the aerial choreographer will stage Lang Ling The Aerialist, Thailand's first contemporary acrobat show, at Aksra Theatre.