• LIFE

  Exhibition asks, 'Has happiness returned to Thailand?'

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 27/07/2016

  » If "Fear" -- Manit Sriwanichapoom's latest photography and video show, which opened over the past weekend at H Gallery, Tang Contemporary Art and Kathmandu Photo Gallery (and at Yavuz Gallery in Singapore at the end of the month) -- isn't the hottest topic of discussion in the capital's art scene already, it soon will be.

• LIFE

  Cool Thailand?

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 29/04/2016

  » It is only with reference to J-pop or K-pop that we have a clue as to what the word "T-pop" could possibly mean: an attempt at cultural export -- film, music and other forms of entertainment -- to create a "Thai brand" of cool. It's better late than never, so the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has recently launched a campaign, with Thai star Mario Maurer as the presenter, with the aim to boost tourism in Thailand and expand the entertainment market in China.

• LIFE

  When medicine is the problem, not the cure

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 24/11/2016

  » Thailand has an alarmingly high fatality rate due to antibiotic resistance derived from over-prescription and a widespread presence of the drugs in the food and water supply, according to research by Niyada Kiatying-Angsulee, manager of the Drug System Monitoring Mechanism Development Centre.

• LIFE

  Personal scars, political history

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 12/10/2016

  » In "Under The Same Sky", the latest exhibition at Nova Contemporary by photographer Tada Hengsapkul and artist Chai Siris, personal history and that of the world entwine. In no way does the show appear to strive at having these narratives untangled.

• LIFE

  Ratchaburi's roll of the dice

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 04/03/2016

  » Almost five years ago the late writer and National Artist in literature Prabhassorn Sevikul wrote a short story. The text was not published on paper but painted along the bank of Mae Khlong river, and you had to walk the total of 3km to finish the story. The ephemeral aspect of this, along with 74 other artworks installed around Ratchaburi, featured in the first edition of the community-based "Art Normal" event.

• LIFE

  Chart-ing Facebook

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 16/05/2016

  » It has been eight years since writer Chart Kobjitti, national artist and two-time SEA Write Award winner, published his book Lorm Wong Khui, a collection of articles written for Si San magazine. Eight years is a long time, especially for fans of various generations who literally grew up with his writing, from the cursed life of Ai-fak in 1981's Khamphiphaksa (The Judgement) that won his first SEA Write award, and the tumultuous story of life, friendship and lots of booze in 1988's Phan Ma Ba, to a miserable account of age and death in a nursing home in 1993's Wela (Time), for which he won the award once again.

• LIFE

  Loud paintings

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 13/01/2016

  » Echoing the title of Paphonsak La-or's solo exhibition "Silent No More", his opening reception at Lyla Gallery in Chiang Mai on Boxing Day last year was buzzing with locals and those who had made the trip from Bangkok. Milling around, everyone in the exhibition room couldn't possibly have avoided the huge 7m-long centrepiece that comes with a shade of blue paint that is neither gloomy nor reassuring in the background. While there's a sentence in the middle, "This image is no longer available", the bottom text reads, "Love which was woven in our society leads to a great tragedy and sorrow".

• LIFE

  Becoming blissfully aware

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 08/05/2015

  » Jenjira Pongpas has no clue what Blissfully Yours, the 2002 Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard prize-winning film by director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is all about. Not while first reading the script, not while acting it in, not after the film won the prestigious award that heralded Thai art house cinema, and not even today.

• LIFE

  The Island Funeral scoops prestigious film award

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 06/11/2015

  » Several years in the making, director Pimpaka Towira's feature film The Island Funeral (Maha Samut Lae Susan) won the Asian Future Film Award at the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival last weekend. The award, which was established two years ago, is given to the best work by first- and second-time directors.

• LIFE

  A monthly column rounding up the best of the capital's art scene

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 25/03/2015

  » It's a real shame that works by Dutch artist Daan Botlek in "Inhabited Hypercube" were only displayed for a week at Cho Why gallery in Chinatown. Yet, that was a happy sign that curator Myrtille Tibayrenc's Toot Yung Gallery, who organised the exhibition as their first nomad project after her space closed down in Ekamai last year, is very much alive and doing rather well.

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