Located right in the heart of the capital, the recently unveiled Bangkok Art and Culture Centre aims to make art relevant to Thai society
STORY BY KANOKPORN CHANASONGKRAM, PHOTOS BY ANUSORN SAKSEREE
``Regarding art, you have to start young,'' says Chatvichai Promadhattavedi, BACC's acting director. |
Back in 1997, the year of the Tom Yum Kung crisis, a group of art advocates began campaigning for Bangkok to have its own world-class art centre. Eventually, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) opened its doors last month with Mah Boonkrong Centre, Siam Square and Siam Discovery Centre as its neighbours.
Seemingly the odd one out at Pathumwan intersection, it almost became just another shopping mall and parking lot until the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, (BMA) under the aegis of Apirak Kosayodhin, approved a 509 million baht budget to build it in 2005.
"We tenaciously did all we could to make it happen, including taking one city governor to court for thwarting the project. So it has been a long fight as well as a good example of how grassroots groups can come together to advocate something good for society," says Chatvichai Promadhattavedi, one of BACC's pioneers and now its acting director.
But can it pull in a crowd when there's a shopper's paradise across the street? Additionally, between looking at pretty paintings and catching the latest flicks at Paragon Cineplex, wouldn't most Thais prefer the latter?
From its conception 11 years ago, Chatvichai says that it was kept in mind that the art and culture centre shouldn't be an ivory tower - the challenge was to make it relevant to a society with no grounding in contemporary art. So BACC has been built to give contemporary art a physical infrastructure and to make art a part of the city's cultural life.
The outdoor courtyard has a stage for live performances. |
Not only a place to hang pretty paintings, a host of activities will be going on at BACC. |
Spare time to inspect the impressive interior design, which is an artwork in itself. |
The busy Pathumwan intersection has a new attraction where people can ``come to eat,stay for art''. |
People of all ages can come to appreciate works of art. |
You may well find a masterpiece at the art market. |
"If you want art to become a part of society, you have to make it user-friendly and as convenient as possible," he says. "Firstly, this location right in the heart of Bangkok provides incredible accessibility compared to other museums and galleries around the world. Understanding how Thais like to shop and love to eat, we have mixed art with a street scene by offering lifestyle shops and restaurants. In a few months' time, when we get the restaurants going, it can be a meeting point for people and all members of the family to come and enjoy themselves as well as to appreciate art and culture."
The motto may then be "come to eat, stay for art" and one may well spend the whole day at BACC, which offers not only visual arts but theatre, film, literature, music and design. "It's a recreational space and once we've got everything running, people can come and be bowled over by lots of things going on. They can look at six exhibitions in one visit, listen to recitals or watch plays. So people should come to use it and be a part of the art scene," says the acting director.
At the least, people should come to see the impressive architecture of Bangkok's new public space. The 11-storey, 25,000-square-metre building boasts 3,000 square metres of gallery space on the 7th, 8th and 9th floors as well as 1,000 square metres of extended exhibition space. The remaining floors house a 222-seat auditorium, a 300-seat multi-function hall, studios, meeting rooms, a library, an art conservation area and 33 commercial outlets (shops and restaurants). In addition, the outdoor courtyard leaves plenty of room for an art market and a stage can be set up for live performances.
With the infrastructure in place, it's only the beginning in setting up good programmes. From July 29-August 24, its first exhibition, "Roaming with a Hungry Heart The Royal Photo Exhibition" by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn showcased 230 royal photographs taken in more than 20 countries.
The next show, set to open in late September, presents "Traces of Siamese Smile" - a major art exhibition comprised of some 300 works by 100 Thai and foreign artists, and curated by Dr Apinan Poshyananda.
BACC's library even has a kids' corner to get children interested in art. |
For upcoming programmes, artists of all disciplines can gather here to make something out of the whole art movement. Not only accessible to professionals, it's a venue for amateurs and students who have something to say. For example, art students can displays their works, good or perhaps not so good, which, as Chatvichai points out, will get the process of appreciation/criticism going.
"Education is an important part of this art centre," he says. "Regarding art, you have to start young and children are our future audience. Since the BMA has more than 300 schools under its jurisdiction, we can do pilot projects in order to instill an interest in art from a young age."
Like reading books or watching movies, being exposed to art is a part of growing up. But art to many people may be something difficult to approach; as Thais like to say that one has to "climb a ladder" to look at it.
"We want art to be fun. For some people, art can be intellectually stimulating. And if you don't climb the ladder a little bit, you won't exercise your brain cells," says Chatvichai, who has 12 years experience running the Bhirasri Institute of Modern Art.
Ultimately, BACC is not only about having a place to hang beautiful pictures but was initiated to address a deeper agenda, to answer a real need for intellectual development. He explains how the BMA builds roads and bridges as infrastructure for the city's physical development and how the focus has been solely on business to drive the economy. Both material and business advancement, however, will not render sustainable development without intellectual development.
An art centre serves as an infrastructure for intellectual development as it switches on the thinking process, ideas and creativity as well as a good sense of judgement - things that are much needed to develop individuals and, by extension, Thai society as a whole.
"After devoting a prime piece of real estate for art and culture, setting up a foundation to run it as well as starting up funding, the BMA alone can't drive the BACC to achieve its mission in strengthening cultural and intellectual development," says Chatvichai. "Private sector contribution to the centre's well-being and programming is very important. After 11 years, now we're here we all got to help build it up."
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