Art for society's sake

Five politically-minded creatives reflect on the role of art in Thai politics and the recent amnesty bill protests

TEERAWAT MULVILAI

Theatre director who staged a performance protest at Pheu Thai Party's headquarters earlier this month

Teerawat Mulvilai is no stranger to using art as a tool to reflect and criticise issues in society.

His play Typhoon (The Remains) deals with the Oct 14, 1973, student uprising. In an act of protest against the amnesty bill, he was also involved in a performance in front of the Pheu Thai Party office in which protestors lay around to invoke the image of the dead people during the 2010 crackdown.

"As someone who has studied art, at first it was just art for art's sake for me," he says. "Later on I got to produce work that had to do more with issues in the society and I started to use art, the performance, as a medium for my expression."

While some artists tend to isolate art from social and political issues, Teerawat insists that they are inseparable, and it's not a matter of "must" or "should" that artists react to what's going on in society. It is something that's "natural".

"On one hand artists are artists, but on the other hand we are citizens as well," he says. "Staying still and not reacting to what's going on in the society is to not exercise our role as members of society. People join the protests but I, as an artist, have theatre as a medium to voice my opinion."

Asked about the amnesty bill-related chaos, Teerawat says his idea of how artists should be is idealistic: they should be able to criticise all parties, and never take sides.

"On the amnesty bill, some artists choose to open only one eye. Art is about virtue, beauty and truth, and yet in a situation like this they choose to present only part of the truth. For example, some protest against the bill and focus on not wanting Thaksin back, but don't talk about who's responsible for the deaths during the 2010 crackdown. They can't be on just one side, they have to criticise everything," he said.

Talking about his style of performance, a physical theatre that relies mostly on movement and visuals, Teerawat says that it's the best way to approach people.

"With less dialogue and more performance and symbols, we are not saying which side we are on. It makes the audience go back and think more. This makes people who maybe very opinionated listen to what we have to say," he explained. "In our society, art may reach only a small group of people, but when it does, it touches them."

_ Kaona Pongpipat

AMRIT CHUSUWAN

Dean, Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University

At the peak of the protests last week, Amrit Chusuwan supervised the creation of the anti-amnesty spray-painted graffiti by Silpakorn University lecturers and students. Made in the campus by several artists, the 16m-long movable wall splashed in bold text and bright colour is now installed on the footpath outside the university. Amrit, dean of the country's oldest fine arts faculty, believes that visual art doesn't exist independently outside the realm of social happenings.

"You cannot separate art from the rest," he says. "Art requires other [things in life] to feed its fire, including politics."

More than 500 Silpakorn faculty members, alumni and students marched in the anti-amnesty bill demonstrations last Monday. It was a rare show of political resentment _ during the red-shirt protests three years ago, the university didn't make any visible move.

"We're not opposing any individuals. We're against the amnesty bill. We feel that a lot of things are not right, and we express our standpoint. I _ and I'm not speaking for the whole of Silpakorn _ went through careful deliberation before making public my stance," he said. "There are opposing views in the university, and we have to make sure those who disagree can live together in the campus." Silpakorn University was founded by Silpa Bhirasri, an Italian sculptor who came to work in Siam in the 1930s.

It's often believed that one of Silpa's principles was to keep a safe distance between art and politics, for fear that the latter would exploit the former. But Amrit believes there are nuances in that.

"I think Silpa was thinking in the context of the post-World War II years. I think he was referring to the fact that art shouldn't be used to incite conflict.

"But artists in Silpakorn have always been politically involved. During the uprising of Oct 14, 1973 _ I was a high school art student then _ I walked past the campus and saw anti-dictatorship cartoons everywhere.

"It's also true that Silpakorn was founded [mainly to serve] the palace. But I don't think that is the issue. It doesn't mean that everyone at the university has to share the same attitudes and views."

_ Kong Rithdee

PEN-EK RATANARUANG

Director of the documentary Prachathipathai (Paradoxocracy), which traces the evolution of Thai democracy from 1932 to the present

Pen-ek Ratanaruang believes that movies can be a means of political reflection, just like music or art can. "The problem is that movies are a costly enterprise. You need a lot of money and time to do it," says the director.

"You can write a protest song any time you want, or you can paint whenever you're inspired. To make movies, you need much more than that."

In June, Pen-ek released Prachathipathai (Paradoxocracy), a self-funded documentary film that features a dozen scholars and thinkers who contribute critical commentaries on the development of Thai politics since the 1932 revolution. The film was shown for one week, and made around 900,000 baht.

"Because the run was short, the theatres were packed," says Pen-ek. "But really, by head count and compared to other movies, not that many people went to see my film."

Besides the meaty substance on Thai democracy, Pen-ek's film is a level-headed, non-partisan work that's rooted in thought, reflection and ideas.

''It's a film that tries to be sane,'' he says, ''and sanity is what I believe to be most important. Some people watched my film and counted how many minutes the 'yellow-shirt scholars' got to speak compared to the other side. That's ridiculous _ they timed each speaker in the film to see if I'm siding with any camp. I will not let my film be dragged around by partisan sentiments.''

On the current protest, Pen-ek, who's not a fan of Thaksin Shinawatra, sees a flaw in the so-called ''political awakening'' of Bangkokians.

''I don't think this is proof of the middle class' political activeness. I don't know how many of the protestors are against the bill itself or against Thaksin coming home. Say Thaksin was coming back to throw a Lady Gaga concert... they would protest about that, too _ and that wouldn't be about the amnesty bill at all,'' he says.

''The protesters don't care about the fact that the [proposed bill] didn't mention the lese majeste cases at all, when that should be a priority. I don't think Bangkokians are experiencing a political awakening, I think the rural people have more of that lately.''

_ Kong Rithdee

TUL WAITOONKIAT

Lead singer of Apartmentkhunpa who read his poem at the amnesty bill protests

Last week Tul Waitoonkiat stood on a stage at an amnesty bill protest reciting his poem on Thai politics, corruption and ensuing complications. As the vocalist and lyricist of Apartmentkhunpa, his short poem was eloquent, moving and honest in the same fashion as his music.

''Politics are my personal interest,'' he says. ''I like to talk about it, read about it, and write about it. People have different interests, and one of mine just happens to be politics.''

As one of the better-known faces of the music and nightlife scenes, Tul never feels intimidated to keep quiet on political matters.

Most celebrities stay low-key when it comes to politics for fear of discrimination and public outcry, which could damage their reputation.

''Apartmentkhunpa's lyrics have always been infused with politics, so I don't think anyone has a problem with me being overtly expressive. They should know by now,'' he said. ''I dare to say that politics are the new pop culture. People are very aware now, and trust me, very soon there will be some country music _ luk thung _ songs that play around with words like 'amnesty' and 'bill'. When that happens, you'll know how far-reaching politics can be.''

Thailand's ''songs-for-life'' genre could be compared to the West's protest music. It was born from political unrest, and the tradition has extended itself into social and cultural arenas as well, but of late, the music has moved away from politics. Tul reckons it might stem from something as simple as language skills.

''Veteran songs-for-life masters are so skilful as they can manipulate words to express their political ideology while maintaining poetic values. But these days, we all have communication problems, and Thai language changes all the time, so I think it's hard for newer songwriters to master the lyrics to suit political purposes, so they choose an easier route to talk about something else,'' said Tul.

Asked if music can contribute to pushing a political agenda and if his art matters in the larger scale of things, Tul believes that it's not always necessarily so.

''But you still have to remember that music reflects society. It always has, and it will always have that power.''

_ Onsiri Pravattiyagul

JADET KAMJORNDET

Poet, winner of the SEA Write Award in 2011 and a member of the ''Artists for Democracy'' group which petitioned against the amnesty bill

Jadet Kamjorndet's works are often experimental and abstract, even to the point of surrealism. Yet most of his short stories in the collection Daed Chao Ron Kern Kwa Ja Nang Jib Kafae (The Morning Sun Is Too Hot To Sit Outside And Sip Coffee), which won him the SEA Write award in 2011, has the gravity of real-life events, dealing with issues from natural disasters and social concerns to crises such as violence in the South.

''Artists have many statuses,'' says Jadet. ''They create works of art, but at the same time they are citizens and human beings. As an artist, I try to create work that's justified to all sides in every issue.'' About the ongoing political rift, Jadet says that there's probably no need for artists to stand by anyone's side or step on any protesters' stage.

''All they have to do is create the work.'' He adds that if the work of art is to be used as a tool in politics, it must have a purpose and be clear.

At a time when the conflict is deep and the definition of words such as ''democracy'' and ''justice'' vary according to agendas, Jadet says that are two levels of approaching it.

''As citizens, artists are entitled to choose sides in their work. But stripping down all the statuses to just someone who creates a work of art, he or she should be able to transcend all this partisan feeling and be the person who sees everything with understanding eyes. The artists' thoroughness should be able to lead them to distinguish the thing that brings about violence. Their contemplativeness will be able to make society engage in a dialogue in a mature manner.''

_ Kaona Pongpipat