Thasnai Sethaseree's latest art exhibition, "Trans-Structurity", is about fear. But unlike other artists' approach to the subject, which has often involved going deep into their own thoughts and feelings, his set of works is not the projection of his own fear. Instead, the public's sense of dread was the source of this artist's inspiration. He gathered the information about those fears with a combination of research and personal interaction with people.
Colourful geometric patterns are produced from the ‘source code’ with a software program.
"My way of [making] art is different from other artists because I also have education in other fields like philosophy, sociology and politics. I was trained to look at societal and cultural issues in order to understand myself," Thasnai says.
At a quick glance, it might occur to some visitors that the exhibition is a set of abstract models that could be trying to portray anything from people's lively moods and the complicated modern way of life, to a sense of confusion, followed by a dozen more interpretative possibilities. But in fact, it is the artist's attempt to understand and portray "the structure of fear" in a concrete way.
The exhibition is set on a church-like floor plan, with the works of art on either side as visitors walk down the aisle. While each piece on the left consists of colourful geometric pieces of glass propped against and set upon one another, each piece on the right is a geometric structure made from copper wire.
Perplexing though these models might look, the origin of these seemingly random patterns is even more complicated, though in a very systematic kind of way.
The project started two years ago with the artist's contemplation about fear. From the idea of how fear has become part of culture and a controlling element in people's lives, Thasnai, who teaches at Chiang Mai University's Department of Media Arts and Design, set out to discover more about it by asking the public to join him.
"I created a website _ www.thestructureoffear.org _ and asked people all over the world to post about their fears in every aspect, through any means, whether it's video, pictures or words. I also went out to talk to people in public places, like in the park or in the pub."
The "fear" of those people was then computerised. Thasnai and his team used two software programs to translate the source code of the answers _ the messages people posted on the web or the typing-up of what people told him _ into two-dimensional patterns and later they were used to create three-dimensional models. While one software program rendered the information into coloured patterns, the other made the information into structural lines. Sculptures were then made based on those patterns.
Walking down to the end of the aisle, in a cabinet just like an altar in church, there's a stack of paper consisting of all the source codes that served as the foundation of the modelled pieces.
"As opposed to other conventional artists, the focus of this set of works is not myself. It's cooperation between many people and though I'm the artist of the work, I'm not as important as the issue in the work of art," says Thasnai.
He believes that any aspect of fear, whether it's of politics, economics, society or natural disasters, is something that can be overcome once we understand the true nature of it, and stripping it down to its fundamental structure is a way towards that understanding.
His hope is to show people how fear is not real, but rather an invention resulting from human imagination. Thasnai says there are many ways of looking at his works.
"You can either stand still or walk around it, but even if you look at them while standing still, you will observe how the patterns will constantly change and transform themselves all the time," he adds.
Unlike any other art exhibition in which the works displayed are already in their complete form, Thasnai says "Trans-Structurity" is in fact "art in process".
"If people continue to post about their fears on the website, this will never end. The source code will keep changing and the models' patterns are going to change every day," he says.
At 338 OIDA Gallery, 4th floor, Pongamorn Building, Lumpini MRT Exit 1, Rama IV, Wed-Sun 1pm-5pm or by appointment, until Aug 31.
