Introduction
 
VWFA is pleased to present 3 Young Contemporaries: Itineraries, an exhibition of new and recent works by three of Thailand’s most exciting artists: Arin Rungjang, Kornkrit Jianpinidnan and Pratchaya Phinthong. All three artists address the contemporary experience of place, travel and migration. Itineraries will explore their refreshing takes on an enduring theme in Thai cultural history: the poetics of distance, its physical and imaginary imprints, the crossing of intangible borders and their sometimes very tangible effects.

Though they were all academically trained in fine art, these three artists work across a range of traditional and non-traditional media. In stark contrast with previous generations of Thai contemporary art, their work is marked by a sustained engagement with the legacies of conceptualism, minimalism and process-oriented practice.

Pratchaya Phinthong’s work is known for its formal and conceptual economy. Exhibiting regularly in Europe, he exemplifies the extraordinary mobility of contemporary, global existence, the constant uprooting and re-planting of ideas, forms and people. But rather than anchoring experience in one place or the other, Pratchaya’s works are like hinges or hyperlinks joining the two. Small but precise gestures of doubling and reversal uncover an often sublime symmetry; physical distance collapses, surrendering to a radical proximity. In his recent work, the artist locates ‘wormholes’ in the material fabric of everyday life – in exchanges of currency, of labour, and of art – exploiting the inscrutable and arbitrary laws of value, turning time and space inside out. In a new work for Itineraries, Pratchaya will explore the century-old frontier between Thailand and Malaysia.

One of Bangkok’s best-known photographers, Kornkrit Jianpinidnan grew up and studied in Thailand’s north. On frequent journeys up-country, he explores provincial landscapes and the rich narratives inscribed on them by individuals and communities. His most recent project, Tales from Phraya Prab Mountain, draws on oral histories and folk tales collected from several villages in the northeastern province of Nakorn Ratchasima. This ethnographic background becomes a filter for the photographer’s gaze, drawing him towards certain sites, people and objects. As in his previous series – such as Neo-Romantic, Home and Worry and Love – Kornkrit explores the camera’s animistic potential. The photograph becomes a channel not just for human memory, but for the memory of places and spaces – the past as recalled by the natural and the built environment.

Arin Rungjang’s work is a patient exploration of the poetics of space, tracing the shifting and often unseen lines between private and public spheres. His minimalist-inspired installations set the stage for encounters between specific individuals and specific publics, between domestic and institutional life. Often heuristic and participatory, Arin’s way of working is perhaps best described as ‘social sculpture’ – a favoured strategy amongst Thailand’s contemporary artists – in which personal narratives reflect broader social phenomena. His recent projects, including a major commission for this year’s Singapore Biennale, engage micro-histories of regional migration. Individuals share their stories of temporary homes, of journeys in search of opportunity, or a better life. The artist, meanwhile, sets up a parallel exchange of their domestic accoutrements – equally impermanent – a blind index of change and mobility.

These artists share a respect for chance and serendipity, and an omnivorous but discerning approach to narrative and form. Above all, they share an abiding refusal of the shorthand signifiers of Thai culture and identity. For three decades, Thai modern art has traded on the stereotypes of national culture, both sentimental and ironic. Itineraries will show how the next generation, while no less attuned to the spirit of place, have put these clichés firmly behind them.

3 Young Contemporaries: Itineraries is curated by Singapore-based academic, David Teh. In a slight departure from the 3 Young Contemporaries format, these three artists have all established their reputations; they are amongst Thailand’s most challenging – and internationally mobile – emerging artists. Yet compared with those working in more conventional media, their work is seldom seen elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The exhibition seeks to illuminate this blind-spot in the regional art landscape.