Beyond bliss, beyond biennial: reflections with Dr Apinan Poshyananda on the Bangkok Art Biennale

**Dr Apinan Poshyananda, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Bangkok Art Biennale, speaks with Art Radar about the city’s inaugural event.**

Opening 19 October 2018, Bangkok’s first contemporary art biennial will invite established and emerging artists to join in the director’s search for happiness.

The Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 will run in venues across Bangkok from 19 October 2018 to 3 February 2019. Screenshot by Art Radar.

The first-ever Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB), spearheaded by legendary curator Dr Apinan Poshyananda, will highlight Thailand’s capital as a bustling city of cultural expression. Upon his request and with the tireless support of the biennial’s advisory board, BAB 2018 is poised to exhibit 75 established and emerging artists from Thailand and beyond. Art Radar spoke to Dr Poshyananda about the forthcoming show and his steadfast search for ‘bliss’ in a world weighed down by fast-paced attitudes.

Dr Apinan Poshyananda, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Bangkok Art Biennale. Image courtesy the Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation.

In a country where tradition is a common thread in various aspects of creative enterprise, how did the Bangkok Art Biennale come about? Could you share with Art Radar the genesis of this idea?

The BAB has been planned in Thailand for about a year and a half and it has been long awaited. People have been expecting to have a biennial in Bangkok for several years now, but many circumstances, whether they be social or political or economic, have kept such an event from forming. So, in the planning processes, [the advisory committee] decided there should be at least three scheduled biennials: 2018, 2020 and 2022. This has been made possible with support from private sectors and corporate funds, but not so much from the government. To have a sustainable biennial, funding should come from private sectors.

The upcoming biennial seems to put a strong emphasis on spirituality, transcendence, enlightenment and tradition. How have these factors informed the event’s theme, “Beyond Bliss”?

We know that a lot of people associate Thailand with being a Buddhist-dominant country, with a lot of emphasis on spirituality and transcendence; we want to expand this theme so that it is relatable to a more global audience. We feel that in this time of chaos, disruption and violence, the quest or the desire to achieve happiness is universal. We feel that “Beyond Bliss” is something that all of the selected artists can interpret in many ways. Bliss or happiness is like sadness or sorrow; it’s temporary and depends on the individual. We feel that this open-ended theme can be a starting point for the artists to work.

Can you speak more about this temporality? Are there any specific works or media that artists will be exhibiting to approach this emotional ephemerality?

Performance. One of the artists that we first approached was Marina Abramović. She will be sending five or six [assistants] to carry out performances during the Biennale. We will have some site-specific works as well – in temples and cultural heritage sites – so that the artists can carry out their survey and exploration in connection with their environment.

Marina Abramovic, ‘Stromboli | Head’, 2002, video, black and white Stromboli. © Marina Abramovic. Image courtesy the Marina Abramovic Archives and Kappatos Gallery.

As a proponent of the arts, how do you draw from Thai tradition in your curatorial practice and directorship?

I was an artist a long time ago. In this way, you start to understand an artist’s thinking. When I work with an artist, I try to realise many ideas, dreams and projects, but I have to do it in such a way that is applicable. I have to manage the [practical] ideas like installation and budgeting.

The tradition of high art is quite strong in this nation and can also be applicable. Take, for example, mirror paintings or, like I mentioned before, site-specific works [in temples or heritage sites]. The artist or curator that can work with this traditional medium or space within a contemporary interpretation is the most interesting. These spaces are oases of wisdom where Hinduism, Brahmanism, astrology, massage and spiritual healing of the mind and physicality are practised. I feel that arts professionals can be (and should be) inspired by this landscape.

How do your goals for BAB 2018 differ from previous curatorial endeavours?

I’ve had the chance to be part of several biennials and triennials – in Queensland, Sydney, Liverpool, São Paulo, Istanbul – so I have had the chance to see many kinds of scholarship and many kinds of biennial visitors. I now have the opportunity to do it at my home, as it were. I want to make it very special. That is why we have tried to create the backdrop of Bangkok as the “Venice of the East”. That is why we want to show projects along the main river in the city as well as various heritage buildings, pubs and other spaces where people can really enjoy themselves.

Dr Apinan Poshyananda speaks with Melati Suryodarmo, Folakunle Oshun and Zoe Butt on “Making Exhibitions Work” at Art Basel Hong Kong 2018. © Art Basel.

How does the biennial bridge the gap between being a blockbuster show and an accessible community project?

This is a very welcoming and challenging dilemma because the term ‘blockbuster’ can be of advantage or disadvantage. A show can be too massive or too big. However, we feel that we have the opportunity to enliven the [whole] city. The Biennale will trigger a series of parallel and collateral events, coinciding with other gallery openings and Bangkok’s World Film Festival. We want to have many projects and venues joining us in this celebration.

Bangkok Design Week will also be coinciding with the Biennale. We will work with the French Embassy who is organising their annual gallery night. There will be many performances in different spaces that are left open-ended for artist exploration. We are also working with the Goethe Institut in showing a series of films by Joseph Beuys and a programme of lectures and conferences.

Can you provide some information about the curatorial or advisory teams and how you went about the selection process?

We set up this theme and established an international advisory community with representatives from all over the world. They offer guidance when contacting artists that we wish to communicate with. We have a team consisting of myself, Patrick Flores, Eugene Tan, Alexandra Munroe, Nigel Hurst, David Stuart Elliott, Fumio Nanjo, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Sunjung Kim. We all got together for the first time during the [artist] selection process. We went to visit studios and had open calls. We invited those who were interested in the Biennale to send their applications. In that way, we felt that the possibilities were unlimited; we would get some surprises and names we would have overlooked. It is refreshing because we want to present international names to attract audiences, but also give space and opportunity to regional, emerging artists. There is a mix of very well established artists – Francesco Clemente, Yoshitomo Nara, Yayoi Kusama – and also some very young, new names.

Dr Poshyananda with Dr Eugene Tan, Director of the National Gallery Singapore and member of the Bangkok Art Biennale International Advisory Team.

You have an extensive educational background with an MFA from Edinburgh University and a PhD in History of Art from Cornell University in New York. What were your primary focuses in school, and why did you choose to study in the West and return to Thailand thereafter? How has returning to Thailand informed your artistic and curatorial practices?

I was sent to England when I was quite young where, in many ways, you have the chance to choose what you like. Because I was so bad at math and chemistry, I chose art history to escape doing equations. I then went on to study on a fine arts course where we focused on art history in the morning and studio work in the evening. It was very intense and productive, but great because we learned how to write and express ourselves while developing our practices. I then returned to Thailand to study at a university in Bangkok. I was experimenting with painting and video art in the late 1980s, which was quite strange and different in Bangkok at that time. It was a medium which academia in Thailand had not yet accepted. I then got a scholarship to do my PhD at Cornell University. There, I studied art history and had the opportunity to focus on curatorship because I had residencies through the Asia Art Council in New York and had time to really learn the New York scene.

At that time, there was no one telling you what the role of the curator was in Thailand. In the early 1990s, Thailand was a place that was economically booming with a lot of international interest. This led to my curatorial breakthrough, “Traditions/Tensions”, which was first shown at New York’s Asia Society in 1996, and then travelled around the world to places like Vancouver and Taipei. I had the chance to interact with work from Korea, India, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, and at the time it was something so new in New York.

Do you find that a curator’s role has changed since you entered the trade? If so, how?

Enormously. In the 1980s, the curator was like a caretaker of objects. It was very confined to institutions and museums. [A curator’s] new role – not just in Asia, but in the West as well – has a power to select artworks and imagine blockbusters, extravaganzas and shows. And it has led to some very outstanding curatorship, but also some very poor work. The way I see it, the curator’s career is at a crossroads: in the past when you wanted to meet artists, you wrote letters and sent faxes. If I wanted to meet an artist in India, I would have to travel several hours by plane. You had to work very slowly. And I loved it. Now, with technology, you can curate at home. You communicate so fast, but it’s less human. Speed can kill; we need to slow down so that the human side of curation can blossom.

Click here to watch Dr. Apinan Poshyananda’s Welcome Address on YouTube

With friendship and connection at the cornerstone of this business, what do you see for the future of the Bangkok Art Biennale?

I think that BAB has the opportunity to improve the infrastructure of the Bangkok art scene. It is a young scene with a lot of room for improvement in gallery, curating and auction systems. Hosting BAB will hopefully trigger other activities in the city. The BAB Foundation will use the available funding to train young curators, and help give fellowships and scholarships to artists from Thailand. We would also like to welcome young artists from abroad for residencies. We would like to expand in this way: a biennial beyond the biennial.

Megan Miller

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The first edition of the Bangkok Art Biennale will run from 19 October 2018 to 3 February 2019 at various locations throughout Bangkok, Thailand.

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