Salad Is Not a Thing

Thasnai Sethaseree's latest exhibition
Salad Is Not a Thing สลัดไม่ใช่อะไรอื่น
November 28 - December 22, 2009
Angkrit Gallery, Nanglae, ChiangRai, Thailand
angkritgallery.com

สลัด v. (ชื่อยำชนิดหนึ่งตามแบบชาวตะวันตก ซึ่งมีน้ำมันสลัดประสม) salad v. (ซัด ผละ หรือสะบัด โดยทำให้สั่นหรือกระพือให้แรงเพื่อให้สิ่งอื่นที่ติดอยู่หลุดไป) shake off, throw off, fling, toss away v. (โจรสลัด) pirate, buccaneer, corsair related. ดีด, สะบัด

“Salad” does not come out of one specific culture, but was a core food item dating back to ancient times. The contents of the salad would be dependent on what was available, seasonality, and trade routes of the day. What is all mixed together in a bowl of salad, a mixture of vegetable, fruits and some meats, signifies a concept of the integration of many different things and cultures.

“Salad” in Thai pronunciation has a couple of different phonemic meaning , 1) สะ-หลัด / salad {salad v.}; to shake off, throw off, fling, toss away, 2) โจรสลัด /jone-salad {pirate, buccaneer, bandit n.} To jumble “salad” in both English and Thai phoneme in one bowl without uniting their segmental units, it should imply ideas of flexibility, possibility, contingency, mixture, flux and flow, diversity, fusion, separation, juxtaposition, absurdity, absorbing, refusing, corrupting, outrage, illegal copying, scattering, struggling, revenge, freedom, crime, negation etc.

Moreover, it happens that this bowl of mixed languages’ phoneme reveals also ideas of political structure and its power relations embedded deeply in the opposite site – stiffness, impossibility, certainty, singularity, stillness, uniformity, disassociation, validity, reason, distracting, accepting, happiness, trustworthy, originality, monopoly, surrendering, sympathy, suppression, good deed, institution, etc.

If “salad” making can be considered as a culture of practices in some sort, these practices do not merge together into a single homogeneous culture. Rather, it connotes multiple juxtaposed layers of articles, and somehow of an idea of cultural pluralism. Within this space of practices, the physical entity of power over resources control becomes loose, and it allows the flow of heterogeneous sources of diversity of experiences in a new environment; as yet it consents to conflicts politically. Then choices of anything can be conceived of endless alternative. In this sense, “salad” is not a thing, but a simple survival tactic, serving cold people who are driven away from the center of power.

When objective properties of what so ever we call “a thing” do not really exist, it has no sense for a question to be asked about the “what” – it is better to seek for the “why” and “how”……of course you can go on asking what this show is all about.

Picasa photo album "Salad Is Not a Thing" Opening

Is Color A Nationality?

Are you RED?

Are you YELLOW?

Are you BLUE?

Thailand's national flag is RED WHITE BLUE
(traditionally mean nationality, religion and monarch).

Where is WHITE?

It's the question from a monk who is represented as white in the flag. He chucked it into the discussants and then the direction of discussion had jumped to the conclusion of nothingness.

Buddhism seems to be the way out of every problem, but why Thailand, which has 90% of population admire in Buddism cannot cease the political conflictions in nowadays?

Or religion is fading away from the mind of Thai people? That is the monk's final question.

Makeshift Slideshow

We're sorry, N.E.P. crews are in troubles. So, no story for now. Let's see photos of the discussion day at the press conference room of BACC. And I'll tell you later what happened in that day.

go to source ALBUM IN PICASA

Cultural Nationalism Discussion

and more photos of all mocked-up masterpieces in Imagined Museum.

go to source ALBUM IN PICASA

Mock-terpieces

A Night We Lost in a Museum

A man in a black t-shirt who's holding a walky talky is a BACC officer who led us move all art objects to an enormous elevator up to the second floor, but... he had just realized that the building he worked for months has no connection from elevators to the exhibition area.

Finally, someone found a door to the hall. We had to take all art objects through a narrow passage again.

Art Assaulting

Midnight, we, N.E.P. crews & Gallery VER, attacked BACC with our all mocked up art masterpieces and was co-operated by security guards.

Exclusive Truck

Gallery Ver is on the second floor of Klongsarn Plaza Building where the stairs is very narrow. We cut the Rodchenko's goat horn out.

Downstairs is Klongsarn Market. Every night, after it closed, it's filled with garbages. Tonight's special is rainwater in chuckholes as our obstruction to move all 38 art masterpieces to our exclusive truck.


Somewhere over the flyover, Thongyhod, Baitong, Ton & Thasnai stood in the tray of the truck to take care all expensive works (mock-up).

Not many time that we could stand in an unusual place like this. Thanks to Not Even Pineapples project and ART! that allow us to do what we cannot do in usual legal spaces.

The Last Mock-up

The last few nights, we got a warm intervention from the superior Lamphun artist, Mit Jai-in. Many helps reached to our studio every night with brilliant conversations and activities. Last night, he left us the last masterpiece mock-up for the Not Even Pineapples project, Carl Andre's Magnesium-Zinc Plain (1969) in colorful version.

And this is complete list of masterpieces you'll see in our IMAGINED MUSEUM [HARD COPY] at BACC, tomorrow.

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa (La Gioconda), 1503–1506
Claude Monet, Impression, Sun Rise (soleil levant), 1872
Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night (De sterrennacht), 1889
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893-1910
Pablo Picasso, Man with a Hat, 1912
Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, 1913
David Bomberg, The Mud Bath, 1914
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917
Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Yellow, Blue and Black, 1921
Max Ernst, The Elephant Celebes, 1921
René Magritte, The Treachery of Images, 1928–29
Victor Vasarely, Outdoor artwork at the church of Pálos in Pécs, unknown
Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory, 1931
Pin Malakul, The Democracy Monument (อนุสาวรีย์ประชาธิปไตย), 1939
Poom Malakul, Victory Monument (อนุสาวรีย์ชัยสมรภูมิ), 1941
Khien Yimsiri, Land of the Smile (ดินแดนแห่งความยิ้มแย้ม), 1950
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm No. 30, 1950
Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram, 1955
Prasong Patamanuj, Chedi Wat Pho (เจดีย์วัดโพธิ์), 1958
David Smith, CUBI VI, 1963
Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, 1965
Chumraung Vichienket, Group (กลุ่ม), 1965
Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground and Nico Album cover, 1967
Pablo Picasso, Untitled sculpture (The Chicago Picasso), 1967
Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup I, 1968
Carl Andre, Magnesium-Zinc Plain, 1969
Chamruang Vichienket, Family (ครอบครัว), 1971
Chang Saetang, 14 October 1973 (14 ตุลา 2516), 1973
Cheewa Komolmalai, Struggle Face (ใบหน้าสู้ชีวิต), 1974
Robert Indiana, LOVE sculpture, 1976
Barbara Kruger, Untitled (I shop therefore I am), 1987
Philippe Patrick Starck, Juicy Salif, 1990
Jeff Koons, Puppy, 1992
Louise Bourgeois, Spider, 1996
Roy Lichtenstein, House I, 1996/1998
Banksy, Pulp Fiction Bananas, unknown
Yoshitomo Nara, Your Dog, 2001
Yoshitomo Nara, Yellow in Blue, 2005

If all these works are the real pieces, they'll cost many TRILLIONS BAHT! Isn't it a nice chance for art admirers in Thailand to see many masterpieces from around the world? Not only an incredible exhibition, but you'll also meet a very interesting discussion in the topic of "Cultural Nationalism" by many fascinating Thai intellectuals. See you there ;)

April Full's Day

Our studio is full with art masterpieces, ideas, crews & spectators.

But there is no masterpiece here anymore. Everything will be moved to Bangkok Art & Culture Center tonight. Here's only us... We're still living and working inside Ver Gallery.

This Is Not Even Pineapples

ANANAS
[ french word: pineapple ]

BANANA
[ english mot: banane ]

หลั่น ลัล~ล้า
[ thai word: la la la ♫ ]

As Yet Untold

Thasnai came back to the studio last night with a news about closing party of As Yet Unnamed project at About Cafe'. I was a little bit curious with this news because I thought that About Cafe has closed for years. I often walked around that place, looked inside to see its emptiness. This art space was founded by Misiem Yipinsoi, one of the important Thai contemporary artists, standing opposite to the former Thai Wattana Panich Publishing, one of the important Thai education book publishers, located in the area full of hookers.

We went there to see many strangers who are familiar with Thasnai. Their party is fun with talking, eating & karaoke-ing. I'm just a guy standing on the edge of artistic circumstances. I knew no one. So, I stood outside of the gallery and watched through its windows to watch a slideshow of the project documentation. They occupied this dead art space with their exhibitions. Some exhibitions are interesting, some are not. However, why didn't we receive any information about this one year project before? And why the spectators of each exhibitions look same same?

Process of the As Yet Unnamed project looked alike 24 Hrs. Art Gallery we saw in the Brandnew 2008 exhibition at BUG. Perhaps, many Thai artists are facing with the problems of art space.

Furthermore, there were an exhibition of photographic slideshow on the second floor. It's very poetic but... I might be too sleepy to see it until the end. Our exhaustion dragged us home... gallery... studio... or something you wanna named it. Thasnai followed us few hours later. Before he went to bed, he tried to make a souvenir for this Saturday discussants with bananas and resin.

It failed, eventually... Good night.

We're Blogged

Right here; artscenetv.net where is an interesting site to update movement of Thai contemporary art.

But we have something more update than the information in that site. We have a party... actually, a lunch for opening the exhibition and discussion in the last day of this project at noon, April 4th.

See you at the press conference room on the first floor of BACC.

Bangkok Art Trip #4: Million Baht Babies

The last weekend art trip, narrated by Thongyhod (again).
This is the forth journey for Thai art scenes for each weekend with Not Even Pineapple crews. Let's see where we've been to.

The first round; we went to Conference of Birds Gallery. We stunned and enjoyed with 2 projects. "WAFAA BILAL'S VIRTUAL JIHADI", Shoot An Iraqi: computer game / photographs / drawings / video about painful and suffering from Iraq war by USA that artist experienced.

And "The Last Supper" by Bigert & Bergstrom, focusing on this discrepancy between historical "meaning" and contemporary use of a tradition that has lost its connection with the past. The film mixes documentary material with live sculptures and animated graphics. That was a cool starting of the day.

The second round; we went to Kathmundu Photo Gallery. We faced the "Silent Mode", lots Japanese people were in silent and emptiness mode on the train, which is portraits shot one by one. Feelless till super suffer.

They left something and went to something, but there's "nothing" in between. I wonder how about Thai scene, isn't it the same?

The third round; at 100 Tonson Gallery, "What a place tell us", 2 Japanese artists, photography and site-specific exhibition.


The fourth round; "Distinguished Encounters" at Sombat Permpoon Gallery. Various Thai contemporary artists' exhibition. They have paintings, videos and sculptures.

Here we met 2 crazy dogs in gallery! That was amazing. A brown one has special ability he can "Wai" so fast and so many times with a good body balance, which is different from ordinary dogs' "Wai". The other dog has some problems with his nerve system. When he walks, he looks like a drunken dog.


The final round; we went to TCDC (Thailand Creative & Design Center), which is Thaksin's heritage, trying to organize and start to focus (or just do something) on design things and make money from Thainess as a meeting point and knowledge center, blah blah blah...

They have exibition areas and a library. It's quite difficult to appoach for people who have no money like me.

Red corner win! (not political meaning).