Sak, Nong & i (we move the cities…), 2022

Conducted in East Asia Thailand, this project was created for the purpose of revisiting the touring exhibition “Cities on the Move,” which saw the 6th edition taking place in Bangkok co-curated by Hou Hanru and Hans Ulrich Obrist in 1999. It was the only exhibition that has taken place in Asia and did not cohere to a single institutional space, but has its works scattered in different locations and settings in Bangkok. During the last summer in 2022, A group of artists were invited to revisit and respond to CotM based on their re-imagining of the past exhibition in the present context. The project began with a keynote on Cities on the Move delivered by Hou Hanru and Ole Scheeren followed by site visits with co-curator Manuporn Luengaram (About Cafe) to several ex-CotM locations, such as the curatorial office where the team had worked in. Meetings with several of the original artists, i.e., Navin Rawanchaikul and Kata Sangkhae, were also scheduled and discussed over with Gridthiya Gaweewong (co-founder, Project 304). Being an outsider who had never experienced the exhibition in-person, these meetings would form the basis of my exploration into the historical event.

What stands out for me in the keynote event was when Ole Scheeren has attributed the success of CotM to its non-methodological and non-confrontational approach undertaken by the curatorial team during its production in 1999. He alludes the making of CotM to an architectural project, except that there isn’t any blueprint. The project was mainly carried along by the locals. Taking this as a premise for provocation, I moved from Nonthaburi province to Khao San in Bangkok city where the area is bustling with people, and I had decided to turn to the street as the site of exploration for my project. I began by drawing up an open brief for myself, and that is, to work with the resources and only with what is available on the street. I walked up and down routinely until I got to know the street vendors and people who regularly patronize their goods and services. Day by day, these encounters would inform the basis of my work. Over time, my engagement with the site-community leads to a site-specific project including a painter, a vendor, and myself. We made a B&W copy of the original poster from Cities On The Move. Following the open studio, the work was disassembled and re-embedded onto the street, to where it emanated from.