ULTRA X HAPS TALK – Connecting Kyoto and the World through Contemporary Art
The environment surrounding contemporary art has become vastly more complex over the past few decades. Faced with this situation, it is no easy task for artists to find a way to be active at a global level. Naturally, it is virtually impossible to get a firm grasp on the art scenes that are being produced concurrently all over the world. In particular, in neighboring Asian countries that are seeing rapid economic growth and modernization, there are more opportunities than ever before to show one’s work, taking into account the new art museums and art fairs that are being established, and the flourishing numbers of international exhibitions. Although global attention focused on this region has increased, the situation is quite different in Japan, where there is a general sense that the work of developing art-related institutions has been finished. However, it is precisely this state of affairs that has led to a renewed questioning of how global networks are constructed, a reconsideration of how institutionalization works, and the role of artists in society.
In Kyoto, art schools produce a large number of new artists each year. But what kinds of connections might one discover today between this center of traditional Japanese culture and the world of contemporary art that has grown ever more complex in this way? The “ULTRA x HAPS” series of talks, jointly organized by Kyoto University of Art and Design and Higashiyama Artists Placement Service (HAPS), will invite artists, curators, collectors, researchers, and gallerists from the world’s major cities to hold discussions that will allow participants to deepen their understanding and experience of the world.
① The “ULTRA×HAPS” talks are part of the Curatorial Research Program of Higashiyama Artist Placement Service (HAPS), which seeks to provide support to young emerging artists.
② ULTRA is named after the Ultra Factory at Kyoto University of Art and Design, which seeks to cultivate transcendent forms of creativity.
③ The Kyoto University of Art and Design is dedicated to establishing an institution that will foster artists from Kyoto who aim to work in the contemporary art world at a global level.
About the Talk
Time/Date: 19:00-20:30 Wednesday, July 20, 2016Venue: North Hall, ROHM Theatre Kyoto
http://rohmtheatrekyoto.jp/english/
English>Japanese consecutive translation available
Admission: Free (Booking required)
Seating Capacity: 100 people
Organized by: Kyoto University of Art and Design, Graduate School of Art and Design Studies /
Higashiyama Artists Placement Service (HAPS)
Gridthiya Gaweewong (Artistic Director, The Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok)
“Chiang Mai Social Installation in Context”
The lecture will be about the history of Chiang Mai Social Installation (CMSI) in social political context. CMSI was an artist initiate public art project in Chiang Mai, the North of Thailand in the early 1990s. It was formulated by a group of forward thinking artists and lecturers from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University. The core leaders were Montien Boonma, Uthit Atimana, Mit Jai Inn, Araya Rasjarmrearnsook, with the collaboration of students like Navin Rawanchaikul, Tawatchai Punthusawasdi to name a few. This glass root art project had generated strong foundation for the independent artistic movement in Thailand in the last 3 decades. It had been actively engaged with local and international artists, intellectual community as well as the society at large. The project was successfully put Chiang Mai art scene to the global cultural landscape. However, due to the ad-hoc operation, it had been defunct at the end of 1990s. The lecture will present the rise and fall of CMSI, their activities, operation and its legacy to Thai art scene and beyond.
About the Speaker
Gridthiya Gaweewong founded arts organization Project 304 in 1996, and is currently Artistic Director of the Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok. Her curatorial projects have addressed issues of social transformation confronting artists from Thailand and beyond since the Cold War. Gaweewong has organized exhibitions and events including Underconstruction, Tokyo (2000 – 2002), Politics of Fun at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2005), (with Rirkrit Tiravanija) Saigon Open City in Saigon, Vietnam (2006-07), Apichatpong Weerasethakul: The Serenity of Madness, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai (2016).Booking & Inquiries
For Booking and Inquiries: ULTRA_HAPS@office.kyoto-art.ac.jp*Please send 1.Name, 2.Number of participants, 3.Phone number or email address, 4.Occupation (for student, please note the school name)