Interweaving Cultures

International Contemporary Art Project
Location: The Art Center at the Jim Thompson House, Bangkok, Thailand
Date: March 31 – June 30, 2005

Interweaving Cultures is a project involving art professionals from Japan, Thailand and Europe. For the project, five artists have been invited to respond to the unique cultural, social and historical context of the Jim Thompson House as well as the surrounding area and local communities. Their objective is to explore, question and develop the story begun by Jim Thompson and his love for Thailand’s rich cultural heritage.

The artists were invited to stay in Bangkok to conduct research on the Jim Thompson House and those aspects of Thai culture represented by the silk industry. They worked closely with museum staff and local residents to complete the project. This exhibition presents new works based on their in-depth, on-site research. Just as Jim Thompson embraced Thai culture as a ‘foreigner’, the artists bring their own particular cultural threads into the weave. Seeing the house as a hub of cultural exchange of both old and new, these contemporary artists have each lent a fresh eye and a new sensitivity to this rich cultural context and the legend of Thompson himself.

The five artists invited to participate are HAN Myung-ok (Korea/France), Shigeaki Iwai (Japan), Alana Jelinek (UK/Australia), Kaoru Motomiya (Japan), Sutthirat Supaparinya (Thailand) Curators: Sachiko Namba (Japan), Gridthiya Gaweewong (Thailand), Ann Coxon (UK).

Names, 2005, HAN Myung-Ok

HAN Myung-Ok (Korea/France)
In response to her invitation to make new work specifically for Interweaving Cultures at the Jim Thompson House, Han Myung-Ok has initiated a ‘name collecting’ project. Believing that ‘food makes the body, but the name makes a memory, a remainder’, her project invites us to reflect upon the importance we attach to the names of both ourselves and others. Inspired by the legendary name of Jim Thompson – more prevalent than ever before throughout the world, and at the site of his house – Han has created a special container into which she will place small pieces of paper collected from visitors to the exhibition and others. On the specially selected and cut paper people are invited to write the names of those who have been significant in their life (preferably in the script of their native language). Usually transcending the realms of inter-lingual translation, our names speak of our uniqueness, like individual grains of rice.

Names, 2005, HAN Myung-Ok

Shigeaki IWAI

Shigeaki IWAI (Japan)
Shigeaki Iwai conducted research into Thai films before arriving in Bangkok in October 2004. Fascinated by the local film industry and its posters, Iwai started to scout for actors/actresses and a location. His aim: to create a movie poster, ‘based on a true story’, the story of a love triangle between a Japanese girl and two Thai boys played by local volunteers. Iwai was intrigued by the possibilities of the Jim Thompson house as a meeting place for many foreign visitors, a cultural-melting pot, and in particular he wanted to explore the relationship between Japanese and Thai cultures in a metaphoric way. He arranged a fictional first-date at the site, as a starting point for his ‘film’ shoot.

Kiku sadud rak, video projection, film poster, text, 2005, Shigeaki IWAI

In the second phrase of his visit, the poster of the ‘movie’ was distributed and posted on the streets, universities and some public spaces. The artist then interviewed people who saw the poster, asking questions about their reaction and ideas about the pseudo film posters. This process of following the viewers’ projected ‘storylines’ led the artist to communicate with different communities. Allowing viewers to imagine the story portrayed in the film, Iwai’s project reveals much about our cultural or multi-cultural perceptions.

Alana JELINEK

Alana JELINEK (Australia/UK)
During her research trip to the Jim Thompson House, Alana Jelinek became fascinated by the history of the Ban Krua community. Members of the community have long been known as the best weavers of silk in Bangkok, and Thompson employed their skills in the production of his famous textile designs. Jelinek has invited the current residents to photograph the exteriors of their houses so that she can produce small paintings on silk which she will later present to them as gifts. The paintings are placed in various locations throughout the house, making an intervention into the normal display of Thompson’s opulent artifacts.

TrickleDown+, 2005, Alana JELINEK

In a second project, Jelinek has manufactured a small ‘shuffle puzzle’ game. Jelinek’s game replicates the familiar mass-produced cheap plastic toy with a picture, or a set of numbers printed on tiles which you slide up, down or side-to-side in order to make up a complete picture or correct sequence of numbers. In this version, there is no ‘right’ or correct version of the image. The game, called TrickleDown+, plays with the names and symbols of monetary units visible in contemporary globalized Bangkok. Jelinek's two works together explore the tensions between the local and the global, the 'native' and the tourist.

TrickleDown+, 2005, Alana JELINEK

Detail, 2005, Alana JELINEK

Kaoru MOTOMIYA

Kaoru MOTOMIYA (Japan)
Somerset Maugham is known to have been a guest at Jim Thompson’s house when Thompson was living there. Maugham’s Siamese Fairy Tale happens to be Kaoru Motomiya’s favourite book from her childhood. Motomiya has produced an installation which makes reference to this tale, incorporating the eye of the British novelist with Thai and Japanese sensibilities. Maugham’s fairytale has never been translated into Thai, so the artist introduced the story to local children, through a series of workshops. The children wrote their own versions of the story onto silk ribbon. The ribbon was also used as a measuring device to record the length of the bridge which crosses the klong. According to legend, Jim Thompson made daily trips across the canal by boat, to visit the weavers who lived across the water. Motomiya wanted to make a symbolic gesture in measuring or bridging the gap between peoples or cultures.

White book, 2005 , Kaoru MOTOMIYA

Motomiya has also made some small interventions to objects she has discovered on site, introducing the traditional Japanese mending technique of Kintsugi, using gold powder mixed with Urushi (Japanese lacquer).

White book, 2005, Kaoru MOTOMIYA

Sutthirat SUPAPARINYA

Sutthirat SUPAPARINYA (Thailand) link >> http://sutthirat.blogspot.com/
Sutthirat Supaparinya’s research into the legend of Jim Thompson shows that she understands the curiosity among Thai people – visitors and friends – about Thompson’s history and his disappearance. As a response to visitors’ curiosity, and in an attempt to communicate with Thompson, she has created a sound installation at the exhibition space which connects aurally to Jim Thompson’s bedroom, in his house. This room is the last stop for visitors and tourists, who are always curious about his history. Audiences in the exhibition space will have a chance to listen to visitors and to guide conversation. People may attempt to talk to Jim Thompson (if they wish), or simply to each other.

You are There, you are not there, sound installation, 2005, Sutthirat SUPAPARINYA

This project is made possible with the generous support of the following: The James H.W. Thompson Foundation, The Thai Silk Company Limited, The Japan Foundation , The Nomura Cultural Foundation , Alliance Française and AZINCOURT Inc.

click her for more info >> www.jimthompsonhouse.com