1 Message from the Director Luckana Kunavichayanont 2 “Intelligence is the capacity to perceive the essential, The BACC agenda has begun its second decade with the what is; and to awake this capacity, in oneself an expansion of new possibilities, utilizing other and in others, is education.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti platforms for displays, participatory activities, and information dissemination to help us reach a larger Since its inception more than 12 years ago, the audience. Beyond organizing lectures by artists and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) has aimed experts, we are thrilled to have these opportunities to be a source of learning based on the content of because they expand the potential for learning our artistic and cultural works relating to the history beyond the Pathumwan intersection. At the moment, of modern and contemporary art movements in the wonderful collaborative participation we have Thailand and around the world. It’s all a process of received from artists, curators, professors, and experts fostering inspiration, encouraging critical thinking in art and culture, as well as various fields of the and the posing of questions in order to awaken social sciences, can be seen in the articles they have understanding, make connections, and bring rational contributed to Volume 1 of the Bangkok Art and analysis to a variety of issues. Culture Centre E-journal. Learning in this space not only generates excite- The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre places a high ment and entertainment through forms of art that value on the presentation of diverse artistic and are beautiful, impressive, diverse, or represent new cultural works, as well as the promotion of cross- trends; it also trains us to read both past and present disciplinary collaboration. In this first e-journal, the phenomena, thoughts, beliefs, and various paths different articles should reflect this position as a hidden in the society that produced those art works. great source of learning about many aspects of This type of learning allows us to use our senses in society and life. We have compiled narratives relating areas that require more than just reading or listening to movements in the visual arts, such as the culture like we do in school. of a new generation, political activism through artistic activities, two decades of Thai performing arts, local During this time, the BACC organized art exhibitions, cultures as seen in food, the Thai art market, the design fairs, movie festivals, dramatic presentations, evolution of cinematic world viewing spaces, a lesser and music performances through the efforts of its known architectural heritage, issues of Thai identity Exhibition, Activities, and Education departments to in modern society, and even some subcultures create learning processes whose content covered a which have gotten “lost in translation.” wide dimensional array of individual lives and society in general. This has also resulted in deeper We hope that our newly launched E-journal will aid connections with society, with space provided for in the spread of knowledge about social phenomena other organizations to come produce various events related to creative currents in contemporary art and and activities in building areas outside of the main culture. The goal is to gain knowledge, insight, and art gallery on floors 7-9. In any case, the BACC’s perspective that will allow us to coexist peacefully knowledge management is structured in ways that in society. In this difficult time when the entire world are closely related to activities in its primary physical is dealing with the Covid-19 disease, it is our sincere space. While lectures and workshops are available hope that the E-journal will help fill in the gaps in in a variety of fields, the emphasis is on “on-site this period when we must maintain physical distance knowledge” before these activities are produced on from each other for quite some time. an online platform at a later date. The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre wishes to extend our gratitude to all of the writers who have contributed to this project, as well as our readers and those who have always supported our work, and urges all of you to remain strong and safe. Luckana Kunavichayanont Acting Director Bangkok Art and Culture Centre May 2021 3 4 Notes from the Editor The task of putting together the BACC’s first English To begin, the first volume of the journal houses a language journal came to me in late October of general survey of Thailand’s current art and culture 2020. My first thought went to the complexities of the landscape, grasping at diversity within subject translation work involved between Thai and English matters. This includes a variety of research, personal languages. There are many incidents where, in my and critical essays from Thai writers of multiple opinion, Thai-written texts end up losing much of backgrounds. their sensibility and culturally-related connotations due to language rules when translated into English. In order to represent the BACC and its institutional Often, words and phrases that do not fit into English practice, the assembled texts are in parallel with the language’s regulations provide more story, linking one centre’s outreach; beyond the visual arts, the art point to another and help expand the content centre is also an important home for performance beyond descriptive words. The author’s voice art, literature, cinema, music, and educational essentially gets buried under the English syntax. activities, and serves as a public space for self- I questioned whether the journal should be a expression. This journal will therefore act as an translation at all, but an English original version essential platform for archiving English-language instead. Thoughts of forming a special translation writing material that reflects past and current Thai team or Thai/English co-writing were discussed, but art and culture. finally the BACC’s Education Department worked closely with the translation house and the authors to I would like to use this space to thank the writers satisfy what needed to be said and to put the content and the translation house for giving this project a lot across fully the best it could. of patience, as along with every art project and exhibition, this journal’s publishing date was post- Perhaps in the near future, I optimistically hope poned multiple times due to COVID-19 related issues. that there could be another version in the “English” I am beyond grateful for your corroboration. language where it can be used as a neutral com- munication tool between different cultures, with I would also like to thank the BACC and the room for word accents and curved sentence Education Department for inviting me to be editor of structures for a more flexible translation com- the BACC’s first English-language journal and for munication, allowing for the original text to stay allowing me to expand my curatorial practice into intact and most importantly to have the words still another medium. It has been a great experience belonging to the author. and I look forward to future issues. Adulaya Hoontrakul Editor, Curator, Essayist 5 6 Diversity In Paradox: 8 From Global to Small Screen Cinemas Aunchalee Chaiworaporn Linguistic Varieties: Translating the Untranslatable in 18 Ethnic/Regional and Queer Vernaculars from Thai into English and vice versa in Literary and Audiovisual Texts Dr. Athit Pongpanit and Duangporn Thongnoi Fish, Salted Fish, and Fish Sauce: 30 Authentic Flavours in a Land of Gastronomy Anusorn Tipayanon The Future of Memories: Conservation on Architectural 38 Heritage in Phrae, Thailand Dr. Patcharawee Tunprawat An Education 54 Sunisa Manning Unity or Conflict? 60 Authenticity and National Identity in Reproducing the Buddha’s Image in Thailand Tawanwad Kitidumrongsook Youth Against the (Singular) Future: The Three-Finger 70 Salute, Rap Against Dictatorship, and Yellow Rubber Ducks Dr. Vipash Purichanont Stage of/Staging Disruptions: Contemporary Thai 80 Theatre in the First Two Decades (and One Extraordinary Year) of the 21st Century Pawit Mahasarinand Policies of University Art Galleries and CreativeSpaces 90 In Bangkok towards Contemporary Art and Culture Dr. Haisang Javanalikhikara Under the Hammer: A Survey of the Contemporary Art 100 Market in Thailand Julia Oborne Diversity In Paradox: From Global to Small Screen Cinemas Aunchalee Chaiworaporn 8 In Thailand when art is concerned with reflections, 1997: Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Nonzee Nimibutr, the dialogues of horizontal development are preferably representing art and popular filmmakers, respec- paid attention to by the media and theorists, usually tively. This was a surprise as the industry enjoyed accentuating the lines of temporal or spatial move- solitude for almost one hundred years, except some ment. Cinema, the so-called seventh art, has also films that travelled to specialized film festivals like been embraced in relation to this road map since the Hawaii International Film Festival, Nantes-based the turn of the century, triggered by the flow of Festival des 3 Continents, or Berlin International globalisation and media technology. This essay, on Film Festival. Pen-ek’s first two debutsFun Bar Ka- the other hand, tries to apply an almost forgotten raoke (1997) and 6ixtynin9 (‘Ruang Talok 69’, 1999) vertical approach in order to write a new chapter of sparkled at the festival circuits, after an absence what has happened to the Thai film industry over the from Berlin of two decades, by playing modernity last two decades. Arguably, Thai cinema has been against Thai superstition, and telling a story of both shaped and mobilized by both internal and mishaps that were faced by a young laid-off woman external forces that have brought the arts into during the economic crisis upon her discovery of a connection with politics, the economy, culture and misplaced box. His fellow director, Nonzee, topped industry, within the framework of national, regional box-office chart by focusing on a 1950s real-life- and global interfaces.