Ties of History: Art in Southeast Asia Exhibition

Ties of History: Art in Southeast Asia
8 August - 6 October, 2018

Metropolitan Museum of Manila, University of the Philippines Vargas Museum and Yuchengco Museum, Manila, The Philippines 

curated by Patrick D. Flores


https://web.facebook.com/tiesofhistory


Tangtrakulwong's practice spans multi-scale site-specific installation that create new space, changing the latter by integrating and foregrounding existing architectural structures and cultivating new experiences of space in which viewers take part. Central to his process is a collaborative disposition that is continually formed by whomever he is working with - be they technicians, engineers, fishermen, barbers, part-time workers, and even other artists. His works engage with the local life in Isan or Northeastern Thailand, where he has lived and worked for the last eight years. From 2014, he has been thinking about his work in relation to ideas on ecology - reduce, reuse, recycle - as a framework of form and practice.

Downfall at The Metropolitan Museum of Manila

A multimedia installation, Downfall (2013) revolves around Tangtrakulwong's experience of seeing 16-year-old Praya Sattabun trees (also called Indian Devil or White Cheesewood trees) being cut down because of its overpowering odor that is most menacing during certain months of the year (November - January). The installation is composed of a 20-feet sculpture of the fallen tree's shadow; a video of the cutting down of the trees at Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Mahasarakham University; and a collection of drawings and still images of the remaining Praya Sattabun trees at the Mahasarakham University campus and photographs of big trees in the Roi Et province.

Deserted Buildings at The Yuchengco Museum, Manila

In Deserted Buildings (2008), Tangtrakulwong work with manga, or Japanese comics, to summon the specter of deserted buildings. For this work, he removes images from mangas, leaving only the negative space of the hollowed out panels. He explains, "In general, we tend to look at the images and read words from manga. The book has been viewed only in pictures and words, not in the layout where a manga artist designs and arranges (in addition to the narrative). Without any characters or scenes in these manga, the books appear to be deserted buildings." 

Border at The University of the Philippines Vargas Museum, Manila

Border (2014) is an installation of hand-cut ribbed carpet, cut into the shape of the provinces of Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and the states of Malaysia. By reducing the geography into discrete shapes and island forms and relocating them, Tangtrakulwong "eras[es] boundary lines." The work is an interrogation of the ASEAN's motto, "One Vision, One Identity, One Community." It performs the blurring of the boundary lines between member-states. In this work, Tangtrakulwong abstracts the geopolitical landscape of Southeast Asia by shuffling its cartography, re- and dislocating the region into an unpredictable archipelago.