Strolling through Temporary Temples: Buddhism and Installation Art in Modern Thailand

Abstract

Thai installation art provides a view into modern, non-monastic experiences of Buddhism. Buddhist practice and scholarship often depend on centuries-old ritual practices and texts, and designated religious sites and persons. However, installation art illumines a fluxing and organic Buddhism – and one that is increasingly globalised and public. An evolving artistic zeitgeist is fused with classical tenets of Buddhism and diverse spiritualties. Each with a unique flair and multi-media repertoire, artists such as Jakkai Siributr, Montien Boonma, Sarawut Duangjampa, Chalermchai Kositpipat and others are offering creative contemplations on Buddhism today. Their works are often experienced in a leisurely fashion by the attending public, amidst social outings or intellectual excursions. People are encouraged to react however they wish to installations, which are themselves fundamentally transient – lasting usually between three and six months. Buddhism is thus asserted as an on-going project: a continual discovery rather than a quest for knowledge from the past.

Notes

1. Many installation artists in Thailand also produce paintings and sculptures. I will be looking primarily at their installations. Some painters, like Surasit Saokong, have also created series of large paintings that creatively combine modern and traditional Buddhist monastic interiors inspired by temples in northern Thailand and Fatehpur (Uttar Pradesh, India). See Surasit Saokong, Khwam sangob nai lanna lae rajasthan (Bangkok: Surapon Gallery, 2553 [2010]). Other prominent Thai painters who work on modern Buddhist themes include Preecha Thaothong, Prating Emcharoen, Pichai Naran, Chakrabhand Posayakrit, Prasan Chandrasupa, among many others.

2. See Michael Warner’s Publics and Counterpublics (2002). See also Charles Hirschkind’s The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics (2009); and Thomas Csordas, ed. Transnational Transcendence: Essays on Religion and Globalization (2009).

3. For a broader discussion of Buddhist public culture across Asia see McDaniel, Architects of Buddhist Leisure (2016).

4. Exceptions include the recent work of Jamie Hubbard, a project called The Yamaguchi Story: Buddhism and the Family in Contemporary Japan (BBC/Education Communication Inc., 2009 [1988]). Vanessa Sasson has edited a volume, Little Buddhas: Children and Childhoods in Buddhist Texts and Traditions (2012). Ingrid Jordt’s work, Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power (2007), is a good example of a number of recent works on lay Buddhist political movements. See also Sarah Pike 2009 where she looks at the popularity of Princess Mononoke and the Spirited Away films by Hiyao Miyazaki. For example, whereas US children in the 1950s and 1960s often were presented with a picture of Japanese Buddhism as austere and aesthetically clean and plain, American children today are learning about Buddhism through the Miyazaki films, comic books (manga) and anime, and for example the eight-volume life of the Buddha comic book by Osamu Tezuka.

5. See, among many others, the classic by Thorstein Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899); and, more recently, see Chris Rojek, Ways of Escape, and his Leisure and Culture (2000); Roger Mannell and Douglas Kleiber, A Social Psychology of Leisure (1997); Heather Mair, Susan Arai, and Donald Reid, eds., Decentering Work (2010); Karl Spracklen, Constructing Leisure (2011), and his The Meaning and Purpose of Leisure (2009); Tom Winnifrith and Cyril Barrett, The Philosophy of Leisure (1989); Chris Rojek, Susan Shaw, and A. J. Veal, eds., A Handbook of Leisure Studies (2006).

6. Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture (1955). See a good introduction to Huizinga’s work in Thomas Henricks, Play Reconsidered (2006): chapter 1.

7. Susan Schearer, ed. and trans., Petrarch: On Religious Leisure (2002).

8. See Bakhtin, Rabelais and his World ([1968] 1984); Rojek, Decentering Leisure, (1995, 85–87); a good comparison with the work of Victor Turner is found in Rojek, Leisure and Culture, (2000, 148–150). For Turner, see his Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture: Anthropological Perspectives (1978), and Process, Performance, and Pilgrimage: A Study in Comparative Symbology (1979).

9. This is, of course, similar to the argument Ray Oldenburg makes about spaces like barbershops and bars – they are ‘third spaces,’ being neither work nor home. Oldenburg did not see religious places as ‘leisure’ spaces, or ‘hangouts,’ as he calls them. However, installation pieces could easily fit his definition of ‘third places.’ See his The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through the Day (1989).

10. The display of infant corpses is well-known practice in Thailand. See McDaniel The Lovelorn Ghost and Magical Monk (2011): chapter four, for a study of their history and use in Thailand.

11. http://www.luxartasia.com/2010/04/opening-jakkai-siributr-tyler-rollins.html

12. Two other interviews with Jakkai can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIq2zbcput8, http://www.asianart.org/blog/index.php/2011/05/23/herenot-here-jakkai-siributr/, and a video of a lengthy talk by Jakkai in San Francisco which features his photographs of daily Buddhist practice here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SddFJrdIHlg. I should note that in my interview with him he contrasted some of his statements with those he made in his talk in San Francisco. In that talk he criticized the commercial and superstitious nature of many modern Thai practices. In our interview he explained that he actually struggles with this issue more than he could express in a public talk with an audience comprised mostly of Americans not familiar with Thai practices. He struggles with respect for practices he grew up with in Thailand and study of Buddhism he actually learned by reading books and in conversations in the U.S. He does admit in his talk that he is ‘the biggest animist ever’ and he feels compelled to believe in what others think is superstitious. I thank Jakkai for this interview and for answering questions of mine on-line.

13. http://www.facebook.com/events/250493721657991/. I thank Jakkai for explaining these pieces to me. Parts of this exhibition was also installed at the ‘H Gallery’ in Bangkok and the Chongqing Youth Biennial Art Exhibition.

14. From the catalog to the show published by Tyler Rollins Fine Art (2014). See it on-line here: http://trfineart.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Jakkai-2014-Catalog.pdf

15. Published on the occasion of the exhibition. I thank Jakkai for sending me a copy of the catalog.

16. Most recently (Spring, 2014) Jakkai has taken on the politically, religiously, and ethically charged mass killing of Thai Muslims in Tak Bai (Southern Thailand). It is important to note here that Jakkai focused on this local issue and created an installation that incorporated both Buddhist and Islamic symbols. The exhibition was simply called ‘78’ referencing the 78 Muslim protestors that suffocated to death in Thai military trucks on October 25, 2004. I thank him for sending me the catalog and description of the exhibition from the Yavuz Fine Art Gallery (51 Waterloo Street, #03–01, Singapore 187969).

17. Apinan Poshyananda, Montien Boonma: Temple of the Mind (2003, 15). Apinan also published the very influential (largely because it was the first major study of modern Thai art in English) Modern Art in Thailand (1992). While it does not focus on Buddhist themes in modern art specifically, many of the examples he chooses are explicitly works on Buddhist themes.

18. http://www.artseensoho.com/Art/DEITCH/boonma97/boonma1.html and http://www.deitch.com/projects/sub.php?projId=84

19. The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. Purchased 1993 with funds from The Myer Foundation and Michael Sidney Myer through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery. See http://qagoma.qld.gov.au/collection/contemporary_asian_art/montien_boonma This is similar to two other installations he made called ‘Rock Bell Garden’ and ‘Vessel Meditation.’

20. For more information on Thawan and Chalermchai’s work, see Sandra Cate’s groundbreaking book on modern Thai art in the 1990s, Making Merit, Making Art: A Thai Temple in Wimbledon (2003). A well-researched history of Silapakorn University is still a desideratum in the field.

21. http://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/family/246308/sculpting-emptiness

22. Amrit Chusuwan, Khwam tuk (Suffering) (Bangkok: DOB Hualamphong Gallery, 2553 [2010]).

23. No author, Kansadaeng silpakam haeng chat krang thi 53 (Bangkok: Silapakorn University Art Centre, 2550 [2007]). See especially pp. 30, 34, 114.

24. In the past 10 years there also has been a growing modern art scene in Chiang Mai with several excellent galleries opening throughout the city. I had a chance to visit a number of them in December, 2014. While there have not been as many modern artists in the North of the country working on Buddhist themes (and that have gained a wide audience), the creation of these new galleries will undoubtedly lead to more artists finding a place to gain public recognition. I thank Anthony Irwin for recommending two of these galleries to me and for conversations on modern Thai art in the North.

25. See Punyawi Iamsakun, Sati: Mahakamsilpakam wan silpa bhirasri (Bangkok: Silapakorn University Art Centre, 2552 [2009]).

26. See Wichok Mukdamani, Jintakab jak phraphutthasasana (Bangkok: Silapakorn University Art Centre, 2545 [2001]).

27. Wichok Mukdamani and Nirmalendu Das, Thai-India Art and Cultural Exchange 2003–2004 (Bangkok: Silapakorn University Art Centre): 32–37.

28. Phatyot Phutthachaloen, Mindfulness (Bangkok: Amarin, 2003).

29. For a longer description and bibliographic references for the study of Thai murals see my Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk, chapter four (McDaniel, 2011). See also Uab Sanasen’s Ten Contemporary Thai Artists (1984): 144–161.

30. See Chalermchai Kositpipat, Wat Rongkhun (no date); Chalermchai Kositpipat, Roi ruang rao khong Wat Rongkhun [DVD Video] (Chiang Rai: Wat Rongkhun, no date).

31. There are dozens of available sites easily found on-line in Thai and English. See, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y456xcuXDUU, http://www.thawan-duchanee.com/index-eng.htm, http://www.photodharma.net/Thailand/Black-House/Black-House.htm http://www.neverendingvoyage.com/black-house-chiang-rai-thailand/, http://www.nationmultimedia.com/top40/detail/7058, http://www.sombatpermpoongallery.com/thawan-duchanee/, http://www.rama9art.org/artisan/2004/october/trinity/index.html There are dozens of individual exhibition catalogs, in Thai and English. See also Uab Sanasen’s Ten Contemporary Thai Artists (1984), 58–79 for some of his early work.

32. http://www.thawanduchanee.com/ See also the recent book on Thawan by Russell Marcus, Thawan Duchanee: Modern Buddhist Artist (2013).

33. Thawan has become so famous among international modern art circles that his works are selling for several thousands of U.S. dollars at international auctions. For example, at a recent Sloane and Kenyon auction, one of his paintings sold for over 7,000 US dollars.

34. It is not only Buddhist artists who are creating large installation pieces in Bangkok. At the ‘Emerging Patterns’ exhibition at the Bangkok Art and Cultural Center in the fall of 2011, Islamic artists from Southern Thailand had numerous installations. For example, Charungrat Rotkuen created three ‘mosques’ (labeled ‘Peunthi haeng Khwam Ngam’ – ‘Places of Beauty). They were made of string and paper and hung from the ceiling. The visitor could walk around and underneath them. Another artist named Chusak Srikwan created large hanging Javanese-style shadow puppets which the visitor could touch and spin around. They depicted scenes of Islamic buildings from Southern Thailand as well as highly politicized images of Buddhist monks using cellphones while riding in military tanks.

35. The Chatuchak/Mo Chit area of the city is popular at the weekends because of the Children’s Museum and Weekend Market located there. Therefore, on Saturday and Sunday Bunchai’s cool, quiet, and hyper-modern MOCA Museum and gardens are relaxing distractions from the crowds in the markets. A new history of Bunchai’s collection and the founding of the museum can be seen in Bunchai Bencharongkul, Phipihithaphan Silapa Thai Ruam Samai (Bangkok: Borisat Phipihithaphan Silapa Thai Chamgat, 2555 [2012]). In his collection, there are several pieces that are explicitly based on Buddhist history scenes, narratives, and teachings. See especially work by Surasit Saowakong, Wichai Sithirat, Chamnan Thongupakan, Siongdet Thipthong, Panya Wijinthanasan, among others.

36. Pattarasuda is related to the famous Thai scholar and noble Phraya Anuman Rajadhon (1988–1969). A bust of him and gratitude for his inspiration was also in the exhibition.

37. This show also helped promote the first International Buddhist Film Festival at the SF Cinema at Central World, a few hundred yards from the Paragon Mall. At this film festival, thirty films with Buddhist-related themes were screened. For more information on modern Thai Buddhist films see my article ‘From Slapstick to Superheroes,’ Journal of Religion and Film (2011).

38. http://www.bangkokpost.com/arts-and-culture/art/293516/temple-fair-in-the-clouds I thank Phra Sugandha (Dr. Anil Sakya) for his help understanding this exhibition and his role in it.

39. For examples see: Wichok Mukdamani, et al., Chintaphap chak phra phutthasasana (Bangkok: Mahawithayalai Silapakorn, 2545 [2002]). Between 2001 and 2003, Silapakorn University put on several shows of Buddhist-themed modern art at their art gallery, or helped sponsor shows at other universities, museums, and galleries including the Art Gallery at California Polytechnic State University, the Art Gallery of Kunstwerk, Cologne, Germany, the Art Gallery of Won Kwang University in Seoul, and the Molen van Sloten in Amsterdam. In 2004–2005 there were other shows focusing on new developments in Thai Buddhist painting (Phra Bot) at Silapakorn, Khonkaen University, and Thaksin University called the Withi Thai nai Phap Phra Bot – see the catalog of the shows by Wichok Mukdamani et al. Withi Thai nai Phap Phra Bot (Bangkok: Mahawithayalai Silapakorn, 2546 [2004]). See also the exhibition catalogs for other modern Buddhist art shows many of them taking place at Ardel’s Gallery in Taling Chan (Bangkok). For example: Panya Vijinthanasarn and Andrew Stahl, Anywhere Anytime Anyhow (Bangkok: Amarin Printing, 2009); Baan Lae Suan, Young Female Artists of the Year curated by Thavorn Ko-udomvit (Bangkok: Amarin Printing, 2009), a few of these female artists featured in this catalog worked on Buddhist themes in their art; Panya Vijinthanasarn, Thongchai Srisukprasert, and Anupong Chantorn, Buddha, Dharma, Ecclesiastic (Bangkok: Amarin Printing, 2012); Phatyos Buddhacharoen, Namo Buddhaya: A Path Toward Divine Light (Bangkok: Amarin Printing, 2010); Thongchai Srisukprasert, Logiyadharma (Bangkok: Amarin Printing, 2012); Anupong Chantorn, Hope in the Dark (Bangkok: Amarin Printing, 2010). The Thai magazine, Fine Art: The Art News of Thailand, often features stories about modern artists working on Buddhist themes. One particularly creative show was by Thudong Sukasem, whose large sculpture called ‘Emptiness’ consists of huge plaster Buddha-like heads that are actually supposed to reflect the emotional states of people who have been emotionally hurt in romantic relationships.

40. Another place that has seen a great deal of growth in modern Buddhist art in recent years is Kathmandu. Kathmandu has long been a center for the production of inexpensive Buddhist thangkhas and souvenirs for the tourist market, but recently there have been some galleries that have sponsored the exposition of modern and non-mass produced Buddhist art. For example, the second international biennale of modern art took place in December 2012 and at the Kathmandu Contemporary Art Centre. Also, at the Planet Nepal Contemporary Art Exhibition some works with Buddhist themes by international artist Karl Knapp and Nepali artists Sujan Chitrakar, Ashmina Ranjit, Sajana Joshi and Nayantara Kakshyapati were displayed. This is a slowly emerging center of modern Buddhist art, but it is still in its infancy in terms of funding, gallery space, and patronage.

41. For more on Chan-soo Park see my Architects of Buddhist Leisure, chapter three.

42. See http://www.kimsooja.com/projects/Brussels_Lotus_2008.html For detailed studies of her earlier work see Julian Zugazagoitia, Nicolas Bourriaud, and Thieery Raspall, Kim Sooja: Conditions of Humanity (Milan: 5Continents Books, 2004) and two books she wrote with collaborators on specific exhibitions: Kim Sooja, Tae Hyunsun, and Ra Hee Hong Lee, Kim Sooja: a Needle Woman (Seoul: Rodin Gallery, 2000) and Kim Sooja and Oliva Maria Rubio Sooja, Kim Sooja: To Breathe (Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 2006. I thank Charlotte Kim for her assistance while I was in Seoul visiting Sooja Kim’s work. I also thank Sooja Kim for her assistance in answering my questions and sending me information about her installations.

43. http://www.charwei.com/index.html

44. More work examples and short descriptions of some of his most prominent work see: http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/, http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/hiroshi-sugimoto, http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/collection/sugimoto/#collection=sugimoto, and http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artists/3540 For a short critical study of his work see Parveen Adams, 2006. Palden Weinreb, a Tibetan-American, artist created light-boxes to serve as ‘meditations on existence and the universe’ which ‘parallels the sublime emptiness of Buddhism.’.

45. See http://1995–2015.undo.net/it/mostra/140221. For more information: http://residencyunlimited.org/residencies/takayuki-yamamoto/

46. http://www.taohongjing.net/album/amithaba?p=1&s=UA-31097205-1#9

47. See ‘Buddhist Monks are Getting All the Love’ in http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2012/06/12/buddhist-monks-are-getting-all-the-love/ Yoko Inoue also had a recent show at Five Myles, an art space in Crown Heights in Brooklyn. There she offers a commentary on the Mizuko-kuyo rituals in Japan for aborted fetuses. In Liquidation she dresses up empty water jugs as infants with ceramic heads, bibs, and the like. See: http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/art/reviews/n_8660/ Of course, in Japan there is the recent phenomenon of the hiphop monk Kansho Tagai, and punk rock monks are depicted in two Japanese films, Abraxas and Fanshi Dansa (Fancy Dancer) which are satirical, as well as efforts to connect Buddhist teachings to the youth.

48. See http://blog.asianart.org/blog/index.php/category/exhibitions/page/6/ for more information on the show, which was in the Tateuchi Thematic Gallery of the Asian Art Museum. I thank Forrest McGill for his invitation to the museum to give a talk and see this show among others.

49. This was originally displayed at the Queensland Art Gallery in Australia.

50. See the very informative article on Pich’s work by Boreth Ly (2012). I thank Ly for sending it to me.

51. See Jerry Moore, ed., Visions of Culture (2009), 362; James Fernandez, ed. Beyond Metaphor (1991): introduction; and, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, ‘Embedding and Transforming Polytrope: The Monkey as self in Japanese Culture,’ in Beyond Metaphor.