13 Apr 2013

Thai Pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia

The Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC), Ministry of Culture proudly announces Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch and Arin Rungjang as the featured artists, and Penwadee Nophaket Manont and Worathep Akkabootara as curators for the Thai Pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia.

The exhibition Poperomia / Golden Teardrop explores and unfolds the intricate facets of contemporary phenomenon that runs in parallel with the overflowing and overarching informational dispersion. By accessing anecdotes, tales, oral histories, international connectivity, and interweaving popular culture forms, Poperomia / Golden Teardrop urges the Biennale audience to draw from personal experiences to reevaluate the image-saturated world.

Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch (b. 1971, Thailand) lives and works in Ratchaburi. Wasinburee trained at the Berufsfachschule fuer Keramik Landshut and the Universitaet Gesamthochschule Kassel in Germany. As a ceramicist, he explores contemporary cultural traits which are gradually transformed and triumphantly disseminated by the social and cultural mobility. Wasinburee's Poperomia expands audiences' sensitivities towards multiple levels of contemporary culture. Through a set of video and interactive sculptural installations, he displays modern icons transposed from their Thai heritage.

Arin Rungjang (b. 1975, Thailand) is based in Bangkok and graduated from Silpakorn University in 2001. In Arin's artistic practice, ready-made and daily household objects are deconstructed to reinterpret the poeticized space. His video and site-specific installations highlight the cryptic interrelations of: public and private spheres, space and memory, as well as space and its perceptible distance. Golden Teardrop by Arin reassembles fragmented layers of disseminated private and public dialogue.

Penwadee Nophaket Manont (b. 1973, USA) is a freelance curator and cultural project manager based in Bangkok. She graduated from Mount San Antonio College in California, Assumption University and the National Institute of Development Administration in Bangkok. Penwadee's curatorial fascinations often merge art and culture with social and environmental subjects to investigate the agency of art in social responsibility and change.

Worathep Akkabootara (b. 1976, Thailand) works in the fields of criticism, visual arts, and curatorship. Worathep graduated from Silpakorn University in Bangkok (2000) and is currently studying at Thammasat University. Often collaborating with Bangkok artists, his curatorial and writing interests focus on the mobilization of art in social and political spheres.

The Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC), Ministry of Culture established the Thai Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003. Formed in 2002, OCAC supports and promote Thai contemporary art and culture, both nationally and internationally. The OCAC is committed to the sustainable development of contemporary art and culture, through orchestrating and mobilizing public and private networks, research and knowledge programs, in addition to, generating funding, grants, and awards.