Bangkok will be blissfully full of art in winter next year when Wat Arun, Wat Pho and Lumpini Park, as well as Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and shopping malls, will turn into art galleries for Thailand’s first international contemporary art festival. The Bt150-million Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 will take place from November 2018 to February 2019.

Funded by private companies Thai Bev, Central Group and Siam Piwat, the four-month festival aims to promote contemporary art and Thai culture, as well as boost tourism. Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Tourism Authority of Thailand will also support the festival.

“The festival will feature 70 artists, both international and Thai artists, who will interpret the theme ‘Beyond Bliss’ through their artworks,” reveals artistic director Apinan Poshyananda, who is the former secretary general of the Culture Ministry.

The announcement regarding BAB’s first edition was made in Venice on May 13 at the Westin Europa & Regina Hotel, San Marco, by the Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation, which was co-founded by food and beverage mogul Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi and the former permanent secretary of Thailand’s Ministry of Culture, Apinan Poshyananda. Apinan and his team, including Thai and Asian curators as well as directors from the world’s leading museums, aim to introduce Thailand as a new contemporary art destination. The Thai organisers have been inspired by the leading biennales in Venice, Sydney, Fukuoka, Shanghai and Singapore.

BAB will be Bangkok’s first Biennale, marking the city’s addition to the international biennale circuit. Under the theme “Beyond Bliss,” the three-month event will feature contemporary art from Asia, Europe and the Pacific region, which will be showcased at various sites in Bangkok, including the Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Suan Lumpini Park and at least three ancient temples along the Chao Phraya River.

Regarding the theme of BAB, Apinan Poshyananda, who is also chief executive and artistic director of BAB, said during the announcement in Venice, “We live in the age of chaos, disruption . . . and violence. So the search for your bliss is up to the individual artist, who would interpret, as well as the visitors who come to Bangkok. We all want to find our own bliss.”

The Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation is led by Poshyananda along with a number of international advisors, including Alexandra Munroe, senior curator of Asian art and senior advisor of global arts at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation; independent curator David Stuart Elliott; Eugene Tan, director of the National Gallery Singapore; Nanjo Fumio, director of Mori Art Museum; Nigel Hurst, chief executive of Saatchi Gallery in London; contemporary artist Rirkrit Tiravanija; and Sunjung Kim, director of Artsonje Center in Seoul.

Source：The NATION , ArtAsiaPacific