Co-Founders Patri Vienravi [Creative Director] and Gregory Galligan [Director] welcome you to the Thai Art Archives [Photo: Thai Art Archives; all rights reserved]
Please join us in developing Thailand's only independent, non-profit platform for the recovery, study, preservation, and exhibition of Thai modern and contemporary art and ephemera
The mission of the THAI ART ARCHIVES (TAA) is to recover, study, catalogue, exhibit, make accessible to the public, and preserve the historically important ephemera---correspondence, diaries, notebooks, sketchbooks, working models, printed matter, photography, and so forth---of Thailand's celebrated modern and contemporary (i.e. "avant-garde") masters.
Thai Art Archives is guided by a number of ethical and visionary concepts, most notable among them:
1. A sense of service to Thailand and its global audience
2. A visionary outlook that seeks to anticipate and prepare for service to generations to come
3. An egalitarian outlook that seeks to make increasingly accessible to all of the Thai people, and their global audience, the knowledge of, and an appreciation for, the country's dynamic, "cutting edge" modernist heritage and its contemporary art scene
To these ends, the TAA maintains several core functions:
1. Consultative and advisory services to artists, scholars, collectors, gallerists, and the public regarding the preservation of important archives and their future access to the public.
2. The targeting, recovery, study, cataloguing, digitizing, exhibition, and preservation of archival ephemera of historic importance.
3. The development and hosting of a Curatorial & Museum studies curriculum for local and overseas university students and scholars.
4. The development of a circle of Global Research Associates for current and future projects.
5. The development of special projects for national and international study, exhibition, and access.
6. The development of special events, programs, exhibitions, symposia, and so forth for the benefit of current and future generations.
DEVELOPING SPECIAL, ON-SITE RESEARCH COLLECTIONS
THAI ART ARCHIVES seeks to develop a host of research collections of primary (original) and secondary (official copies, supportive publications) materials by way of public collaboration with artists, art collectives, institutions, and others associated with Thailand's modern and contemporary progressive art world.
Potential donors should note the following:
- All materials donated to the TAA research collections remain the sole property of the donor; TAA takes in such materials on extended loan for purposes of research, cataloging, on-site storage, and collections management with visiting scholars and students.
- Donors may stipulate the terms of the donation, such as terms of public access; how access is to be managed; and so forth.
- Research collections are deposited at the TAA for a minimum of three (3) years, with maximum time limits decided by the owner.
- Over a period of time specified by the donor and the TAA director, the donor and director may consider whether any portion of the donation is to be made permanent.
- TAA respects all rights of the owner in matters of privacy management (determined by donor).
TAA strongly encourages all potential donors to contact us to explore a mutually satisfactory arrangement for the deposit of contemporary and historically important documents and other ephemera for this opportunity. Please consider how TAA can assist you in managing the valuable record of Thailand's important and dynamic modern and contemporary art scene.
[Photo: Cities on the Move 6 Research Collection in development, 2014, Thai Art Archives; All rights reserved.]
The Thai Art Archives Logo
THE THAI ART ARCHIVES' LOGO is a loose, modern interpretation of the Thai sala, a freestanding pavilion evoking a space of meditation, mental/physical repose, and “sheltering.” The attendant concepts of recollection, unhurried study (“sala” originally derives from the Sanskrit for “school”), discovery, introspection, questioning, preservation, and conservation are all aptly connoted by the sala. All apply equally to an archives of Thai modern and contemporary art.
Montien Boonma (1953–2000), one of Thailand’s most renowned artists of the recent past—and one of the three distinguished, inaugural members of the Thai Art Archives—is perhaps best known, both in Thailand and abroad, by his 1995–96 sculptural installation, "Sala of the Mind" (steel, graphite, and tape recording), a congregation of four freestanding, sala-like structures (their successive metallic skins are punched with the repeated forms of arabesque questions marks), which entice a passerby to enter into their spatial cavities and listen attentively to their meditative, aural sonorities.
The Thai Art Archives extends a similar welcome to all interested parties.
[This logo has been designed to accommodate a background image that may change from time to time and thus make reference to special projects; Designer: WORKS-V Ltd., Bangkok]
ADVISORY BOARD
(In development)
The Thai Art Archives advisory board is a circle of distinguished professionals in Thailand and the United States who have graciously agreed to contribute their occasional counsel.
JOHN CLARK, Prof. Emeritus, Asian Art History, The University of Sydney
NANCY JOHNSON, Consulting Archivist, Whitney Museum of American Art; Alan Lomax Archive; The Lotos Club; Montclair Art Museum; Brooklyn Public Library; New York Folklore Society, New York
PORNTIP KANJANANIYOT, Former Executive Director, Thailand-United States Educational Foundation ("Fulbright Thailand"), Bangkok
LIZA KIRWIN, Ph.D., Acting Director & Curator of Manuscripts, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
MASAO MOMIYAMA, Curator, Museum of Modern Art Kamakura and Hayama
LUCY OAKLEY, Ph.D., Head of Education and Programs, Grey Art Gallery, New York University
EK-ANONG PHANACHET, Director, 100 Tonson Gallery, Bangkok
CHATVICHAI PROMADHATTAVEDI, Former Director, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok
PATTERSON SIMS, Ph.D., Former Director, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey
MANIT SRIWANICHPOOM, Artist, Bangkok
GAIL STAVITSKY, Ph.D., Chief Curator, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey
PATRI VIENRAVI, RA NCARB LEED AP, Viravi Co., Ltd., Bangkok [also Co-Founder and Creative Director]
EXHIBITIONS & PUBLIC EVENTS (through March 2012)
MONTIEN BOONMA: Other Dimensions, Life & Work, 9 May 2013
Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok
Conference accompanying the exhibition [Montien Boonma]: Unbuilt/Rare Works, Jim Thompson Art Center (JTAC), by the JTAC, THAI ART ARCHIVES, and the Estate of Montien Boonma, 11 April-31 July 2013. Conference featured speakers Dr. Gregory Galligan, Gridthiya Gaweewong, Somsuda Piamsumrit, John Clark, Apinan Poshyananda, Numthong Sae Tang, Alfred Pawling, Virginia Henderson, Vichoke Mukdamanee, Kamol Phaosovasdi, and Pandit Chanrochanakit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=--YqWXz8voI
John Clark: Asian Modernities: Chinese and Thai Art Compared, 1980-1999, 18 December 2011
Critical roundtable discussion with Dr. John Clark (University of Sydney) on the publication of Asian Modernities [Power Publications, 2010], with Dr. Brian Curtin (Lecturer, Bangkok University), Dr. Adele Tan (Curator, The National Art Gallery Singapore), Thanom Chapakdee (Prof. Srinakarinwirot University), and Dr. Gregory Galligan (Independent Curator). Co-hosted with THE READING ROOM, Bangkok.
Dennis Balk: Bangkok Bound (Pun Intended!), 8 October 2011
Artists roundtable discussion on the occasion of the artist's first Bangkok solo show at Gallery Ver; Dennis Balk with Dr. Gregory Galligan, moderator (Independent Curator). Co-hosted with THE READING ROOM, Bangkok.
Rirkri Tiravanija: (who's afraid of red, yellow, and green), 28 August 2010
Artists roundtable discussion with Dr. Apinan Poshyananda (Deputy Permanent Secretary, Thailand Ministry of Culture); Pier Luigi Tazzi (Curator); Phatarawadee Phataranawik (Art Critic, The Nation, Bangkok); Dr. Gregory Galligan (Independent Curator); and Rirkrit Tiravanija (Artist). Co-hosted with 100 Tonson Gallery, Bangkok.
ARCHIVAL RESEARCH & SPECIAL PROJECTS
[See "Special Projects" tab for complete list and descriptions]
GALLERY VER (2014)
CHIANG MAI SOCIAL INSTALLATION (CMSI; 2014)
DO IT, Bangkok (1996; 2014)
CITIES ON THE MOVE 6, Bangkok (1999; 2014)
MONTIEN BOONMA PROJECT (ongoing)
THE "White Group": MONTIEN BOONMA & COLLEAGUES, ca. 1985-1995 (ongoing)
FUA HARIPITAK PROJECT (ongoing)
PROJECT 304 (ongoing)
CURATORIAL & MUSEUM STUDIES
Development (in progress) of a curriculum consisting of lectures, seminars, heritage tours, and hands-on internships in the THAI ART ARCHIVES for regional and global university students; "independent study" course credit toward undergraduate and graduate degrees available where approved by department deans of participating universities in Thailand, Asia, Europe, and the United States.
February 2014
TAA is delighted to announce that CLARE VEAL, PhD, Art History, The University of Sydney, has joined our distinguished roster of Global Research Associates.
Clare Veal is a recent PhD recipient from the Department of Art History & Film Studies at the University of Sydney, where she completed her thesis on the relationship between photography and Thai identity from 1950 to 2010. She has published in Trans Asia Photography Review, Modern Art Asia, and the Silpakorn Journal of Fine Arts, and is currently working as a sub-editor for Asian art for the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Modernism.
From 2012 to 2013 Clare was a researcher in residence at the Thai Art Archives, Bangkok, and completed doctoral fieldwork in Thailand with funding from the Asia Institute, Melbourne; and the Royal Thai Embassy. She is currently co-curating an exhibition of the works of Thai conceptual artist Araya Rasdjamrearnsook with Emeritus Professor John Clark, to be held at the University of Sydney and Gallery 4A in 2014.
Please join THAI ART ARCHIVES in warmly wishing Clare all the best in the months to come. We're delighted to have her back on board—now as a distinguished Global Research Associate—and we look forward to seeing her again soon in Thailand!
Announcements
*** INTERNSHIPS ***
The TAA offers internships to university students for participation in various aspects of the archives, according to their own interests. International-standard, hands-on experience is available in many aspects of archival and curatorial projects:
- administrative assistance
- gallery management
- special projects curatorial and archival research & cataloging
- planning and mounting of exhibitions
- translation and transcription projects
- interviewing artists for oral histories
- writing for the TAA website
- organizing public and educational programs
- fundraising/development/public realtions
"Independent study" credit may be available to college interns currently enrolled in a degree program who receive approval by their departmental deans.
Although these are unpaid internships, interns gain valuable hands-on experience in an internagtional-standard archives and gallery setting; upon completion of an internship, interns may receive letters of recommendation attesting to their participation and skills gained in special projects. Since our founding in 2010, TAA interns have gone on to take on full-time employment with such distinguished institutions as 100 TONSON GALLERY, THE JIM THOMPSON ART CENTRE, BANGKOK SCULPTURE CENTER, and 2 MAGAZINE.
All queries are welcomed, whether for short- or long term participation. Please contact us at thaiartarchives@gmail.com; include your resume, a brief letter of introduction, and kindly let us know the level of your bilingual skills in Thai and English (reading, writing, and speaking).
*** THE TAA "GLOBAL FRIENDS CIRCLE ***
The Thai Art Archives is annually delighted to announce our Global Friends Circle, a growing group of distinguished individuals, art galleries, publishers, corporate benefactors, and others who have pledged to assist the TAA with its operating expenses for a specified time period. Members of the GFC enjoy special privileges, among them acknowledgment in all printed and digital media; display of their projects and products in our international-standard archives at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre; private receptions; special joint projects; joint public events, and additional collaborative and creative undertakings.
2014 (continuously in development)
100 TONSON GALLERY, Bangkok
333 GALLERY [a.k.a. BaBaBa Gallery], Bangkok
338 OIDA GALLERY, Bangkok
THAVIBU GALLERY, Bangkok
2013
100 TONSON GALLERY, Bangkok
333 GALLERY [a.k.a. BaBaBa Gallery], Bangkok
THAVIBU GALLERY, Bangkok
2012
100 TONSON GALLERY, Bangkok
333 GALLERY [a.k.a. BaBaBa Gallery], Bangkok
338 OIDA GALLERY, Bangkok
SERINDIA GALLERY & PUBLISHING, Bangkok and Chicago
SUNDARAM TAGORE GALLERY, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore
If you are interested in learning more about the terms and benefits of participation in this distinguished circle, please contact us at thaiartarchives@gmail.com.