Curator in Residence at About Art Related Activities (AARA) (2000)

Steven Pettifor talks with Naomi Urabe and Klaomard Yipintsoi about the initiation of AARA's new Curator in Residence Programme. Why has Naomi Urabe, a burgeoning international curator who only months ago was working for the prestigious Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, decided to leave her flourishing career in the States and spend the next eight months living and working in Bangkok? Well, in a drive to instill some new impetus into Thailand's art scene, About Art Related Activities (AARA) based at About Cafe/Studio has recently implemented its new Curator in Residence Programme, with Naomi Urabe being the inaugural curator to accept the ambitious challenge ahead of her. But what does Urabe feel the residency will do for her as a curator, "Honestly, I think especially as a curator it's great to be able to expand your knowledge of the arts, what's going on in different countries, and different cities. So for me the chance to come over to Asia and spend a significant period of time here, to really get to know some of the artists, look around at the art scene, and absorb the culture, it was just an amazing opportunity. I think that the knowledge I'm gaining here will be very beneficial and help me when I get back to New York."

Part of the momentum behind the pilot scheme is to further consolidate AARA's already sizable reputation as a dynamic and experimental art forum, infusing the organisation with fresh ideas and direction, raising their level of professionalism through the expertise of trained and experienced curators from the international stage. Being AARA's 'virgin' curator, the residency programme has hurled Urabe straight in at the deep end, navigating her way round the cultural barriers that face anyone in a strange environment is compounding the dilemma of having little more than a month to expedite her first exhibition of Thai art. Urabe is enthusiastic about the art she's witnessed so far, "I've seen some really exciting and interesting stuff, there's a lot of energy and it's a very vibrant scene here. There seems to be a lot going on."

Relishing the task ahead, Urabe has answered the call with a group show of young Thai artists, entitled Shadow Play. Her intent is to touch upon an area deemed to be traditionally Thai and incorporate it in a more contemporary context. Drawing from the art of shadow puppetry, she's focused on the notion of 'shadow' with its various connotations and implications. Admittedly she's not quite determined yet whether this will translate accurately and evoke the same moods in the Thai language, "That's the challenge of working in a different culture where the language is so different, to try to see whether your ideas and where you're coming from will work within the different context and environment."

Although some would argue against shipping in some outside influence with almost no prior experience of contemporary Thai art. How can they possibly have any depth and insight into the motives and concerns that fuel the domestic scene? Urabe responds with, "It's always interesting to get a different perspective on things, which obviously I have because of my own cultural background. I think that me coming from a different city and country and working with the artists here and trying to see what we can come up with is very exciting." One of the principal criteria behind each residency is to bring an exhibition to Thailand from the curator's home country and then to reciprocate the action by taking an exhibition of Thai artists back to their home base. This will assist the cause of Thai contemporary art by giving it greater exposure on the international circuit, as well reinforcing Bangkok as a centre that attracts regular international exhibits.

As Urabe is a resident of the 'Big Apple', she's in the process of preparing a group show along with her co-curator Laurie DeChiara, featuring several New York artists. Scheduled to open at About in January 2000 and entitled Transporter, the participating artists are all loosely concerned with the idea of 'place', be it real or imaginary. Currently with so few hangings showcasing groups of foreign artists on view in the Capital, Transporter is a rare chance to snatch a glimpse into what's happening in New York's mammoth art circle, Although Urabe still believes that the show will have relevance to a Thai audience, "These are artists working in New York, whose work in some way relates to this idea of bringing someone else to a different place, transforming the viewer as it were to another environment."

Thailand's art spaces are on the whole managed by small time gallery owners, capably running their venues as befits their own personal agendas. However, there is really only a handful of formally trained curators within the Kingdom with the ability of handling something of an international calibre. Curating as a viable career option is an educational aspect almost completely neglected within the framework of the Thai art education system. Consequently, a fundamental element of AARA's curatorial programme, is to give young fledgling arts administrators and curators the opportunity to get some precious hands on experience in the field, through a series of talks and workshops conducted by the resident curator and by actually assisting them in various projects.

AARA's founder Klaomard Yipintsoi stresses the need to impart this valuable message to the next generation of Thai arts personnel, "Curating in Thailand is still a new concept. Actually one of the reasons I'm trying to bring in curators from outside is not to have Western ideas imposing on Thai thinking, but to introduce the whole curatorial concept to students here. They can take it from there and develop their own issues and way of practicing. At the moment they have no where and no way to go"Shadow Play runs at About Cafe until Sep 23. Transporter is scheduled to open Jan 8-Feb 20 2000. For more information on AARA's Curator in Residence Programme call, 623 1742-3.

Steven Pettifor, stevenpettifor@hotmail.com
This article was first published in the METRO Magazine, Bangkok