sirctres as parts ofthe BOUNDARIES WAY FINDING GAME 35 REMIXED Lei cnesiar tots em deerme POP METAL ‘We it yet nether mustum by ites Ae, particulary mio aa a Mirada ets etal Supra hat BORDERLESS ‘Samy ob NEWARRIVAL 46 ‘CROSSINGS: 76 meatal ae Worenioe TEAM WERK For those wh ene and wander ‘ay Siamprean espe Theat Serta hs rts arte igre onthe reasons wh wei ants nesareae tas GO EVERY WHERE — 84 project titled, Mo Man's Lang. 65 nc ot WEIRD GIRLS GO EVERYWHERE rt cet etre Mer SIGN AND LANGUAGE 95 Vaslab Archer's new aresa pri 2007 8Brian Curtin on CRACK, a ceramic art exhibition that brings together Bangkok’s cutting edge artists. Mine the gap 52 April 2007 artad CRACK coincided with twa other exhibitions of ceramic art in Banglk. Comparisons are inevitable, judgments perhaps not. However, following the premise ‘of CRACK, ‘to challenge the weight of historical expectations’, an obyious comparative feature was the entire absence of plinths here. Moreover, the enormous attic space of Baan Silom was ‘only temporarily appropriated for this ‘exhibition, andthe exposed brickwork amd ‘wooden beams constituted ana the ‘white cube’. Tati, the typ context. On entering CRACK, the most immediate impact emerged from the eur tor's abandonment of conventional methods of display, ensuring this exhibition has Joined the more experimental projects of artis] organization in Bangkok, ‘Objects hung and sat, were scattered and multiplied, vibrated with intense artificial light, required to be handled and shook, and moved and cast shadows in accordance with the flow of time. Viewers were only occasionally required to stand fh detached deliberation, Otherwise, we were kept mov Pornphun Suthiprapa’s egs-shaped objects sat precariously on an edge aver- looking the entry stars. Pitt Martiam suspended from the beams an uncountable Amount of ladles caked inthe clay. Porn braseart Yamazaki created from upturned pots what appeared lke a makeshift(499) Ateraton & Croisence ena sdlariew sugary fyoameluplus renufsvan vernacular dweling, complete with an ancient radio and hand-painted mats, ‘Anuchai Secharunputong modeled a series ‘of greedy, sexualized, lips emerging flower like from their stem and offset against a Grid of photographs of cracks that lay flat against the flor, Tikumporn Engchaun’s white shiny sea creatures danced ahove scattered, glittering fragments of glass, ‘Clay's association with function and craft regularly delimits ts use in ostensibly fine art contexts. Moreover, the techno- logy zequieed forthe traditional treatment of clay tends towards prohibiting large- scale artworks inthis medium, Be Takerng Pattanopas's Erogenous Landscape skirted such limitations. An enormous and sus- pended cube frame partially and symmetrl- cally stretched with white cloth, Eroge- nous Landscape brought the premise of {he exhibition to the fore; one wondered where the clay actually was. Infact, raw porcelain had been sprayed as a surface for ‘the cloth. The cloth was centrally stretched ‘to create a severe tension, suggesting a bodily, but essentially abstract, sensation. Erogenous Landscape resisted metaphoric Feaulngs, instead engaging the viewer in a more direct and physical manner. Patta- nopas isa curious artist; already he has an ¢slablished profile within ceramic design, and this instalation should be considered less a departure than a revelation in terms of another, to date less well known, aspect ot his practice. Pratya Raktabutr dealt head-on with lays relationship to technology and ques- tions of conventional aesthetics. He pre- sented a large square formation of ostensibly identical jysticklike objects, colored pink but with slim singular waving lines that left the dark clay exposed beneath the glaze. Each ofthe lines was placed differently but, beyond this, closer ‘examination revealed each abject to possess subtle differences in terms ofthe appl tion of glaze. According to the notes, t is amecessary consequence of the tech- nique. Raktabutr offered a considered, inteligent, approach to matters of indus- trial production and form; superficially playing out the manner of mechanization and repetition but undermining the Industral implications ofthis through the accommodation of individuality and difference. Moreover, the objects held a humanist, almost sexual, quality and shape. Martliam’s In Between offered a rawer vision of clays applications. An irregular suspension of many burnt ladles shed a clay surface to ensure detritus on the floor boeneath. Most immediately, the artwork suggested a consideration of consumption, time and decay. That which keeps us alive ‘may also represent our physical disintegra- ‘ion. The flaking of the clay suggested something ofthe poignant, but not ina sentimental way. The ladles hung as proxies artad April 2007 53