Art gets to stay up late

Trust the French to give Bangkok a thrill. The French Embassy is sponsoring another Galleries' Night next weekend, February 3 and 4, and its sole participating mobile venue – the Ferry Gallery – will be showing a racy film as it putters along the Chao Phraya River.
It features one topless woman moving on and off screen and another, pretty much naked, serving as the net in a manly game of ping pong. 
“The Act of Violence” – a controversial video-photograph-live-performance opener for the fourth annual galleries tour – will also have a portrait of a female prison guard surrounded by male colleagues and a real-life Thai woman sitting on ice for 50 minutes, meditating.
Next weekend’s Galleries' Night in Bangkok and the one beginning tonight in Chiang Mai were postponed from November, following the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol, and there’s apt to be little mourning as art buffs make the rounds.

Chiang Mai’s Matoon Art Space has live performances tonight.

Chiang Mai’s second edition sees the embassy aided by the Chiang Mai Art Co-op and the Thailand Creative and Design Centre’s northern branch. Eleven art spaces are staying open late and offering music, workshops and chats with the artists. 
Matoom Art Space, Chiang Mai University Art Centre, Mai Iam Contemporary Art Museum, Gallery Seescape, Rumpueng Community Art Space and Rakuda Photo Artisans are all involved.

See graffiti created on the spot at Ubaan Art Station on Soi Chinda Tawin off Si Phraya Road, both nights, with a DJ accompanying.

Forty-six Bangkok venues will be vying for attention next Friday and Saturday until midnight, but the whole tour should be easy enough by boat, tuk-tuk, Skytrain and subway, with a mobile app as a guide. Most are in the Sathorn-Silom and Charoen Krung areas and along Sukhumvit Road between Asoke and Ekamai.
Galleries' Night began in 2013 as part of the French Embassy’s annual La Fete cultural celebration – just one night, with 18 galleries participating. Interest has steadily grown ever since. 
“Last year more than 5,000 people in Bangkok came out and 3,200 in Chiang Mai,” says Vanessa Silvy, the embassy’s cultural attach้. 
“This year Bangkok has six more galleries involved. The city’s definitely becoming a hub for contemporary art in Asia and more and more people are interested in it. And Chiang Mai, thanks to its fascinating history and thriving artistic community, is also important.”
The Galleries' Night phone app developed for the embassy by Pim Click is ready to download from the Apple store and Google Play. It’s more interactive than ever, with games to play for prizes, maps of both cities and recommended itineraries. 
In Bangkok the embassy has chartered several tuk-tuks to shuttle folks along designated routes. Vans were used last year, but Silvy reckons the humble tuk-tuk is more representative of the city and “fits in perfectly with Galleries Night’s conviviality”.
Also new this year is an educational aspect, with knowledgeable guides showing people around.
“We selected 55 volunteers – all art students or lovers of art – to share their knowledge at each gallery,” says Mary Pansanga, the gallery coordinator. “We hope the event will be a learning experience and enhance public appreciation for contemporary art.” 

Frenchman Claude Estebe invites you to leer at his photos of sexy Japanese figurines at the Toot Yung Nomad Gallery.

In the Silom area next Saturday, the roaming Toot Yung Nomad Gallery is making use of the Black Pagoda Club on Silom Soi 2 to present Frenchman Claude Estebe’s photos of the Japanese obsession for collecting sexy figurines while another artist, Skall, puts on a live performance.
The exterior of the Bangkok Citycity Gallery off South Sathorn Road will be the screen for Gong Jartown’s video documenting the work of Thai graffiti artist Alex Face.
French restaurant Marcel on Sathorn Soi 10 will open its own art space, ApArt, next Saturday with the group show “On Field” – installation art, photography and video art by Tanatchai Bandasak, Viriya Chotpanyavisut, Taiki Sakpisit and Pathompon Tesprateep.
The Sathorn 11 Art Space will focus on “Street Art” with a performance by Karma and DIY, while the nearby Atta Gallery will host Cece Nobre’s exhibition “Talisman of Kimombu”.
Photography will be the name of the game at Cho Why (showing the work of Landry Dunand, the Patani Studio (manually produced photos and books on photography) and Project 189 BKK (French photographer-in-residence Sonia Hamza’s “Passes-moi le ciel”).
Hoping to pique children’s curiosity about contemporary art, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre will have family activities next Saturday afternoon. The kids can get a look at Erwin Wurm’s pieces and then make sculptures of their own. 
The itinerary shifts to Sukhumvit Road on February 4. At the 100 Tonson Gallery, artist Thanet Aowsinsiri and art critic Thanavi Choteprasert will discuss Yuree Kensaku’s work on display there. 
The Jim Thompson Art Centre will present movies and videos as part of a Le Brothers show called “Into the Sea”. And the RMA Institute will have “Bangkok Kanon + G” by Japan’s Shinya Akutagawa.
At the Numthong Gallery, Jakrawal Nilthamrong has selected videos by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, Chia Wei Hsu, Lek Kiatsirikajorn and Pathomphon Tesprateep to screen.
Galleries Night is also intended to forge an artistic bridge between Thailand and France, says Silvy.
“This year we celebrate the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries, and more than ever, these projects are important, reflecting friendship, a deep complicity and a strong willingness to cooperate over time.
“A beautiful example of Franco-Thai collaboration is the exhibition ‘Transfer(s)’, created by TCDC Chiang Mai and the embassy and pooling the talents of Thai and French designers and artisans in Chiang Mai. It will be on view at the Alliance Francaise throughout February, including Galleries Night on February 3. 

Alliance Francaise off Wireless Road will be hosting a hip-hop battle.

“On February 4, all the spaces at Alliance Francaise will be occupied by the ‘Battle Hip-hop’, with improvisations, shows and DJs.”
Mary, an independent curator who is coordinating Galleries Night for the second year, is delighted that the event is annually drawing more people as well as more gallery participation.
“We hope this art networking brings out even more people to learn about contemporary art and build a stronger foundation for Thai contemporary art by attracting visitors even after Galleries Night has ended,” she says. 
Another hope: that the additional public interest and appreciation for contemporary art translates into extra funding for the artists, which would in turn encourage more artists to get involved in the annual event.
 

See you at midnight

- Chiang Mai Galleries' Night kicks off tonight at 11 galleries, museums and art studios and continues until midnight tomorrow. 
- Galleries' Night in Bangkok takes place next Friday and Saturday with more than 40 galleries participating.
- Find out more on the Facebook “galleriesnight” page.