Tang Contemporary Art’s darkened interior functioned as a pseudo movie theatre with a small partitioned viewing room set up with casual floor cushions for viewing Navins of Bollywood. The rest of the gallery supported the screening room with 14-frames from the Navins of Bollywood Diary combining still photographs and the artist’s handwritten diarist text notes referring to the film plot, as well as a series of gelatine silver prints and Chinese charcoal drawings depicting a portrait of the artist and several characters from the film. There was also the large movie billboard dominating one side, while at the entrance way was a life-size Pesrpex model of Navin Rawanchaikul attired in his film costume and holding a “Navin” placard in Chinese, surrounded by multiple language signs scattered around on the floor. The gallery office was transformed into the Navin Party headquarters with photos, notes, and other materials pinned up on the walls as the search for global Navins continues. The first edition of The Navinist newspaper was published for the exhibition, providing the template for the illustrated Navin Community newspaper which will be periodically published in English as well as the local languages of wherever the Navin Party project travels to.

Gallery