Substance and Non-substance19954th Asian Art ShowSetagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan Created for the 4th Asian Art Show in Tokyo, this installation expanded the pensioner in a bottle series and a workshop executed in Fukuoka in previous year by vertically lining up pairs of steel tubes in which contained two old glass bottles, one with the photos of senior citizens in […]
Navin Driving School19953rd Chiang Mai Social InstallationChiang Mai, Thailand Challenging the role of art and art as a public service, around the same time as Navin Gallery Bangkok started showing art in a taxi, Navin Driving School opened a free driving school in Chiang Mai. Advertising free lessons, Navin Rawanchaikul used his own pick-up truck and gave a free lesson to three people that […]
Origin of Flavor1995Masato NakamuraNavin Gallery Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand Masato Nakamura regularly displays his art in unorthodox sites, so exhibiting in the Navin Gallery Bangkok was an easy transition for the Japanese artist. For the Origin of Flavor, Nakamura plays with Japanese influences to Thai culture and the manner by which such imports are assimilated. Atop bright yellow seat covers, the artist […]
An Aesthetics of Immaterialism1995Navin RawanchaikulNavin Gallery Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand For the inaugural Navin Gallery Bangkok exhibition, project founder Navin Rawanchaikul kept things minimal to gauge what kind of reception the mobile gallery would receive from the public. The artist posted a couple of small signs within the passenger seats of the vehicle stating the sentence in Thai and […]
Navin Gallery Bangkok1995Bangkok, Thailand Blurring the boundary between public and private domain, a similar environment exists as you step inside a taxi – a brief liaison of mutual trust, co-dependence and co-existence. Commandeering a regular green and yellow Bangkok taxi that patrols the streets picking up regular fares only to surprise passengers with a temporary art space […]
Voiceless Society1994Mixed Media Taking the same refrigerator that was used for selling polluted river-water two months prior in Treated, Ozonated, and Bottled, hundreds of old dirty bottles were filled with photos of elderly people. Another undrinkable product from Chiang Mai, the commercial, convenience store fridge chilled the bottles welcoming people at the entrance to the library.
There is No Voice1994AUA Language Center Library, Bangkok, Thailand Held at the AUA Library in Bangkok, Navin Rawanchaikul’s first solo exhibition comprised eight separate but conceptually overlapping art works that explored an array of themes. These included the socially aware pieces There is No Voice, Voiceless Society and the similarly aligned Untitled, which highlighted the plight of Thailand’s elderly citizens; When I Fall in Love with […]
Please Donate Your Ideas for Dispirit Artistic Research1994Art Forum Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand In this two-part series that began in 1992 with the interactive piece Please Donate Your Ideas for A Dispirited Artist, Navin went around his hometown of Chiang Mai asking the public two questions, “what is art?” and “what isn’t art” Using small memo papers to record their […]
Treated, Ozonated and Bottled1994Critical StreamThammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand The first time that Navin Production came into existence, the company’s first product was to bottle and sell polluted river water from the Mae Kha River in Chiang Mai. Labelling the bottles with a head shot of company founder and CEO, the bottled water was sold by Navin and former Sales Manager Kosit Juntaratip […]
The Zero space which is Not Empty1994Art Forum Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Held at the now defunct Art Forum Gallery in Bangkok, the minimal exhibition was set up in the main gallery room with only one person allowed to enter at a time. When the door was closed no-one could enter, and being the actual gallery entrance this meant […]