Title: Navin’s Sala
Year: 2008
Page: 416 pp and 48-pp inserted comic (Softcover)
Publisher: S by S Co., Ltd., Tokyo and Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver
Related Exhibition/Project: Navin’s Sala

Navin’s Sala is a magazine-like art publication in which artist Navin Rawanchaikul along with his contemporary art production company Navin Production, and more than 30 international contributors, share their interests and provide multi-angled insights into the artist’s oeuvre. Featuring selected works from 1992 to present, Navin’s Sala contains everything from topical discussions and photo essays, to cocktail recipes and advertisements. The main concerns of the book revolve around the role of art and those involved in artistic production in relation to community and everyday life experiences.

As in all of Rawanchaikul’s work, a particular relational aesthetic is sought in the production and the product of this book. Reflective of the function of the sala, a communal pavilion found in parks, temples and societal spaces throughout Thailand, Navin’s Sala seeks to be a public forum. A platform for conversation amongst artists, groups of friends, associates and passers-by who happen to be interested in, and open to, one another’s stories; a meeting place for crossing community boundaries between contributors and readers. Covering almost 500 pages, Navin’s Sala includes a variety of topical sections ranging from Society to Leisure, Culture and Politics, Photo Novel, Comics, Games, Movies, Food and Drinks, Adult, Horoscope and much, much more.

Navin’s Sala is made possible with the collaboration between Navin Production Co., Ltd. andGalerie Enrico Navarra with sponsorships of the Thai Silk Co., Ltd. (Jim Thompson); The Value Systems Co., Ltd; Tilton Gallery and Tang Contemporary Art.

Navin’s Sala
Editorial Note

When I first met Inson Wongsam in 1999, he asked me about my goals as an artist. I cannot remember exactly what I answered him but I did describe my work and explained that my main concern was the relationship between art and the public. He told me that essence of art is not in the work you do but it is more in how you can connect it to life.

Collaboration and community engagement have been important issues to me since the beginning of my career. The gap between art, artists and the general public challenges me to look to the past and to the world today to ask questions about our contemporary identity and how art can explore our imaginations while responding to changes in our culture and our social environments. The current trend of art and life in the contemporary art world and how artists are often pushed to manipulate their identities into art commodities leads me to reexamine the role of the artist and inquire into the various meanings art has for communities in diverse localities.

This book emerged out of a conversation between directing editor Tyler Russell and I had in early 2006. While looking at a collection of art books, the question of what sort of book would be able to communicate about my work while reflecting my artistic intentions came up. And we figured that some sort of collaborative platform that covered topics ranging from food and cocktails to the relationship between art, the market and the public would be best. Something more like a magazine than a monograph. And this is the result.

It took our team more than 2 years to realize this publication and when the point came to give it a title, the word sala was chosen as it reflected a collaborative platform that could weave together all of the diverse contributions. In Thai sala implies the sort of public pavilion that can be found in temples, rice fields and parks throughout the country. It is a space for anyone to use and its function can range from serving local needs to being a shelter for passers-by. We felt or hoped that this book might reflect the sala‘s functional and metaphoric meaning and act as a transit area or open platform where different lives cross paths, and where I could come to reflect on my work while sharing stories and exploring shared interests with collaborators and friends.

The final achievement of this thick publication is the result of the efforts of countless people to whom I owe great thanks. First I would like to express deep appreciation to all the contributors who gave valuable responses to my work and added the other contents that make the book what it is. I would like to sincerely thank Tyler for his input from the beginning until the end and our other directing editor Worathep Akkaraboota for his careful study and voluminous contribution. Among the wonderful staff, I am forever grateful to Kyoko Katsuragi and Benjamas Phuprasert for their tireless efforts. I would also like to thank Rirkrit Tiravanija and the people at Ver Gallery in Bangkok for letting us use their space as a team office and for tolerating our presence for so long.

Without the generous support of our sponsors this book would have never been possible. I must extend my sincerest gratitude to Enrico Navarra and his lovely team for their huge contribution; Eric Booth and his colleagues at The James H.W. Thompson Foundation and The Jim Thompson Thai Silk Company for their close collaboration; Jean-Michael Beurdeley and Patsri Bunnag the lovely couple that is so important to Thai contemporary art; and distinguished Thai collector-couple Narong and Waleeporn Intanate for making the production of ‘Long Heart’, Navin Production’s first photo novel created specially for this book a possibility.

There are many more individuals and organizations that are important to my artistic career and again contributed to this book project. To name a few, I would like to give a big thank you to Steven Pettifor and my long time friend, Pandit Chanrochanakit who always gives me such worthy advice about life and art. I must also express my deepest appreciation to every collaborator and staff that came across to Navin Production’s projects since the company was founded in 1994. And importantly I must say that without the early support of my late professor Montien Boonma I may never have had an artistic career.

At last I owe an eternal debt of gratitude to my loving wife Toshiko and our daughter Mari who patiently support my artistic activities and endure my long times away.

Navin Rawanchaikul
Bangkok, April 4, 2008