Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

Chumpon Apisuk The Artist and the Social Dimension in Thailand When I was informed that the topic for my talk would be about artists and the social dimension, the first thing that came into my mind was a question: what is the social dimension? Is it somethi ng that we are living i n or it is something that we're just looki ng at? This question is crucial as it is specifically related to where art is bei ng placed in society. Art has never been placed outside society: I bel ieve that everyone agrees with this fact, there is no question about it. But what I wou ld like to discuss here is where is art in ou r society. We always hear people talk about cl imbing up a ladder to see art, such a half-joking statement in fact reflects where art is being placed in our society. And because of this fact, art has its own 'social status'; its social status makes art become an untouchable object and must be put in the untouchable place, like in the museum. The social status of art creates 'limits' to the role of art in society. We, includi ng myself, have helped develop art to be an intellectually stimulating product. I also enjoy the intel lectual stimulation which art has created and , because of this, I began to question the role of art in my beliefs. So, I choose to do less art and become a ful l time activist. I cannot wait for my art to make change. I also would like to question art institutions, including museums, art galleries, art schools, curators, critics and artists themselves, about their vision of art practices which may perceive what the roles of the arts are in society. Should art limit its images in the way that h as already been seen? Should the artistic institution expand as a horizon , its arena and its view of how art relates to society? This is a question of how the art institution can encourage new art practices, and encou rage more discussion and exchange that deals with issues facing our society such as gender discrimination, marginal ised populations, ethnicity, politics, sex, health , AIDS etc. . On the other hand, how art institutions see the importance of artists who work in community development, and are involved in issues such as the environment, or social , economic and political research . I have one example about how we have lost the most important moment of art h istory i n Thailand , a period that helped develop contemporary art practice in my country. During the period of 1 973 to 1 976 , when Thailand was in transition - our first era of political liberation. Artists had to play a role in mobilising mass rallies, organising community outreach and education, and creating giant public art. I n 1 975 the Artists United Front was formed, with the objective of creating an artist collective movement. This collective effort of the Thai artists' movement at that time is an important foundation pillar of Thailand's contemporary arts. It is a great pity that the existing art institutions in Thailand have neglected this moment in our recent history. There has never been an effort to research , study or record this very important art movement. The United Front was banned by the military government after the bloody coup in 1 976 . Many artists d ied in the fight with the military when the coup took place, and those who lived and continued to work are now lost in the new economics war and contributed l ittle to contin ue the movement. Though I respect their past contri bution , as do many of the young generation , on the other hand we feel denied, neglected and abandoned by our people, by our own art i nstitutions, of which we're considered a part. Thailand, now, has changed to a newly semi-developed country. On the one hand , this means the economy is booming, but on the other means that there are more problems emerg i ng within this built-up economy. There are many new issues and challenges that Thai people have to deal with. We are facing an envi ronment l ost, and people i n the city suffer from pollution and face many health problems and stress. We have high rates of forced prostitution , trafficki ng of women and children , m igration and cross border migration , the corrupt elected members of parliament and ministers, and the worldwide AIDS epidemic. 67