THIS EVENT HELD AT LHONG 1919 SEEMS TO BE A GOOD SIGN FOR THAILAND’S ART COMMUNITY AFTER FACING MANY OBSTACLES
TEXT & PHOTO: PRATARN TEERATADA
(For Thai, press here)
An art fair or an art market is a type of art festival that has been adopted and organized worldwide in various scales, from fairly small to large-scale events such as Art Basel or Frieze Art Fair. These events and all the processes that goes behind them result from the fact that art requires proper management through and through. Art is essentially the management of materials of diverse types and forms, each with the ability to create emotional and cognitive impacts, rendered and expressed in many different forms. The art industry is made up of art galleries, art dealers and auction houses, each does its job in finding artworks of great artistic merits and investment values, and supplies them to investors and art collectors whether in the form of business corporations, institutions, museums or individuals.
While Thailand has a number of art collectors, it’s an amount that definitely has space for growth. Putting together an art market, even just one of a moderate size, is considered a good strategy that can potentially increase the number of art buyers, while simultaneously offering a chance for artists to showcase their works to a wider audience group. So far, the most promising art market has been Hotel Art Fair by Farm Group that has managed to keep the event ongoing for several consecutive years while inviting interesting galleries from around the world to participate. The recently ended Mango Art Festival, which took place at LHONG 1919 on April 3rd-6th, 2021 was impressive, particularly in regards to the management. The historical venue and its artistic vibe and cultural backstory collectively served as the perfect backdrop for the art festival. While COVID-19 still hasn’t gone anywhere, the absence of tourists made it possible for artworks to occupy almost the entirety of the space.
The three segments of the main exhibition featured a solo exhibition by Wishulada Panthanuvong, the artist who transforms wastes into fashion art and sculptures. Panthanuvong has made quite a name for herself in the past 1-2 years from her public art projects and her use of waste materials to create art of spectacular forms and visuals. The other two rooms were curated into the art and design room, respectively. The selected galleries were diverse, and although not all the prominent galleries were there, it marked a promising start for the event. The rooms inside the venue also hosted exhibitions by several independent artists (presumably because the majority of the tenants had to end their lease due to the economic fallout caused by the pandemic).
Mango Art Festival is a good sign for Thailand’s art community and it deserves every bit of support to continue. If they manage to have LHONG 1919 as the annual designated venue, the chance for the event to catch on will be even greater especially when tourists return. But there’s also a high chance for the space to be adjusted into a venue that is more commercially worthwhile. All we hope is that whatever the new business may be, it will factor art as a part of the program. It’s a challenging task for all the art-loving business people out there and new strategies will need to be carefully devised and thoughtfully executed to successfully keep something of this nature alive in the long run.