Third Text

3 April 2025

Leonor Veiga

‘Nurture Gaia’, the Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok, Thailand, 24 October 2024 – 25 February 2025

Choi Jeong Hwa, Breathing Flower, 2023, outside the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), photo by Adriana Delgado Martins

Nurture Gaia

‘Nurture Gaia’, the fourth edition of the Bangkok Art Biennial (BAB), focused on James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis as its overarching theme. Now celebrating its 52nd anniversary, Lovelock’s theory posits that the planet functions as a self-regulating living entity. However, the exhibition, featuring work by seventy-six (inter)national artists, emphasised the imbalance caused by human intervention rather than showcasing the Earth’s resilience. Spread across eleven venues along the Chao Praya river in Bangkok, all the exhibition sites were accessible via public transportation, creating a distinctive biennial experience set in an Asian megalopolis. However, it presented a different experience than wandering through cities such as Venice, Lyon or Liverpool, to name three examples of walkable biennales. Exceptionally, in April 2024, BAB had an international iteration in Venice. The exhibition ‘The Spirits of Maritime Crossing’ was an official collateral event at the 60th Venice Art Biennial in 2024, and showcased several of the artists (and artworks) also present in the Bangkok show. Meanwhile, the Venice exhibition highlighted Southeast Asia’s global connections and history between Venice and Europe.

Continuity and Experimentation: The ‘art-culture’ ^[1] system at the Biennale

Biennales have boomed since the 1990s, particularly in the Global South. As a latecomer to this discourse, Thailand saw three perennial shows appear in 2018. ^[2]  Every two years, the BAB populates the city’s central area near to the Chao Praya river, home to some of Bangkok’s most sumptuous temples, palaces and heritage sites. The BAB’s continuity, which has persisted despite the challenges posed by the 2020 pandemic, has helped establish Bangkok on the global biennale map.

In keeping with previous editions, artworks were displayed in temples, including Wat Pho, Wat Arun, Wat Prayoon and Wat Bowon. The artistic director, Apinan Poshyananda – a prominent figure and leading curator from Southeast Asia since the 1990s – pointed out on the Biennale press tour that integrating contemporary art within these religious spaces was a challenging endeavour that requires numerous permits and careful consideration. ^[3]  The respectful cohabitation of contemporary artworks with such sites has required, for example, that the curatorial and artistic teams attend Buddhist ceremonies in order to bless artworks in the exhibition. ^[4]

The cultural dimension is ‘Nurture Gaia’s most significant contribution to the discourse. Given its size, international participation and the scale of the artworks, the exhibition must be included in the biennalisation phenomenon. ^[5]  However, the curatorial decision to include contemporary art in Thailand’s temples alongside Thai cultural artefacts challenges the boundaries between art and culture while documenting historical representations of nature. This was particularly evident in two large red rooms at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) – perhaps to allude to archaeological exhibits – where linga-yonis ^[6] made of sandstone from the Lopburi period ^[7] and phallic sculptures from the Rattanasokin period (1782–1932) were juxtaposed with bronzes by Louise Bourgeois, paintings by Thai artist Prasong Luemang and ceramic works by Norwegian artist Jennie Bringaker.

Louise Bourgeois, Janus in Leather Jacket, 1968, photo by Adriana Delgado Martins

The show’s cultural aspect was also highlighted through Buddhist themes. Breathing Flower (2012) by South Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa is a giant inflatable lotus flower – a symbol of beauty, resilience and rebirth – that serves as a Buddhist reminder of the power of breath, considered the essence of life. Significantly, six Tibetan Thangka paintings by Russian artist Nick Dudka – a practitioner of this art for thirty years – were integrated into the show, elevating such canonical art practices into the realm of contemporary art. His Ushnishavijaya and Three Long Life Deities (2009–10) show how a theological teaching exercise remains a relevant and living tradition. The works added a sense of curatorial edge to the show, affirming canonical art as reflecting spiritual beliefs and a space of contemplation that allows the use of natural materials like 24-karat gold and organic pigments.

Nick Duka, White Tara, 2013, canvas, organic pigments, gold, silk, 62 x 42.5 cm, photo by Leonor Veiga

Recovering Ancestry

Several artists expressed the need to recover ancestral values to protect and project the future, and advance indigenous knowledge and culture. This was the case with New Zealand Māori artist Lisa Reihana. In her Groundloop (2022) video animation, she references the Māori proverb ‘Ka mua, ka muri’ (walking backwards into the future) to suggest the importance of incorporating ancestral values as a foundation for building a harmonious future. Reihana’s use of virtual reality to refer to ancestral culture conversed with a digitally crafted video by Irish artist Aideen Barry, whose work Oblivion ^[8] focuses on banned and outlawed legacies in Ireland, such as indigenous music, folklore and languages.

Dutch artist Mella Jaarsma has been researching barkcloth garments since 2017. In her most recent project, she conceived the collaborative artwork Barkcloth-Dark Cloth (2024) with the Papua master Agus Ongge. A practice in decline in today’s Indonesian Papua, the duo brought, through this work, narratives of cultural erasure and oppression to light, addressing issues of power and legitimacy as well as the impact of colonial and Catholic repression on Indigenous lifestyles. The works equally criticise the current commodification of barkcloth by the tourist souvenir industry.

Like traditional cloth, earthenwares evoke intangible heritage. In the installation project Conversation with a Potter (2024), Thai artist Pim Sudhikam also used a revisionist approach. The ceramic installation recovered Ban Kao people’s tripod vessels and materialised this patrimony with clay from Bangkok’s underground – specifically from One Bangkok Financial Centre, where her work was displayed. The project recalled ancient clay-making techniques from 4,000 years ago, connecting contemporary Bangkok to its historical roots in fertile, clay-rich land – roots that have become obscure as a result of urbanisation.

Pim Sudhikam, A Conversation with a Potter, 2024, installation of pots made with local clay from Bangkok, hand-built, pit-fired, unfired and 3D printed, photo by Arina Matvee, courtesy of the Bangkok Art Biennial

To address the pollution caused by art practices, Thai artist Yanawit Kungchaethong revealed how this has been a life-long preoccupation. The artist filled a pagoda of the Wat Pho temple with the work Experimental Solution 57, a work that resulted from decades of practice. An engraving artist interested in botany and the environment, he has always considered his media too polluting, so he dedicated himself to rescuing ancestral knowledge in order to produce ecological and sustainable dyes and engravings, which he achieved in 2000.

Yanawit Kungchaethong, Experimental Solution 57, 2023, detail showing colour samples with natural dyes, photo by Leonor Veiga

Overcoming Disconnections

Several artists address how we are alienated from the consequences of humankind’s gestures on the planet. The Berlin-based duo Elmgreen and Dragset and American Jessica Segall both touch on this issue. Elmgreen and Dragset’s Still Life (2023) is a hyperrealistic sculpture of a human hand holding a dying bird, which could be interpreted as the Earth itself. Segall’s two-channel video installation touches upon the augmentation of territory occupied by humanity, which goes hand-in-hand with barriers with the natural world. Titled (un)common intimacy (2018), this work filled the temple of Wat Prayoon with an encounter between a woman (the artist), an alligator and a tiger. It contrasted the common fear associated with these species as predators with their peaceful and amicable interaction. Segall critiques humans as the most dangerous species, highlighting how human actions often limit other beings’ lives and contribute to the destruction of their ecosystems.

Jessica Segall, (un)common intimacy, 2018, 4K video loop, 8 min, photo by Seni Chunhacha, courtesy of the Bangkok Art Biennial

In a similar register, Laotian artist Bounpaul Phothyzan’s installation Story of the Plateau (2019) conveyed a loss of ecological balance in his home country. The installation featured menhir-like structures made from the remnants of war. These bomb shells, collected from the bombing of Laos during the American War in the mid-1970s – not so well-known as the war in neighbouring Vietnam – continue to exist in the country to this day. The artist engraved these bomb fragments, illustrating the ongoing struggles of the Laotian people with soil contamination.

Bounpaul Phothyzan, Story of the Plateau, 2019–present, detail of installation, photo by Leonor Veiga

Plastic contamination, another global problem, was the subject of Indonesian artist Ari Bayuagi's installation, One Eyed Rangda (2023), with its employment of masks of Rangda and Barong, used by the Balinese to address the need for nurturing nature. While the installation’s design evokes storage rooms inside ethnographic museums, these are new objects woven by the artist with the participation of local communities, made from waste materials found along the shores of the sea and in the mangrove fields of Bali. Montenegro artist Dante Buu’s performance Il y a longtemps que je t’aime, jamais je ne t’oublierai, commissioned for BAB2024, embodies the tough love for one’s homeland. His choice of performing embroidery on a large piece of fabric also brings to mind textile overproduction and the waste problems it causes to the planet. Standing high, on a pedestal resembling a mountain, he embroiders the 6 x 3 metre canvas. In Bangkok, Buu performed for ten consecutive days, for eight hours a day, without any break.

Ari Bayuaji, One Eyed Panda, 2023, installation view at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), image courtesy of BACC

Artists also addressed the vulnerability of ecosystems to raise awareness about future threats. British artist Susan Collins presented Rising Tides (2024), with its incorporation of pixellated images of riverine landscapes captured by cameras installed along Bangkok’s Chao Praya river and the Thames in London. The piece examines subtle tidal changes over the course of one year, making visible an often-overlooked issue. It also addresses inequality: while London has a barrier that protects the city from flooding, Bangkok lacks such infrastructure, making it an extremely vulnerable capital city.

In recent years, people have been protesting around the world against the visible fragility of the Earth and the disruption of its ecosystems. From the United States, Irish artist George Bolster’s The Impermanence of Protection: Big Bend National Park (2023) drew attention to the downgrading of this national park in Texas during the first Trump administration. His panorama-shaped tapestry, which references the nineteenth-century European panorama tradition of painting, ^[9] allowed audiences to embody nature’s beauty while confronting them with humanitarian and environmental crises.

Women

An exhibition named after Gaia, the Greek goddess, would always have works about women. In this regard, Singaporean artist Amanda Heng’s photographs highlighting a taboo theme in Chinese culture – the relationship between mother and daughter – were important. The images remind us of the changing dynamics of mother-daughter relationships as part of life. Drawing inspiration from mythology, world religions, archaeological evidence, surrealism and science fiction, the installation The Pleiades Project by Filipino artist Agnes Arellano was shown for the first time. The quaternion of goddesses of various cultures is a reminder of the current need to embrace femininity.

Notable, robust and physically demanding performances occurred in the opening days of this Biennale, perhaps denoting the Earth’s resilience towards aggression by humans. At the National Gallery of Thailand, Irish artist Kira O’Reilly’s Menopausal Gym was a long durational piece that evoked the changes in women’s bodies during menopause. The artist used the local, humid atmosphere of Bangkok as a collaborator to address the physical and emotional strength required to nurture both body and Earth. Also from Ireland, Amanda Coogan drew on her personal history of a hearing-impaired family to work with a local deaf community in Thailand. The work featured Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th symphony, recalling the composer’s internalised musical world after losing his auditory ability. ^[10]

Technology

Two artists touched upon the subject of technology in a rather negative way. Thai artist Supawich Weesapen revealed a frustrating episode resulting from the pollution of the atmosphere. The artist had wanted to see a comet in the sky, but the cloud of pollution impeded this possibility, an experience in sharp contrast with our mobile connectivity to satellites placed in the exosphere at more than 3,600 kilometres from Earth. Equally uncanny, British artist Agi Haines’s Transfigurations (2013) disturbs anyone who passes it: the newborn babies, who showcase inlaid technology on their brains, as a result of artificial biomedicine, speak of a dire future, one in which humans become partly machines. ^[11]

Concluding Remarks

‘Nurture Gaia’, which communicated with the previous edition of the Biennale in 2022, ‘Chaos/Calm’, unveiled the imbalances between humanity and nature, reminding us that culture may offer valuable solutions. It provided for the possibility of reuniting what remains divided – whether it be ‘humankind’ and ‘nature’, world re(li)gions, or art and culture. In addition, it allowed a space for individual reflection, as artists brought their personal solutions to how to tackle the problem. Artists’ intellectualism, in my opinion, is a good way to apprehend difficult things, whether problems of rising tides, cultural destruction or environmental alienation. In that regard, it is relevant that an exhibition focusing on sustainable practices, in which the call for environmental attention was evident in many of the works, took place in an Asian metropolis going through a dramatic expansion (the number of high-rise buildings continues to increase, as the One Bangkok centre used in this Biennale as an exhibition venue rightly shows). In Bangkok, where rice fields of bygone times have been depleted to make space for skyscrapers, the natural world is mainly felt through the abnormal intense storms that occur during the dry season, and through the increased use of air conditioning to cope with the extremes of heat. There is a sense that there is no easy solution, transporting us to the human, the animal and the global sides of the climate crisis problem. As such, this exhibition contributed to the environmental activism being reclaimed by the younger generations by urging an end to climate inaction.

Acknowledgements:  The author’s time in Bangkok was financially supported by CIEBA (Artistic Studies Research Center) at the University of Lisbon, of which she is an integrated member. The author would like to extend special gratitude to Irish artist Aideen Barry, with whom she exchanged many insights throughout the writing process, and to the Dutch art historian Kitty Zijlmans.

^[1]     See James Clifford, ‘On Collecting Art and Culture’, in The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature and Art, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988, pp 215–251

^[2]     The Bangkok Biennale (BB) ran from 1 July until 30 September 2018; the Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) ran from 19 October 2018 to 3 February 2019; and the Thailand Biennale (TB), in Krabi, ran from 2 November  2018 to 28 February 2019. See Leonor Veiga, ‘Southeast Asian Biennales: Local and Global Interactions’, MODOS: Revista de História da Arte, vol 5, no 2,  2021, p 247. It appears that the BB has ended, showing the complexity of maintaining a biennale, even more so one with a decentralised and grassroots approach.

^[3]    Apinan Poshyananda became notable for his seminal work Modern Art in Thailand (Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1992) and the exhibition ‘Traditions/Tensions’ (Asia Society, New York, 1996). He began his career as an artist and, in 1985, produced the multimedia work How to Explain Art to a Bangkok Cock. Since receiving his doctorate in 1990, he began his career as a curator and continues today to explain art through the exhibitions he directs. His CV includes co-curating the first editions of the Asia Pacific Triennial (1993, 1996 and 1999), the 24th São Paulo Biennale (1998), and several exhibitions in Asia, especially in Japan. He was the curator of Thailand’s first-ever pavilion at the 50th Venice Art Biennale (2003) and in the 2005, 2007 and 2018 editions. He founded the Bangkok Art Biennial in 2017, where he became Artistic Director. In this capacity, he has renewed the city of Bangkok’s relevance on the (inter)national art scene and, in 2024, he fostered the internationalisation of Southeast Asian art in the world through the exhibition ‘The Spirits of Maritime Crossing’, an official collateral event at the 60th Venice Biennale of Art.

^[4]    With Apinan Poshyananda as Artistic Director, four younger curators also collaborated on this edition: Akiko Miki (from Japan), Paramaporn Sirikulchayanont and Pojai Akratanakul (Thailand) and Brian Curtin (Ireland). As in previous editions, Poshyananda teams up with contemporary scholars to produce up-to-date shows that speak to an intergenerational audience. This way, he also trains future curators from Southeast Asia.

^[5]    See Anthony Gardner and Charles Green, Biennials, Triennials, and Documenta: The Exhibitions That Created Contemporary Art, Wiley Blackwell, Chichester, 2016, pp 111–143; and Caroline A Jones, ‘Biennale Culture: A Longer History’, in The Biennale Reader, Hatje Cantz, Berlin, 2010, p 68.

^[6]    Linga-yoni is the Vedic equivalent of the probably better-known concept of yin-yang. It is characterised by the joining of the linga, a symbol of masculine energy (penis) and yoni, which symbolises the feminine receptacle (uterus).

^[7]    The Lopburi period refers to the city with the same name, which, in Thai history, means a civilisation over 1000 years old.

^[8]     Aideen Barry’s artwork is preferably referenced by its trilingual title in Inuktitut, Gaelic-Irish and English. The complete designation is ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᐅᔪᓐᓃᖅᑐᑦ / Seachmalltacht / Oblivion.

^[9]     Of this highly popular and exclusively European artform, only one persists in its original site at the Mesdag Museum in The Hague in the Netherlands. Most examples were destroyed by the bombing during World War I and World War II.

^[10]     As one of the International Advisors for BAB2024, Marina Abramovich recommended the work of Irish artists Amanda Coogan and Kira O’Reilly to the curatorial team; Abramovich also acted as international advisor for the 2020 edition, ‘Escape Routes’.

^[11]   See the artist Agi Haines's website, accessed 20 March 2025

Leonor Veiga, currently a Guest Researcher at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), is an art historian and curator based in Montpellier, France. She was a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Fine Arts School of the University of Lisbon (2020–2023). She obtained her PhD from Leiden University in 2018 with the dissertation ‘The Third Avant-garde: contemporary art from Southeast Asia recalling tradition’. In 2019, the dissertation was awarded the biannual Humanities Dissertation Prize by the International Convention of Asian Scholars (ICAS).