As part of the Asia-Europe Art Camp series, 22 emerging artists from 19 countries in Asia and Europe converged in Bangkok, Thailand, from the 22nd to the 29th of March 2008 to participate in the 5th Asia-Europe Art Camp. The Art Camp was officially opened on Saturday, 22 March 2008 at Silpakorn University by Ambassador Saroj Chavanaviraj, ASEF Governor for Thailand.
The project series Asia-Europe Art Camp is an initiative by ASEF and is committed to provide an opportunity to expose emerging student artists on the development of new media art in Asia and Europe through theoretical and practical approaches. The aim of this yearly event is to offer a platform for the exchange of information, the contextualisation of contemporary art practices and the sharing of experiences amongst art students and participating resource persons. The focus of the art camp is on the creative process (learning about others’ cultures and the contexts in which they live) and not on the final artistic product.
The fifth edition of the Camp, anchored on the theme, RE-VISION BANGKOK|NEW MEDIA ART AND INTERACTIVITY, gathered Asian and European emerging artists in a process to explore the possibility of connecting new media art practices to the relational aesthetic concept. Through a week of lectures, workshops, field and cultural visits, the Camp also seeks to develop a platform to promote dialogue for young art students to learn more about each other’s contexts and cultures. This Art camp was co-organised by ASEF in partnership with The Art Centre of Silpakorn University and School of Fine and Applied Arts of Bangkok University.
Two artistic advisers from Asia and Europe, Noraset Vaisayakul (Thailand) and David Kousemaker (Netherlands) exposed the participants to other ways of approaching their art while providing them with new technical tools shared during the workshop and presentations. The Camp included a public lectures and discussions involving guest speakers from the region specialised in new media and social art issues, namely Chayanoot Silpasart (Thailand), Josef Ng (Singapore) and Keiko Sei (Japan).
During three-day fieldwork assignment, the participants, who had been divided in groups, tried to revision four different social and cultural urban spaces in Bangkok: Wat-Pho temple, Khaosan road, Siam area and Bangkok Train Stations (BTS). They explored some potential interactions with all working sites through various new media art practices.
As a result of their intensive collaboration, each groups shared their concept, thoughts, experience and artistic creation during the public presentation held at Bangkok University Gallery on 29 March 2008. A post-publication recording the overall process of this camp as well as a DVD containing video works will be published at the end of 2008.
For more information on Asia-Europe Art Camp series contact Ms. Azizah Fauziah at azizah.fauziah@asef.org