THIERRY BAYLE

Cultural Attaché of the French Embassy in Thailand since October 2020, Thierry Bayle has worked with a mask on the nose to keep French cultural action in Thailand as lively as possible. Today he unmasks for Latitudes the new version of Nuits des Galeries.

L’ART EN ACTION Art and Solutions

AUTHOR OF TWO VERY FRENCH NOVELS, DÉLIT DE VAGABONDAGE AND LE PARC DE LA RÉSIDENCE, THIERRY CHOSE TO INTRODUCE THE LATTER WITH A QUOTE FROM BAUDELAIRE’S LES FLEURS DU MAL: O DANGEROUS WOMAN, O SEDUCTIVE CLIMATES!

Premonitory of its cultural attachment to the land of Siam?

Hello Thierry. You arrived in Bangkok to take up your duties under somewhat specific conditions… How did you experience this period?

I arrived during a very special time indeed. The first months, after my arrival in Thailand in September 2020, I was able to work more or less normally, and meet most of the partners, discovering a very active art scene. We were never discouraged and were even able to lead, in December 2020, in a duet with the Goethe Institute, an ambitious event on contemporary art, “The House of many parts”, which took place on several sites and brought together collectives of artists around, to put it quickly, freedom of expression and democracy. We were also able to stage at the Alliance Française a play by Florent Zeller, “Le Père”, with the very talented director Bua Pattaradsuda, a play whose film adaptation received two Oscars.

How has French cultural action in Thailand adapted?

Without being able to benefit from tours and to welcome artists from France, we had to reinvent our way of working. We are fortunate to have many talented French artists in Thailand, which has enabled us to set up operations with local actors. Our embassy has initiated projects such as an exhibition on sacred tattoos which will take place, in close collaboration with the École française d’Extrême-Orient and the Alliance française de Chiang Mai, in this city in February 2022, then which will travel to Chiang Rai, at the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, in May-June, and finally at the National Gallery in Bangkok in July-August 2022. We thus played a driving role in creating events ourselves. We have also set out to transform the embassy into an artistic space. A surprise awaits the public early next year.

Will the post-Covid Galleries Nights look like previous editions? Have you had to deal with any unusual limitations? What was the reaction of the partners?

Even if we have the ambition to make significant changes, such as starting with a complete overhaul of the graphic design with the invaluable help of the agency You Make Me based in Bangkok, which has great artistic talents, we subscribe clearly in the continuity of our predecessors whom I cannot thank enough for this beautiful heritage.

I happen to be friends with many of them and want to pass on their legacy. This new edition, which will take place on November 26-27, 2021, will happen over two nights in Bangkok, then two nights in Bangsaen, on December 3-4, under the leadership of Burapha University and, in particular, by Maria Phandharakrajadej. I have hosted several Zoom meetings with partner galleries over the past several months, we have consulted them extensively and have all together decided to maintain this edition despite certain restrictions. It is up to us to support galleries in a particularly difficult period and to try to contribute to the rebirth of the art market and the artistic scene.

I imagine that galleries have a particular thirst for events...

The galleries were extremely enthusiastic when we announced that we had made the decision, in light of the latest sanitary measures, to organize this new edition. It will obviously be very special, will not always be able to take the rise that we would have liked, I am thinking in particular of large-scale events in public, but it will have the merit of taking place. I was very happily impressed with the quality of the programming. It will be, I am sure, an exceptional edition in terms of its artistic quality. There will be big names on the artistic scene, but also collectives, new proposals. We are all thirsty for events!

What are for you the “Highlights” of this edition?

It’s hard for me to make choices as all galleries, big or small, have a say. However, to play the game I will mention a few key events: Apichatpong with “A Minor History” at 100 Tonson Foundation; “Keep in the Dark” by Tawan Wattuya at Art Space at Silpakorn University; Nakrob Moonmanas, returning from an eleven-month residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, which the French Embassy helped fund, at the Alliance Française; “Futur Tense”, a group exhibition of artists, in the new Jim Thompson Art Center building, which will open its first exhibition as part of Galleries Nights, of which we are extremely proud; a group exhibition, including our compatriot Myrtille Tibayrenc, at Patpong Museum, in order to show that we are seeking to broaden horizons, to break taboos, to get out of the temples of contemporary art to reach the general public. But I would like visitors to take a close look at all the galleries’ proposals, because it is good to get lost during these nights and discover perhaps lesser-known but just as exciting artists in the many galleries that accompany us.

Will there be events in the provinces?

We are very proud to have a new satellite this year in Bangsaen. Their nights will be on December 3-4. I invite everyone to go there to discover about fifteen places invested especially for our event. This will be, I hope, a first step towards other Galleries’ Nights in the provinces. The artistic network must also extend to remote and troubled regions. It is our vocation to reach the general public wherever they are.

How do you see the local scene? In your opinion, has the crisis changed the Thai artistic field in depth?

I think new practices have emerged. Artists have also had to reinvent their practice, use new tools, learn to work differently. This is for all of us. I don’t think, to be honest, that this has changed the Thai artistic scene in depth, because we can see that, in this edition, we find big names from the Thai scene, which seems particularly dynamic to me, no doubt because artists from this part of the world have a lot to say. I am very optimistic about the potential of the local art scene.