From the Earth Markus Roselieb reinvents traditional clay and bamboo cottages as world-class architectural wonders.
by top koaysomboon photography by pannawat muangmoon Noontime at Chiang Mai’s Panyaden School is similar to lunchtime at schools throughout Thailand: a teacher rings a bell and children are escorted to the canteen. One small difference is that they clean up their own dishes afterwards. But much more striking still is the avantgarde-looking building with a curving bamboo roof that they eat beneath – the winner of a Gold award at the Design for Asia Awards back in 2012. Markus Roselieb, who started this school with his wife two years ago, greets us in a casual morhom (indigo-dyed cotton) uniform. Despite building conventional concrete structures, Markus, who has a passion for earth and bamboo materials, teamed up with Dutch architecture firm
the World Bamboo Congress was held in Bangkok. During that time, Markus read a book about natural construction and found an answer to his interest in working with non-traditional materials. “I’ve never been very happy with proper buildings, for example, with concrete walls. It’s hot outside and inside. So I saw an opportunity to combine bamboo and earth. The bamboo guys always do things with bamboo. They don’t combine it with earth, while the earth guys always do things with earth. That did not make sense either because earth is not a material that likes water and we have a strong monsoon season here. On the other hand, bamboo is not good for the heat because it doesn’t have enough internal mass; it’s very thin and can’t capture the heat. So I thought, ‘let’s combine these two, using bamboo for the 056
24H Architecture, the group behind a world-famous bamboo structure at Soneva Kiri on Koh Kood. Markus has created a cluster of school buildings using rammed earth and different kinds of bamboo, aiming to ditch air-conditioners and celebrate nature. The results are impressive: earth walls absorb and prevent heat from entering the space, keeping the temperature inside the cottages cooler, even during the hot season. The bamboo roofs are light and durable, enabling good ventilation and the creation of unconventional shapes. The unique architecture has shined a spotlight on the school. It has been featured in numerous architecture magazines and recently welcomed the world famous architect Frank Gehry. “At first, when I was contacted by Frank about visiting us, I thought it was a joke,” Markus laughs. “But actually, he loves what we did.” In building the school, Markus needed to find a space
that was large enough to treat bamboo, so he ended up founding Chiang Mai Life Construction, which now offers earth-and-bamboo designs and construction nationwide. He explains that everything started after he moved his family to Chiang Mai, and his wife wanted to build a school. An Austrian national, Markus is a former trauma surgeon who interned in Korat’s Maharaj Hospital, then worked for an NGO at a refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border before settling down in Bangkok for ten years. The enormous capital city proved to be overwhelming for his children. “At first when my wife said she wanted to build a school, I said you must be out of your mind. But in the end we are a normal Thai family: she’s the boss,” he jokes, “and I do what I’m told.” That was in 2009, when
roof, and earth for the walls and floors.” His wife liked the idea too. “We agreed to get away from something normal,” he says. “I did research and invited a lot of people who knew about bamboo and earth in Thailand and outside the country.” After a series of talks, construction began in May 2010 and was completed in 10 months. But Markus is a doctor, so how could he know how to design and build a house? “In the end, the most important thing in this world is common sense,” he explains. “If you don’t have common sense, everything you’ve learned will go nowhere. I knew as a doctor that you need to use your mind to find things, you read, and you listen to good people. And the more you like something – I’ve been interested in architecture since I was young
– the faster you can absorb the information.” Showing us around the headquarters of Chiang Mai Life Construction, Markus points out piles of soil and bamboo. The wood is being treated by borax and put in the sun to strengthen it, kill weevils and prevent termites. Different kinds of bamboo are used in different parts of the construction, as some might be perfect for standing columns while others might work better for roofing. “We only cut old bamboo that was ready to use. Young bamboo comes with weevils. In Columbia there are bamboo cottages that last 50 years. They were treated with borax. There are bamboo buildings in Japan that were built 100 years ago but they were treated with smoke. There are many ways to preserve bamboo. Once you preserve it, the fibre of the bamboo will become very strong. Actually the tensile strength of bamboo is higher than steel. In construction you only have two kinds of materials: materials that take the load, like cement, and materials that take tension, like steel. Here, we use earth to take the load and bamboo to take the tension. And with this combination we can go very far.” As someone who builds houses from clay and other earth materials, comparisons to the famous earth-house maker Jon Jandai, who also lives in Chiang Mai, are unavoidable. There are marked differences between the work of the two men, however. “Jon Jandai is a pioneer: a great thinker and doer,” Markus says. “The reason he went into earth construction was mainly to help the poor build houses quickly and cheaply. I am trying to bring earth and bamboo into the 21st century so it can be used by everybody, including rich and middle-class people. People nowadays like nice, clean rooms and some atmosphere,
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and it’s all about the design of the building. We now have the technology that makes it possible for us to give them all that. My process is more expensive than his, too. We both use the same material but for different purposes. I’m catering to a different market than he is.” Markus now has several ongoing projects throughout the country, from Chiang Mai to Khao Yai. The business is expanding, but he still makes sure that each of his earth-andbamboo houses is unique. “We don’t build anything twice. Every place is different. I think a house should be built for the people who live in it, not for the person who built it. I want to build a house that people feel is the most comfortable for them. We go to their property and find out which direction the sun comes up, which direction the wind comes from and where the rain comes from.” His small, one-bedroom cottage costs around 600,000700,000 baht — not exactly cheap. But it’s not the customisation that makes it cost more. “What costs more is that I use people,” says Markus. “I use local manpower for philosophical reasons. I use hill tribe people who grew up with bamboo, who know bamboo. Quality has its costs. If you look closely there are no nails in the bamboo. If you put a nail in there, it will crack the bamboo. If you want to make things last,” Markus explains, “you have to use the same kind of materials together: steel with steel, bamboo with bamboo.” Back at Panyaden school, where the curriculum is infused with the core ideas of Buddhism, children are running around freely in bare feet. Markus, a Buddhist, said this is the right way for children to grow: “Children must have a chance to feel the earth, to get dirty, to learn to fall and get back up.”
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Cashmere comeback
New York-based Thai designer her return to fashion after a two-year sabbatical.
text: bek van vliet / photographer: benya hegenbarth makeup artist: rinpapak sookariyakul / hair stylist: withawas ritcheelong / stylist:araya indra
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oi Suwannagate arrives at the photographer’s studio with a suitcase of samples. This cache of vintage cashmere – some pieces from past collections, some from her new line – is to dress the diminutive designer for the day’s shoot. Koi’s petite frame allows her the uncommon opportunity to make samples to her own measurements. It also allows her to design within familiar parameters, which is key to her creative process. After 14 years in the industry, she has learned the value of sticking to what she knows. It’s a philosophy she hopes will get her back on track after a two-year break from designing. Koi debuted the Koi Suwannagate line in 2001 with an eponymous collection of handcrafted pieces displaying great detail and workmanship. Cashmere emerged as her signature fabric, with frequently recurring motifs of handmade flowers, frills and fur embellishments. Her designs are famous for being flattering to the female figure – the cashmere is form-fitting without being restrictive and her soft silhouettes are elegant without being rigid. Worn by the likes of Demi Moore, Natalie Portman and Nicole Kidman, the Koi Suwannagate line has enjoyed the favour of Hollywood’s leading ladies. That trend continues today, with Oscar winner Lupita Ngony’o wearing a piece from Koi’s sweater line, Whim, at the New York press day for 12 Years a Slave. Koi is a big fan of the 31 year-old actress, who is already considered somewhat of a fashion icon. A better omen for the designer’s comeback could hardly be imagined.
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On vacation in Thailand to get inspiration for her upcoming projects, Koi appears fresh and relaxed. If she’s suffering from jetlag, she doesn’t show it. She’s devoid of the pretentiousness half-expected from fashion’s elite and keeps up a light-hearted back-and-forth with her stylist and sometime creative advisor, “Art” Araya Indra. The two have known each other since university. “We’re like sisters,” she explains. Wearing natural makeup and a lightly tousled bob, Koi appears as comfortable modelling her clothes as she is making them. The down-to-earth designer deflects any compliments, however, attributing her ease in front of the camera to good styling. “Most of the time when you have a photo shoot, they put so much makeup on you that you don’t feel yourself,” she says. “But not today. Today I feel beautiful.” Aside from research and seeing friends and family, she’ll spend her time in the Kingdom stocking up on clothes by her favourite Thai labels “like Theatre, Issue and Soda.” Koi’s career breakthrough came in 2007 when she was nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CDFA)/Vogue Fashion Fund Award. She didn’t win, but the nomination itself is a highlight of any career in fashion design, an honour bestowed upon few. The recognition not only opened up career opportunities, it legitimised several years of work in fashion – something that meant a great deal when Koi had never really considered herself a designer.
I’m proud to be Thai and I like things that take time to make. To me they’re more meaningful.
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What I do in New York is craft and people just go nuts for it. They’re like ‘Wow, I can’t believe you do that by hand.’
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As a consequence of her newfound popularity she was invited to stage a runway show for New York Fashion Week in 2009. For an artist who could spend up to three weeks creating a single item, this was an Augean task and one that necessitated a whole new way of making clothes. Runway shows require themes and complete looks that include jackets and trousers – pieces Koi was unaccustomed to making. “I knew at that point I had to change the way I created,” she says. “I had to do things I’m not good at and take my work to a business level. I didn’t even finish fashion school so I don’t really know how to make a pattern or sew properly.” Despite the challenges, she produced enough looks for the show, and came up with several more seasons’ worth over subsequent years, keeping up the momentum. Eventually, however, it all became too demanding, and after releasing a Fall 2010 collection, Koi quit. “I got tired of it. As an artist, I stop developing when I stop thinking of this as art – I’m just not inspired to do things I don’t want to do. If it’s something I’m not enjoying anymore, I just don’t want to go to work.” Overwhelmed and overworked, she implemented a change and moved to the Virgin Islands. Even in the Caribbean, Koi kept creating. She designed three capsule collections for CC-Double-O and collaborated with laundry-detergent giant Comfort, designing a dress for the project and appearing in a TV commercial. She also continued to fill custom orders from private clients. Her name never disappeared
from fashion discourse, and her desire to work in the industry never waned. Eventually, island pace became detrimental to productivity rather than beneficial. Professional opportunities were few, and when it came to making connections and meeting clients, naturally the US mainland was the place to be. Not interested in half-measures, she saw New York as the perfect place for a second chance. “It’s the fashion capital. I wanted to be close to everyone I needed to be close to.” The return of Koi Suwannagate has seen a diversification of her talents. The first is a diffusion line called Sole Estate, featuring a limited-edition line of sweaters called Whim. The Whim pullovers are crafted from vintage silk scarves Koi found on eBay and in flea markets and at estate sales. The line has just 365 pieces and is an exclusive offering of numbered, one-of-a-kind sweaters priced from US $740 to US $2,240 (around 24,000 to 73,000 baht). They came about as a direct result of living in New York, where clothes must be both chic and practical and must transition from morning to evening. “Being in New York makes me want to do things more practically. You do everything so fast and you don’t have time to go back home after work and change clothes. I came up with the pullovers because they’re a lifesaver on a day when you don’t know what to wear. Those pieces are important in your wardrobe as you just wear one of those and it makes your whole outfit. You can transform.
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You can wear them with a long, black skirt and a piece of jewellery, or you can just wear them with jeans. And because of their value, they’re special. You’re proud to wear one to a nice dinner because it’s vintage – a silk scarf that no one has but you.” Another addition to Koi’s fashion repertoire are the “Victory for Thailand” T-shirts. Created in a charitable collaboration to raise money for Thailand’s farmers, the two T-shirt designs – both featuring with the letter “V” in red, white and blue – became “it” shirts in Bangkok around Valentine’s Day. For a time, they were familiar sights in protest zones and on Instagram. “I always wanted to do something charitable like that, but it was almost like I was waiting for something to happen, you know? Then this opportunity presented itself, and if my name can raise some money, why not? I wanted to create a wave of something positive – I think that’s what everyone needs. We need to feel like we are reaching a goal. So I thought the word ‘victory’ was perfect for it.” Returning to Thailand as an expat when it’s in the middle of political turmoil is never easy. For a Thai living abroad there’s a sense of helplessness and distance. Designing the T-shirt was a way Koi could contribute to the cause. “I look at Thailand like a person. This person is so sweet, a loyal friend, someone who cooks well, has good manners, is always smiling, and always takes you in as family. It’s too good to be destroyed, to be betrayed, and to be mistreated. As a friend of Thailand I wanted to do something to help.” As one of the most prolific Thai nationals in New York’s fashion scene, Koi’s designs naturally invite overseas pundits to look for markers of “Thai-ness” in her designs.
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While she doesn’t feel an obligation to represent Thailand on an aesthetic level, there are nevertheless parts of her heritage that manifest in her work, and techniques that belie her native country. The softly coiled rosettes that ran through her Fall ‘03 collection, the soft ruffles that permeated Fall ‘06 and the hand-stitched embellishments of Fall ‘10 all reiterate the attention to detail found in Lanna carvings, Thai silk weaving and Northern Thailand’s Hmong-style cross-stitching. “Ever since I was little I used to make things by hand. Similarly, what I do in New York is craft and people just go nuts for it. They’re like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you do that by hand.’ But in Thailand, we grew up with it. The way we eat, the way we wrap food, the way we carve our vegetables – this is our way of life. I’m proud to be Thai and I like things that take time to make. To me they’re more meaningful.” Yet there are some things Thailand cannot provide the designer. One of them is an internationally diverse audience, one that nurtures the more folky forms of fashion artistry. In Thailand, there’s more pressure to sell, and to do that a designer must become more commercial, look more at trends and copy what’s popular in the mass media. “It’s a shame because in Thailand we have such good craftsmanship. Lots of my designer friends say the same thing – decoration and craft don’t sell. The only stuff that sells is what people see in movies – things that are not very creative, but pretty. I understand that most people just want to look pretty but it’s not inspiring. Being inspiring takes a different attitude and not everyone has that kind of attitude. I wish there was more support of traditional crafts in Thailand so we could take it to an international level.”
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New York also offers Koi something even the most diligent worker needs sometimes – a good kick in the seat. “Being in New York makes you feel young, makes you feel alive, makes you feel like you need to be active, otherwise you can’t survive. At this point in my life, I need that, I need a push. I stopped for two years and I feel like someone who hasn’t exercised for a long time, I need to get out there and start walking and then start running. Also,” she adds, “I’m looking to open my own store in New York.” A growing empire of product lines – Koi Suwannagate, Sole Estate, Whim, and other items yet to be decided upon (“rugs, home stuff, flatware, candles, placemats handcrafted in different materials”), needs a strong foundation and a place to call home. For Koi, this means opening a branded boutique, something she believes will bring unlimited business opportunities – the chance to meet new clients, market new items and, in turn, be inspired by visitors from all walks. “It’s a big risk and I’m so nervous about it, but you can’t make a decision based on fear,” she says. “You have to make decisions based on your ability and your hope. Even though it’s a big risk, it will be very rewarding.” Once the store is up and running, Koi plans to push the commercial aspect of her newly launched website. Right now, SoleEstateNyc.com has the capability to sell all three of her lines, but, like the Koisuwannagate.com site, it serves mostly as an online portfolio of her work. Until people are able to first see, feel and try on her more
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expensive offerings in a physical store, she believes the site is better suited as a visual reference point for customers. “Selling high-end stuff online is a whole different ball game, and I have a tough exchange policy,” she explains. A boutique will also allow Koi to work at her own pace. The burn-out of 2010 was due to taking on too much and forcing herself down creative avenues she wouldn’t ordinarily follow. But keeping the original Koi Suwannagate line alive – and reinventing it – is imperative, and so is a dedicated physical space, if she’s to successfully juggle all her projects in a way that doesn’t suppress creativity. Koi never really identified as a fashion designer, so creative integrity is at the root of her success and happiness. “I’m a creator; I always want to create something and you can’t make something great if you’re not true to yourself.” A typical day for Koi entails waking up around 6am, preparing homemade granola, walking to the studio and staying there until the building closes, at around 10pm. “Then I go home, I soak myself in a hot tub to relax my muscles and sleep like a baby. Repeat, and I’m happy.” There are no parties, no lengthy skincare routines and no gym sessions. “I’m a workaholic. I use one moisturiser for everything. I sleep 10 hours if I can, but I have to have at least seven hours.” For someone who makes a living designing clothes, she’s admits she’s less than fashion-forward. “I don’t look stylish, I really don’t. I just wear whatever’s comfortable. Every time I dress up I
I’m a creator; I always want to create something and you can’t make something great if you’re not true to yourself.
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feel uncomfortable, because most of the time I end up in the studio, working.” One thing that stands out in Koi’s day-to-day as a designer is that she doesn’t actually design. She never sketches; she just works on a single piece until she’s happy with it. The process can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, but it’s this uncertainty that makes the process exciting. That she can start a piece and have no idea how it will turn out is one of her biggest joys as an artist. It doesn’t always work out – there have been cases where she wasn’t happy with the result – but this usually only happens when she’s constrained to a collection, under pressure to make pieces she’s not comfortable with. Otherwise, the fun is in just going wherever the individual piece takes her. “They kind of pour into me,” she explains. “Whatever I make just comes out. I don’t have an expectation because I don’t sketch. Sometimes I don’t know how I come up with it. If I lived in Thailand my design sense would be different because you have to sell, you have to blend trends into your designs. That’s why I’d rather be in a city where people are open to different ideas – that’s the only way you grow as a creator.” Koi’s unorthodox technique is unintentionally green. By repurposing vintage cashmere and old Hermès scarves, she’s breathing a luxurious new life into items that were more likely to end up in a recycling bin than on a runway. No material is thrown away – scraps are turned into sleeves and
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off-cuts transformed into colourful blooms. Everything is made in-house. If a garment needs to be coloured, Koi uses natural dyes, and any fur used in collections is taken from old coats, scarves and stoles. Adding bits here and there, she likes to play with designs until the finished product emerges. With such an open-ended, labour-intensive process, isn’t it difficult to part with her creations? “I don’t have a hard time letting go of the pullovers,” she says. “But with the older designs, I keep the first piece I make. I feel like those pieces have captured a moment – the point at which I first created something. Those pieces are like sculptures for me, so I want to keep that moment.” In the future, Koi hopes these items might wind up in an exhibition or a museum, or that she’ll have the chance one day to present them as a retrospective of art works. Back in New York, Koi has appointments lined up with buyers, stylists and editors. She has to scout for locations for her boutique and start thinking about how to reinvent the Koi Suwannagate line. Equipped with more than 14 years of experience and with a better sense of what works for her as an artist, she’s excited for round two. “I finally know what I should do. Yes, there are still things that I need to figure out, but I feel that if I stay safe, I’m not living my life.”
I don’t look stylish, I really don’t. I just wear whatever’s comfortable. Every time I dress up I feel uncomfortable.
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s Bangkok’s art scene soaring or stagnating? On a smaller collector base, some artists do well: the neorecent Friday evening at V64, the city’s only artist traditionalists who appeal to Thailand’s noveau riche, studio community, the signals could best be described as a handful of emerging and established artists. There are mixed. Creatively, there was much to be excited about. some, namely those with a cushion of family wealth to fall Keeping the 400-strong crowd in situ was rocking live back on, who can afford to fail. But for many, especially music, an art raffle and, more importantly, artists honing those whose art practice is truly experimental, taking on work in every direction, from sculptures to giant graffiti extra jobs (think teachers or graphic designers), selling a murals and impressionist studies of cats. It was the suburban watered-down version of their work to unschooled tourists, art enclave’s third birthday party and the residents had or much worse, giving up entirely, is the solution. “Perhaps I should move to Singapore,” jokes V64 pulled out all the stops. And yet, on my tour with Linjie Zhou, V64’s marketing and PR manager, it quickly resident Athima Tongloom, who gave up a career in became clear that this creative outburst was not so much magazines to become a full-time ceramic artist a year ago. She is referring to the way a celebration as the last the Singapore government hurrah. Due to a shortage of gives a big leg-up to its buyers, they are struggling artists in the form of grants, to pay the rent and V64, overseas residencies and in this incarnation at least, subsidised studios, to say seems doomed. nothing of its world-class “Our biggest mistake art schools. It might be was not making the a form of soft power, an concept clear when we first artificial inducement aimed opened,” she lamented at turning Singapore into while walking me around a prosperous and edifying the main warehouse. “Some art hub, but it appears to artists think this place can be working. At least on the help them sell the art, but artist’s level. actually V64 is an artist’s “Without the support of studio. We never promised the National Arts Council we could sell their art well I would not be where I am each month.” Another Could Bangkok’s under-thetoday,” says Robert Zhao bone of contention: the radar art market be set for Renhui, a 35-year-old need to give their work a a boom? artist with a capacious studio commercial gloss to gain at Singapore’s state-run sales. “Most artists here also have a stall at Chatuchak Weekend market, and many Goodman Arts Studio. A neat, sprawling facility, its tenants create for the market,” she explained. “Sometimes if the include Chinese Opera troupes, sound artists, emerging client doesn’t like the colour of a painting or wants to painters and international names such as the comic book add a bird or something, they will change it. The artist artist and illustrator Sonny Liew. “As well as my rent being might not like it but if they need the money they do it.” only 50 percent of the usual commercial rate, I also get With many of its residents having no formal training, travel grants for my overseas shows,” adds Robert. “Plus, and most churning out paintings aimed at the home rather I was awarded a production grant which allows me to work than galleries, V64 might only have been a sideshow in the for a year on a major project.” Other benefits include the local scene. But the fact is that this dynamic of struggle – peer exchange – artists critique each other’s work – and the slippery tug of war between financial imperative and frequent visits by international curators. So generous is creative integrity – goes nearly all the way to the top. In the government that Robert, whose ecologically-centred, Bangkok, with its small private gallery sector and even photography-based practice featured in the latest edition
Art Scene 2.0
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of the Singapore Biennale, and sells well, confesses to and they just need some extra land and proper non-chemical sometimes feeling embarrassed when he meets up with his fertilisers to flourish,” she adds. “A studio complex like V64 finds it very hard to pay their rent, and a little further aid struggling regional compadres. Is this the tack Bangkok should be following? Or is the would assure its sustainability. I don’t see any complacency struggle and detachment from the state part of what lends breeding here.” it frisson and spark? “I’ve never subscribed to the romantic n another sense, Bangkok’s art scene is thriving. Ask myth that artists must suffer to be brilliant,” says Gregory a local art aficionado to sum it up and the majority Galligan, founder of the Thai Art Archives, which relies on private funding. “Too many artists and art world professionals will tell you it’s more exciting than ever. As respected Irishhere still struggle to make a living, thus exhausting their born lecturer, art critic and curator Brian Curtin puts it, energies in worrying about day-to-day affairs.” That said, “The scene has diversified and become less conservative. It he is unsure the Singapore model is the right one. It’s too possesses a tangible sense of potential, seems young, and an artificial and too market driven, he thinks, plus “most of older ‘mafia’-type of gatekeeper has waned in the last few years.” Every month brings a bevy of new what we see happening there tends to shows, the majority of which are listed in take root rather forcibly, top down, in a BAM, the city’s free arts map. And in the political and social context that cannot past year, the rate at which independent be compared to Thailand’s” he says. I don’t think new platforms spring up has increased Instead, he would like to see a more the Singapore (BK Magazine recently ran a roundup of organic support framework for artists model is good seven of the most “unconventional,” take root. for the art in though some in the scene moaned that Rirkrit Tiravanija, Thailand’s most the long run, many are “party places.”) internationally famous artist and the because you Many of these spaces are owned or globetrotting posterboy for “relational start to become part-owned by Westerners. Many are aesthetics,” agrees. “I don’t think the complacent, also, by virtue of their location in ratty Singapore model is actually good for as you know old shophouses and warehouses, tacit the art in the long run, because you start you always heritage preservation activists, railing to become complacent, as you know have support. against the ceaseless tide of vapid urban you always have support,” he told me development. But while the scene feels when I met him recently at 100 Tonson energised, artist-driven, progressive and Gallery, a decade-old veteran of the fresh, in some ways Bangkok has been scene notable for, among other things, here before. being the first of only a handful of local In the 1990s and early 2000s another generation of galleries to do international art fairs, such as Art Basel and Art Stage Singapore. He spoke, somewhat elliptically, of self-starters – returnees schooled in the West – opened up “other Western models that breed vibrant ideas and cultures,” spaces that valued experimentation above profit: the likes of and “the need to have thinking space – space where people About Café, Project 304 and Gallery Ver. Uncompromised by government bureaucracy, these specialised in avant garde are free to think and say things.” Others believe Thailand’s comparably young market art that owed nothing to the predominant Thai system, needs comparably drastic inflows. “The Singapore which was (and remains) centred around conservative government’s level of support is ideal actually,” says Luckana Silapakorn University and decorative neo-traditional Kunavichayanont, head of the Bangkok Art & Culture depictions of “Thainess.” But, while they made a lasting Centre, the nine-storey government facility that opened in impact, most were short-lived. With the art rarely saleable, 2008 after a decade of intense lobbying. “Its investment in most were flagging by the early 2000s. Today only Rirkrit’s infrastructure like gallery complexes, art fairs, the biennale, Gallery Ver (though currently homeless) survives, and this artist studios, a new grand-scale national art gallery – we only because he bankrolls it. Could a similar fate befall the new wave of Bangkok have already requested all these things but have hardly been answered.” “The organic crops are already there, so to speak, spaces? Though many of the forty or so currently listed
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in BAM are more commercially focussed, and others in late May, just after the Hong Kong edition of Art Basel. are multi-purpose or have deep pockets due to wealthy The location: another slick digs, Lang Suan Road’s Luxx XL backers, the omens aren’t good. “Not enough collectors!,” boutique hotel. For now the aim is to stay local, says Top, screeched one prominent gallerist in response to a survey as attracting international galleries and buyers takes time. I sent around while researching this story. This echoes the But that will change. “After four years of press cuttings and sentiment of many: the majority of the gallerists I spoke to, measuring the numbers, we’re going to start inviting them,” including representatives from prominent players such as he says. Other grassroots-led projects from the recent past, or Toot Yung, Thavibu and Kathmandu Photo Gallery, said it was a hard task closing sales. This is the rarely spoken-of looming on the horizon, include Thaillywood, an artist reality. Though bubbling nicely on the surface, Bangkok’s residency facility near Pattaya dabbling in “community art scene is insular and lacks the ingredients necessary to outreach” and “intercultural dialogue.” Another is 2013’s take it to the next level: global presence and market buzz. Bukruk, Bangkok’s first street art festival (funding came Compounding the situation is the fact that only a handful of from six cultural institutes belonging to European Union member states). A partially stategalleries (Whitespace, 100 Tonson) do funded Pattaya Biennale with a bevy of the major art fairs – now an important world-class artists and curators at the way to build international attention. Elegance is not helm, including the eminent Italian Some players are trying to drum up youth-centric. Although curator Pier Luigi Tazzi and Project 304 trade, and without government help. Life experience bubbling nicely founder and Bangkok art scene mainstay “All the events supported by them don’t increases on the surface, Gridthiya Gaweewong, is also in the last and entail too much red tape, so we the chance Bangkok’s art pipeline. However, only the Biennale, decided to just do one ourselves,” says scene is insular of acquiring if it goes ahead (originally scheduled for Tap Kruavanichkit, co-founder of the and lacks the sophistication. late 2014, it is now delayed due to the city’s first ever hotel art fair. Its inaugural ingredients dissolution of Thailand’s parliament), edition, at the ultra-slick Maduzi necessary to stands a good chance of putting Boutique Hotel in February 2013, was take it to the Bangkok’s still parochial scene on the a spirited attempt to attract Bangkok’s next level: global global art map. young, wealthy socialites, a sector more presence and The most valuable addition to given to snapping up fast cars and fine market buzz. Bangkok’s art infrastructure would, wines than contemporary art. Attendees Gregory believes, be a “truly progressive, to its nightly parties encountered a rare civic-minded, contemporary art dose of dressy Hong Kong-esque glam. museum.” Since 2001, Thailand has had Instead of the usual crate of free beers and unkempt crowd, cocktails flowed and celebs rocked up. an Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC) and More importantly, there were sales. Overall, it marked a rare its list of achievements includes the aforementioned BACC moment of togetherness for a scene that, due to the lack of and newer Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Centre (as a gallery district or inter-gallery collaboration, often feels well as commissioning a Thai pavilion at the Venice Biennale since 2003). But both are hampered by uneven line-ups too dislocated to be taken seriously. “The first time I wrote emails to the galleries, some that tend to reflect patriotic sensibilities more often than didn’t want to take a chance. They were intimidated because the global currents of the contemporary art world. Plus, the they didn’t want clients to meet the other galleries, plus Thai Kingdom lacks a comprehensive national collection they can artists tend to move around a lot,” says fellow organiser borrow from. “This is one of the most important art scenes Phathaiwat Changtrakul, an ex-artist who, along with Tap, in the world today, but the world hardly knows it, precisely co-runs the Farm Group design consultancy. However, due to this lack of a solid source, or centre, regularly and after favourable post-event reports (most galleries only spectacularly producing important exhibitions and research made modest sales but said it was a good chance to meet new to make that truth globally accessible,” Gregory says. As clients), it looks set to become a regular fixture. The second well as raising Thai art’s profile abroad, such a place would edition is, political turbulence allowing, set to take place also develop art appreciation and a bigger, more keen-eyed
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creating some of the best works in Asia here for as little as 10 or 15,000 baht.” Reinhart has proven good taste – back in the 1990s he was one of the first to buy works by the late Montien Boonma. Today Montien, whose installations for the first time fused Western conceptualism with Thai spirituality before his premature death, is considered the most important Thai artist of his generation and his pieces are highly sought after (though still affordable by global standards). “You just need to be there 10 years before the followers of fashion come. Art is not for the elites, it’s just that they jump on it once it’s famous,” he says. Disaphol Chansiri, perhaps the country’s most respected collector and the founder of DCA, the city’s only art consultancy, agrees that iewing the Bangkok art market Thai art is undervalued – for now. “I from another perspective – the don’t believe – I know – that in the near global one – raises other questions. “I don’t believe future, people will pick up on Thai art. These include: Why is Bangkok’s market – I know – that I know because lots of collectors, dealers only a fleabite compared to its regional in the future, and auction houses come and talk to neighbours? And why are Indonesian people will pick me and really want to support it. We and Filipino artists hot, but Thai ones up on Thai art. all agree it’s undervalued.” Stored in not? As discussed, Bangkok’s stunted I know because Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Disaphol’s market goes some way to explaining, collectors, collection is international and eclectic but there are external factors too. The dealers and – think Jean-Michel Basquiet paintings, deep-rooted biases of the West and a auction houses Cindy Sherman prints, and Damien lack of cross-cultural dialogue with it come and talk Hurst skulls – but now he’s focussing (something that exists in, say, Indonesia to me and on Thai works again. They are too due to its Dutch colonial history) might really want to affordable to pass up, especially the be part of the reason. A paucity of support it. older ones. “In the past couple of extended literature in English, a vital sales years I’ve moved back to buying pieces tool, is another. According to Brian, by Thai masters, such as Ajarn Fua who is one of the scene’s most rigorously Haripitak and Ajarn Sawat Tantisuk. well-informed lifelines with the outside world, many foreign curators and gallerists claim to have The prices are so undeveloped, often lower than new works.” As well as bargains, an undernourished and untapped little idea about what Thai art is actually about. “In Manila and Indonesia, artists have organised themselves in terms of market is also making for more creative freedom. “It’s common aims; and Cambodian artists have been explicitly not like film,” says Manit Sriwanichpoom, the acclaimed political about Khmer history and contemporaneity. There photographer who has run Kathmandu Photo Gallery are comparable examples here, but the ‘Thai sensibility’ is without drama for years, but then ran into trouble with the censors for Shakespeare Must Die, his first foray into film. not so well known,” he says. Whatever the reasons, Bangkok is “under the radar” and, “Artists can be independent and experimental, or political unless the auction houses declare it the next big thing, looks or socially engaged,” agrees Gridthiya. Above all, the general set to remain so. Net result: Bangkok is a buyer’s market, consensus appears to be this: the fact that Bangkok hasn’t yet teeming with world-class art at bargain-bin prices. At least capitulated to the vicissitudes of art world commerce is not such a bad thing – that what the scene lacks in auction-house that’s what some of its most avid collectors believe. “Good art doesn’t have to be expensive,” says Reinhart favourites it makes up for with raw, untainted talent. As it Frais, “and in comparison to Indonesia, China and Vietnam, lumbers, unevenly but steadily, forward, the challenge will Thai art is cheap. Extremely cheap. A new generation is be capitalising on that without compromising it. collector base at home. “At present, if a young Thai wants to know their country’s art history, they have to piece it together from every possible direction, and from sources widely dispersed and often obscured by neglect,” he adds. Could such a bold institution come to pass? Anything is possible, says Luckana, as long as the collective shouts of civil society are loud enough. “It’s worth remembering that the establishment of the OCAC and BACC both resulted from a bottom-up push, something that rarely occurred in the past,” she says. “Increasingly, the art community sets their own agenda and the central and local government takes it as their duty to support.”
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With its long, rich history of investing in culture, Chicago today is home to some of the world’s most outstanding art, design and architecture. by keith mundy
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Anish Kapoor’s stainless steel Cloud Gate sculpture in Millennium Park.
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f you like great art, of yesterday and today, and above all architecture – 442 metres high in the case of the Willis Tower, the second-tallest building in the Americas – Chicago is your kinda town. This is a tall city built on commerce, and unashamedly so. The phrase “There’s a sucker born every minute” was reputedly coined here, and a gigantic and abusive meat-packing industry was at the heart of Chicago’s prosperity until the mid-20th century, as exposed in The Jungle, Upton Sinclair’s classic 1906 novel of capitalist exploitation and corruption. Mix in the Roaring Twenties gangsterism of Al Capone and the city’s notorious Democrat political machine and the picture isn’t pretty.
But it is a city whose better side has long invested in art, design and architecture, a city with aesthetic yearnings and a predilection for eye-catching statements. In Chicago, creativity in the public space seems as highly valued as making a dollar. In this money-loving town whose political finagling is legendary, a piece of public art or a striking structure is as likely to catch the eye as a corporate logo or a brash billboard. The city which nurtured the ground-breaking artists Georgia O’Keefe, Claes Oldenburg and Jeff Koons, the town where architects Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe made revolutionary strides in building technique, Chicago can’t help but dazzle anybody
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The city nurtured ground-breaking artists like Georgia O’Keefe, Claes Oldenburg and Jeff Koons, and it is where architects like Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe made revolutionary strides.
with an eye for the beauty of the modern. As Calamity Jane, played by Doris Day, sang: “The windy city is mighty pretty.” A brief trek through downtown, in the central Loop district, into its concrete, steel and glass canyons and out into its breezy public spaces and parks, will soon convince you.
Art nouveau ornamentation on the Carson Pirie Scott Building.
Art Walk Start walking with plenty of company at Grant Park on the lakeshore, where a cluster of 106 headless cast-iron figures, about three metres tall, stride this way and that – an artwork called “Agora” by Magdalena Abakanowicz – then head north into Millennium Park to be mesmerised by the Crown Fountain. This artwork consists of two 16-metre glass towers separated by a granite basin, which project a series of video images of the faces of 1,000 Chicagoans filmed by artist Jaume Plensa. From time to time, a face pushes out its lips and spouts an arc of water,
showering the shrieking crowd below. Nearby shines Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, dubbed “The Bean” by locals, an enormous kidney-bean of polished steel which reflects and distorts the skyline along with its viewers. In the park too is the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor concert venue with curling ribbons of steel that frame the stage and connect to a trellis sound system. Exiting the park at the northwest corner and heading west on Randolph Street, you encounter We Will, 12 metres of soaring and twisting stainless steel that is local artist Richard Hunt’s ode to the city’s diversity. Stroll west to the James R. Thompson Center’s plaza at LaSalle Street to see Jean Dubuffet’s white-and-black fibreglass sculpture, Monument with Standing Beast. Somewhat of an enigma, confounded Chicagoans call it “Snoopy In A Blender.” Next, head to Daley Plaza to see the work that in 1967 started off the public art spree that so marks Chicago today, created by no less than Pablo Picasso. About the subject of this unnamed steel sculpture, 15 metres tall, opinions wildly vary – a woman’s head, one of the artist’s Afghan hounds, an aardvark, a giant insect about to eat a smaller one. Add your own contribution to a modern Chicago guessing game. Newspaper columnist Mike Royko, covering the sculpture’s unveiling, credited Picasso with understanding the soul of Chicago. “Its eyes are like the eyes of every slum owner who made a buck off the small and weak,” he wrote with home-town feeling, “and of every building inspector who took a wad from a slum owner to make it all possible.” Whatever Picasso’s work means, the curving steel sheet at
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Unnamed Chicago Civic Center sculpture by Pablo Picasso.
“Its eyes are like the eyes of every slum owner who made a buck off the small and weak,” newspaper columnist Mike Royko wrote of the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza, “and of every building inspector who took a wad from a slum owner to make it all possible.”
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its base has given visitors a nice slide for almost half a century. Another 20th-century master has a sculpture across the street in a little plaza, Joan Miro’s Chicago, originally titled The Sun, the Moon and One Star, a 10-metre-tall earth goddess in concrete, metals and ceramics, in the Catalan artist’s characteristic style. Head south to Exelon Plaza to wander round Marc Chagall’s Four Seasons, a 22-metre-long block faced with mosaic tiling that depicts Chicago’s changing seasons in the Russian Jewish artist’s unmistakable style, then press onward two blocks to Federal Plaza to be dazzled by Alexander Calder’s Flamingo, whose drama makes a great climax – walking under it as well as around it. A flame-red 194
The Oak Park houses by architect Frank LLoyd Wright.
If you had to name one place that represents Chicago’s cultural excellence above all others, it has to be the Art Institute of Chicago, the kind of museum where you find great artworks you’ve known all your life, in the flesh.
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steel structure arches over a paved plaza, evoking the spindly elegance of a flamingo bending down to feed in water, starkly contrasting with the black steel office buildings around it. Second City Chicago’s public art is the most obvious sign of a cultured city, but in fact, such is the burgeoning of the arts of all kinds that Chicago has long labelled itself “Second City,” bowing only to New York as a fount of American culture. A theatre centre that rivals Broadway (and lately outdoes it, some say), the possessor of one of the world’s finest art museums as well as a galaxy of galleries, the home of the electric blues and a thriving music scene that recently produced Kanye West, Chicago makes a big cultural noise. If you had to name one place that represents Chicago’s cultural excellence above all others, it has to be the Art Institute of Chicago. This is the kind of museum where you find great artworks you’ve known all your life, in the flesh. Take that pointillist picture by Seurat of Parisians relaxing in a park beside the Seine, one of the most iconic impressionist works. A Sunday Afternoon on the Grande Jatte is here. Even better, take two famous paintings which arguably represent America more powerfully than any others: American Gothic by Grant Wood, and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. The first, portraying a 19thcentury farmer with a pitchfork and his sober wife, evokes the self-reliant pioneer spirit and rural conservatism. The second, showing isolated figures in a late-night diner, evokes modern urban convenience and loneliness. They are both in the
Art Institute, along with a particularly fine collection of Impressionist and PostImpressionist art, other European and American art, Asian art, Western decorative arts, and industrial and graphic design. It’s the kind of worldclass museum you can spend a day in and only scratch the surface. For contemporary art, the galleries of River North, a former warehouse district just north of the Loop transformed into a fashionable leisure district, also provide hours of viewing, and plenty for collectors to buy. “The windy city is mighty arty,” could have sung Calamity Jane (Doris Day version) today. But for all its artistic credentials, it’s in architecture that Chicago really excels, with a skyscraping cityscape that was the world’s first and went on innovating in dazzling style – all spurred by a 19th-century disaster. A swamp beside Lake Michigan found itself an ideal juncture for trading, north to south, east to west, calling itself by its Native American name with a French twist: Chicago. The settlement rapidly became the most important railway hub in North America and by 1871 it was the USA’s biggest city outside the East Coast, built largely from the abundant local wood, including streets made of wood blocks. Just the thing that flames love. That year, a cow kicked over a lantern, the legend goes, starting a catastrophic fire which razed a good part of the city. Chicago had to pretty much start again. In a classic case of adversity turned to opportunity, new building codes were established and set the scene for innovation. Reach For The Sky Hitting on the idea of transferring the load-bearing
FACT FILE Flights All Nippon Airways www.ana.co.jp flies daily to Chicago via Tokyo. Cathay Pacific www.cathaypacific. com flies daily to Chicago via Hong Kong. Hotels Hotel Burnham, 1 West Washington St; tel. +001 312 782 1111, www. burnhamhotel.com . A boutique hotel occupying the Reliance Building, one of the first skyscrapers, named after its innovative architect, Daniel Burnham. The Drake, 140 East Walton Plaza; tel. +001 312 787 2200, www. thedrakehotel.com . Built in 1920, the grande dame of Chicago hotels, with a lobby inspired by an Italian Renaissance palazzo and velvet seats in the lifts. Attractions Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Michigan Avenue; tel. +001 312 443 3600, www.artic.edu Open daily 10.30am-5pm. Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, 951 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park; tel. +001 312 994 4000, www. flwright.org . One-hour guided tours between 10am and 4pm daily.
One of the two iconic bronze lion statues outside the Art Institute of Chicago.
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A view of LaSalle Street looking South, showing the Chicago Board of Trade and the Financial District.
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A good way to see Chicago’s skyscraper forest – a constant rival to Manhattan’s – is to take a cruise along the Chicago River, or an open-top bus tour. Either way, you’re able to look up at the mighty sights without tripping or bumping into things, as you might whilst walking, and take in the city’s architectural majesty relaxing in a seat.
He brought the minimalist functionality of Bauhaus design to Chicago and made his first great statement in the 26 glassfaced storeys of 1951’s Lake Shore Drive Apartments, and then with the Federal Center, a grouping of glass-walled office towers in the Loop. Chicago’s second burst of reaching for the sky culminated in 1973 with what was then the world’s tallest building, the Sears Tower, its 442 metres holding the record for a quarter of a century. Now known as the Willis Tower, its 103rd storey hosts the vertiginous Skydeck observatory, offering stunning views as far as Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana, as well as a bird’s-eye panorama of the Chicago cityscape – including the latest high-rise, which almost outstripped the Willis, the 423-metre Trump Tower, completed in 2009. A good way to see Chicago’s skyscraper forest – a constant rival to Manhattan’s – is to take a
cruise along the Chicago River, or an open-top bus tour. Either way, you’re able to look up at the mighty sights without tripping over or bumping into things, as you might whilst walking, and take in the city’s architectural majesty relaxing in a seat, with a commentary to inform you about what you’re seeing. Beautiful Burbs There is a third starchitect who made his name in Chicago, and this time not by building high but by making beautifully practical homes. Many a person’s ideal home originates in the kind of style invented by Frank Lloyd Wright, who lived and worked in the suburb of Oak Park, not far west of the Loop, from 1889 to 1913. Designing in his Prairie House style with low horizontal lines and open interior spaces, he left a legacy of dozens of distinctive homes in that leafy suburb, making a stimulating tour for those who like the Wright stuff.
photo: ©corbis / proile
duties from masonry walls to steel skeletons, the Chicago School of architects invented the skyscraper in the late 19th century. With Louis Sullivan as their leading light, Chicago’s architects were able to build high in a square-block style with plenty of windows, giving the city’s buildings a revolution in height and light. Coming in from Deadwood City, Calamity Jane was amazed to “press a bell and a moment later, up you go in an elevator, just as fast as a polecat a-climbing a tree.” Relics of those pioneering days still mark the city, such as the Marquette Building, the Fisher Building, and the Reliance Building, all from the 1890s. Now the elegant Hotel Burnham, the Reliance boasted an abundance of plateglass windows which presaged the modern skyscraper. The first genius of the steeland-glass skyscraper made his name in Chicago, a German named Mies van der Rohe.
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design destinations Chicago stands as one of North America’s landmarks for art and design, while these cities carry the same torch in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Chicago is “more representative of America than New York,” wrote the novelist Saul Bellow, adding that he thought it was “vulgar but vital.”
Oak Park has another American great to offer, Ernest Hemingway, who was born and grew up in the next block to Wright’s, contemporaneously. Hemingway is commemorated in three places – his birthplace, his boyhood home, and a museum, all close by – making Oak Park a must-see for Hemingway buffs. Another great novelist who long lived in Chicago, Saul Bellow found the city an inspiration that was “more representative of America than New York,” a city more favoured as home by writers. Bellow thought Chicago “vulgar but vital,” a notion emotionally amplified by one of the city’s great bluesmen, Jimmy Reed. “Bright lights, big city, gone to my baby’s head,” Reed lamented. But really, if you’re going to let a big city carry you away, Chicago’s not a bad choice – tall, swaggering and with an artful kick.
Shanghai In the first half of the 20th century, Shanghai was the Chicago of the East, a gofor-it commercial city with soaring skyscrapers and a violent underworld. Along its curving waterfront, called the Bund, there rose a string of tall and majestic buildings, many in Art Deco style, housing banks, shipping companies and hotels. In its second coming, since China’s commercial rebirth in the 1980s, Shanghai is doing it again, most spectacularly with a new business district across the Huangpu River from the Bund on a former marsh called Pudong. What rose from the swamp is a dazzling collection of skyscrapers, a playground for architects to outdo each other with high-rise structures in a manner even brasher than Chicago or New York in the 1920s and ‘30s, fronted by a 468-metre TV tower straight out of a sci-fi comic, with gigantic purple glass globes attached to massive concrete tubes. Meanwhile the Bund has resurrected and re-invented itself as both a business and lifestyle destination. Grand establishments of the past reappear in chic new guises. The Union Building, Shanghai’s first steel-framed structure, is now Three On The Bund, an upscale dining and retail venue.
Doha Doha means business, with a style unique amongst Gulf cities. Back from the Corniche boulevard running beside the Qatari capital’s bay, a new business district reaches skyward with gleaming towers in eye-catching shapes: colossal cylinders, spools and gherkins in blue glass and grey steel. Luxury hotels by global brands spread their palatial palm-fringed premises, offering sybaritic pleasures. On the edge of town, the vast campus of Education City bristles with distinctive architecture at every turn, like the huge concrete eggs of the Weill Cornell Medical College. Driving around town, you repeatedly come across oddball monuments: The Water Jars, The Seashell, The CoffeePot, The Oryx, all referring to Qatar’s traditional culture in somewhat hokey style. On the Corniche, an enormous concrete oyster gapes open with a huge pearl set in overflowing water – the Pearl Fountain, a nod to the country’s pearl-diving past. But jutting out from the Corniche on its own islet is the true pearl of today’s Doha, the Museum of Islamic Art, which was designed by I. M. Pei. It is a treasure trove of historical objects, precious artworks and decorative arts housed in a postmodern ziggurat that seems to float on the water.
Helsinki Helsinki was World Design Capital 2012, a title celebrating cities that use design as “a tool to improve social, cultural and economic life”. Design is to Helsinki as the blues are to Chicago, the keynote of the city. Modernist architect Alvar Aalto is globally renowned, while Finn designers such as Tapio Wirkkala and Ilmari Tapiovaara are also household names, their 1940s/’50s furniture passed down as heirlooms. Helsinki is a compact metropolis where it’s easy to walk to important sights. Start at the train terminus, which is a monumental example of Finnish Art Nouveau by architect Eliel Saarinen. Keep looking for more of this ‘Romantic Nationalism’ as you head towards the Baltic Sea waterfront, and you’ll see buildings with heavy stone rustication as though they’ve been hewn from mountains, carved with decorative flourishes. Three modern standouts should not be missed, all located just west of the train station. Aalto’s Finlandia Hall (1971) is a modernist iceberg of a concert and congress venue clad in white Carrara marble. The Church in the Rock (1969) is a temple of quirky power. And the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art (1998) is also worth checking out.