Along with Surasi's work, the four-day festival also features remarkable performance pieces such as a reworking of Joan Miro's "Grotesque Puppets", John Cage's "Musicircus", and video documents of revolutionary dance pieces by Trisha Brown.

Exploring the relationship between contemporary art and the viewer, festival curator Catherine Wood has turned the traditional "look but don't touch" ethos of most art galleries on its head with this distinctly interactive and individual live event. Take Surasi's market piece, for example, where museum visitors are encouraged to "take a piece home with them" - and in the true spirit of Thai consumerism, all items cost just £1 (Bt71).

"We have been organising this kind of live event at the museum for a number of years, but previously we have featured just one event at a time. This is the first time we have brought so many live events together, and the event marks our debut festival," Wood said.

"We invited Surasi because his interactive work gives movement to the museum and instantly creates a lively atmosphere. And we love his work, particularly how it inspires visitors to get involved as they make a selection from his products."

Surasi has transformed the eastern end of the Tate Modern's cavernous Turbine Hall into a fabulously flamboyant flea market. The hall is packed with thousands colourful "everyday Thai household items", including hand-crafted fans, plastic chairs, bags, baskets, T-shirts with Thai-language lettering, glass holders, and mosquito nets.

The items fill the space like a rainbow of kitsch - hanging from the ceiling, stacked on a multicoloured array of tables, and even cluttering the floor.

With a speaker in hand and sporting a rather fabulous gold wig, Surasi takes on the role of market salesman as part of his surreal show. Speaking in both Thai and English he encourages visitors to purchase his art pieces and acts as a karaoke-style MC for the Thai pop music on a TV screen, which adds an audio angle to his artwork.

Hundreds of visitors have already flocked to the Tate over the United Kingdom's bank holiday weekend, most of them happy to pick up a purchasable piece of Surasi's art. And while the work may be blurring the boundaries of what constitutes art and consumerism, it seems to have caused little concern among the visitors.

"Like visitors to a market, I just want museum-goers to appreciate my art in an enjoyable atmosphere and share the experience," Surasi said. "Visitors select what they want from the market and place donations in a box which the museum will use for educational projects."

In fact, removing hierarchies by making everything the same price, Surasi's installation is a reflection of modern consumerist society that is heavily weighted with both humour and irony. The nominal fee makes the work literally accessible to all, and the interactive buying process is also an integral part of its conclusion.

This makeshift, everyday form of interactive art recalls some of the central ideas connected with the "Fluxus Movement", which are explored in the "States of Flux" exhibition on the gallery's fifth level.

The festival finishes today.

Phatarawadee Phataranawik

The Nation

LONDON