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Published on August 24, 2007

Now in their fourth year, the annual awards are given by Culture Ministry's Office of Contemporary Art and Culture to support artists aged 30 to 50. The awards are divided into five fields - visual arts, literature, performing arts, film and music. Unlike in previous years, when only one prize was awarded in each field, this year there are three winners in the field of visual arts: Vasan, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Pinaree Sanpitak.

The other winners this year are writer Siriworn Kaewkan, composer Narong Prang-charoen and performer Nimit Pipithkul.

Each will get Bt100,000 and a Silpathorn pin made of yellow and white gold and encrusted with diamonds and emeralds, worth Bt10,000. The award presentation and exhibition will be held on September 6 at the Queen's Gallery on Rajdamnoen Klang Road, off Phan Fah Bridge.

Vasan is well known for his controversial work in various techniques, from paintings, sculptures and video art to performance, music and poems. He frequently presents self-portraits to satirise politics and also set up the "Artist Party" to mock the policies of the erstwhile Thai Rak Thai Party.

Rirkrit is known for cooking Thai curries in galleries around the globe to question the established relationship between artists and institutions and art and the public. Meanwhile, Pinaree has over the past decade used aspects of the female form as gender metaphors in her projects.

Thunska is the founder of www.thaiindie.com and his 2003 documentary "Happy Berry" won the grand prize at the 4th Taiwan International Documentary Festival 2004. His first 35mm film project, "Heartbreak Pavilion", won the 2005 Pusan Promotion Plan's top award in South Korea.

"Most of my works are about sex. Some think my films are pornographic, but if you bring them together for comparison, you will see the difference. I talk about sex because I feel the hypocrisy around here. We say that we need to maintain our virtuous culture, that nudity is a Western thing. That's so untrue," Thunska says on his website.

Siriworn is a new-wave writer whose compilation "Rueng Lao Khong Khon Banthuek Rueng Lao Thee Nak Lao Rueng Khon Nueng Lao Hai Fang" won an award for best short stories at the 2004 National Book Fair. He was among the finalists for the SeaWrite Award for four consecutive years and recently launched a compilation of poems in "Long Ruea Maa Muea Waan".

Nimit was a prominent figure of the Crescent Moon Theatre and received acclaim for his portrayal of Field Marshal Plaek Phibun-songkhram in the remarkable play "Kue Phoo Apiwat 2475". He now runs his own art house, "Sema Thai", that promotes ethics and morals through puppet theatre.

Narong composes music and currently teaches piano and music composition at the Community Music and Dance Academy Conservatory of Music in the United States. His piece "Phenomenon" won the grand prize at the Pacific Symphony's American Composer Competition in 2005.