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Published on September 4, 2007

The latest exhibition at Silpakorn University Art Centre purports to dwell on global warming, but after a tour of the mixed-media works, visitors may find themselves wondering what the art has to do with the environment.

In fact, the only work in "Artists & World Environment: Thai-American Art Exhibition 2007" that obviously addresses global warming is an installation at the entrance by American professor and artist George Jercich showing crystal raindrops falling into a plastic-wrapped goblet on top of the globe. To the viewer, there's an obvious link to rising temperatures, increasing water levels and the greenhouse effect.

"Fine art doesn't have a formula," says Asst Prof Thavorn Ko-udomvit of the University's Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Art. "We can't just have a beginning, middle and end like Al Gore's movie."

Artists also seem to be more subtle in their work than musicians, who like to rant about the issue at rock concerts.

But with global warming such a hot issue - Gore even won an Oscar for "An Inconvenient Truth" - Silpakorn has jumped into the frying pan with this exhibition, which runs until September 11.

The show features pieces produced during a two-week workshop by Thai professors and students from the university and their American colleagues from California Polytechnic State University and San Jose State University, where Prof David Middlebrook says global warming is a pressing issue. "We couldn't breathe in California."

With economic growth shifting from the West to the East, energy consumption in this part of the world is on the rise, too. The American artists are keen to highlight the problems the West is now encountering, and convince the East not to repeat their mistakes.

But it takes more than just talk. Awareness has to be transmitted in every form, so the artists decided to illustrate their warnings through multi-media works.

But how do you link a giant red cross, a group of rowing boats, raindrops on a car windshield or photos of Japanese people in the subway to rising temperatures?

"The issue wasn't chosen only because it's hot," says Asst Prof Sone Simatrang, director of the centre.

"Global warming was universal enough to be understood by people from different cultures at the workshop."

According to Sone, the topic helps artists - who tend to live in their own heads - come to grips with real problems in the world. He reckons the exhibition should also change the public perception  that conceptual artists don't pay as much attention to the environment as musicians, filmmakers or writers.

Thavorn's contribution is a two-part piece titled "Flower in Global Warming" and "Flower in 2030". The first work has three photographs of dozens of seedlings neatly arranged in a vegetable patch, while the second shows a collection of artificial-looking plants in a vertical stack.

It may look simple but there's more to it than meets the eye. The photos were taken in a plantation supported by Her Majesty the Queen in Narathiwat province and have a link to the troubles in the South.

Despite the violence and the increasing number of deaths, these small seeds are continuing to grow, explains Thavorn.

"The political unrest is so small compared to what we're doing to the world everyday ... that is, killing the Earth."

If we continue to bully the world, we may have to grow plants artificially in stacks because real trees won't be able to survive the floods.

"The world won't be destroyed by wars," says Thavorn, "but by ordinary civilians."

Jercich's second installation, this one featuring crystal raindrops on a car windshield, is also linked to rising temperatures.

"It's something we tend to overlook or ignore," he says. "But increased rainfall is a result of global warning."

Thongchai Srisukprasert's giant red cross installed in the middle of the hall signifies that the international humanitarian organisation that operates under this banner will have to stretch and stretch to cover those affected by endless natural disasters all over the world.

Sone's installation of four rowing boats with planks serving as a walkway recalls the image of Bangkok as the Venice of the East.

"We've been trying too hard to overcome nature rather than live in harmony with it," he says. "Filling the canals and paving new roads is definitely not the right way to live in a low-lying location like Bangkok."

Senior student Jutharat Khayansalung, who also joined the workshop, is pleased that artists are communicating with the public on environmental issues.

She also hopes these temporary artworks will be turned into a permanent installation and displayed in the heart of the city to make Bangkokians aware that climate change is a serious issue.

Middlebrook agrees, saying Thais tend to pay more attention to a topic if it is presented through symbols.

Thavorn is sympathetic to the idea of a symbol, but warns that the funds and labour involved in realising the project might be in vain "if people [who are destroying the environment everyday] don't grow in awareness".

After the exhibition in Bangkok, the same group of artists will join another workshop at the California universities.

Sirinya Wattanasukchai

 The Nation