Yong in Transition
Film Screening
April 26th, 2004
Lao Du Village Community Center, Lamphun

Local filmmaker Santiphap Ingongngam journeyed to his home village Lao Du to explore the gap between generations and the changing way of life amongst his ethnic Yong people who are experiencing the disappearance of old ways in the face of contemporary pressures. He first conducted interviews with the villagers of Lao Du and neighboring Yong villages, most of whom were of the older generation because many of the village's young people have left for opportunities elsewhere. Ingongngam then produced a 20 minute film entitled Yong in Transition, consisting of video footage from these interviews as well as interviews with people of Yong descent in Xingshuabbanna, China. He, thereby, linked the Thai Yong with their origins in China. The film is an intimate and poignant account of the transitional journey of one people as they try to make sense of contemporary ways in order to keep their community and traditions alive. Ingongngam ended his project with a screening of the film to the villagers of Lao Du who received it with emotion and nostalgia.

Pasang Shadows
Shadow Play Workshop with Monthatip Suksopha & The Wandering Moon Performing Group & Endless Journey
May 13-15, 2004
Dhamma Park Foundation, Lamphun

The Wandering Moon Performing Group and Endless Journey conducted a three-day shadow play workshop entitled Pasang Shadows at the Dhamma Park Foundation, Lamphun. The participants were 35 students from some local schools, ages 10 - 14 years old, who were divided into smaller groups. The workshop provided an opportunity for the children to participate in drawing, making shadow puppets, learning about the "shadow", and creating a stage play by using the information from their surroundings in Lamphun. The students were encouraged to gather stories from their own experiences in daily life. Apart from this, they learned to work as a team and how to express themselves and their pride in their hometown. On the last night of the workshop at Dhamma Park, the students performed their own shadow play with the guidance of the Wandering Moon members.

Seeing the Surroundings (Part 1)
Media Art Workshop by the artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff
May 13-16, 2004
Seeing the Surroundings Exhibition at the Chiang Mai University Art Museum
May 21-30, 2004.

In the workshop, the Swedish artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff and students from the Media Art and Design Center, Chiang Mai collaborated on the production of a sound installation. With the training and guidance of Von Hausswolff, the participating students recorded sounds from their local surroundings and edited them in the sound lab. The result was a collaborative sound installation presented in one room for the Seeing the Surroundings Exhibition at Chiang Mai University Art Museum on May 21-30, 2004.

von Hausswolff is a well-known sound installation artist whose works have been shown in many European museums, art educational institutions, and international art exhibitions such as documenta x in Kassel Germany. He is also a curator and invited lecturer.

Art and the Public
Lecture by the Chiang Mai and Fukuoka-based artist Navin Rawanchaikul
June 24, 2004
Rachamongkol University, Chiang Mai

This lecture was given to undergraduate students from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Rachamongkol University by Fukuoka and Chiang Mai-based artist, Navin Rawanchaikul, the director of Fly with Me to Another World project. He spoke about the experiences and inspirations that informed his art practice, including the background of Fly with Me to Another World project and its activities.

Seeing the Surroundings (Part 2)
Community Art Workshop by Bruno Serralongue
June 28 - July 16, 2004
Pasang Secondary School, Lamphun

The French artist Bruno Serralongue, whose art projects border photojournalism, collaborated with local high school students and journalists to conduct a workshop in Lamphun for three weeks on creating print media centered on the documentation of local experiences. The workshop began with a lecture to the students at Pasang Secondary School by Serralongue in which he spoke of his experiences in photojournalism and explained how to present the camera-generated image as a work of art. A local journalist then lectured on the process of newspaper production. Students then divided into five groups, planning their work and shared duties, each selecting its own topic for the development of printed media. Their topics related to the Lamphun community and its surroundings such as the local market, community temples, schools, handicraft textiles and the traditional drum competition.

The workshop encouraged the participating students to create new ideas for their work by seeing the value in the local surroundings and traditions. From the students' selected topics, it can be observed that globalization has already affected this traditional community in such matters as education, media communication and aspects of their everyday life. Nevertheless, these students are still conscious of conserving their local heritage in the face of the Thai educational system's push for modernity and international standards in order to assimilate the younger generation into the capitalist world. The creative activities of the workshop encouraged a balance between the contemporary and the traditional in the students' lives by asking them to be aware of what is around them through questions and documentation.

In the second part of the workshop, the students fanned out into the community to take photographs, interview people and seek information for the printed newspaper. The participating students were enthusiastic and responsible in their project. The final part of the workshop comprised of the students developing their writing skills, arranging the data they accumulated, and selecting the photographic images they took of their surroundings. A local journalist conducted a lecture on the page design and layout of newspapers. The students were then given freedom to experiment with the newspaper production process. The collaborative result was an innovative community newspaper called Sua Lamphun so that the local people could read and appreciate the activities of their own town through the eyes of their children. The newspaper was produced and distributed for free, in conjunction with the local media, The Nation newspaper and Here & Now Exhibition, organized by AARA (About Art Related Activities), Bangkok.

Bruno Serralongue is an artist whose projects are a cross between art and photojournalism. Since 1996, he has initiated a series of travels to various countries where hypermedia events take place. He attended a large international rally organized by the sub-commandant Marcos in Mexico (1996), went to a rock concert of French idol Johnny Hallyday in Las Vegas (1996), was present in Hong Kong for its handover to China (1997), attended the official funeral of Che Guevara in Cuba (1997), participated for a three-day long 'Free Tibet' concert (1997), joined the Earth Summit in Johannesburg (2002), and recently attended the World Social Forum in Mumbai (2004). He attended all these mega events without a press card or specific accreditation; he was merely a visitor with a camera. His photographs can be found not only in contemporary art exhibitions, but also in the public media such as magazines and newspapers.

Children Workshop by Nathalie Boutin and Serge Comte
July 12, 2004 (Monday), 10 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Hariphunchai National Museum, Intayongyod Rd., Lamphun

The curator Nathalie Boutin of the GB Agency in Paris and the French artist Serge Comte joined a group of Chiang Mai-based young artists to conduct a workshop for elementary school children at the Haripunchai National Museum in Lamphun. Boutin and Comte provided mundane post-it notes for the children to do creative things with such as drawing pictures of their surroundings (i.e. Haripunchai Temple) or creating stories about their school or their friends in Lamphun. The children then posted these notes on the walls of the museum for the public to see. The workshop also included a conversation with Inson Wongsam. Boutin was the guest curator for the international art exhibition Here & Now, organized by AARA (About Art Related Activities), Bangkok on July 10 - September 10, 2004. Boutin and the Iceland-based Comte have conducted art workshops not only in art institutions, but in spaces such as hospitals and schools. They will join a group of local young artists from Chiang Mai to conduct a workshop for elementary school children at Hariphunchai National Museum in Lamphun.
Public Talk Program by Nicolas Bourriaud
July 12, 2004 (Monday), 7:30 p.m. onwards
Ecole fran?aise d'Extrême-Orient, 131 Charoen Prathet Rd., T.Chang Klan
A. Muang, Chiang Mai

Nicolas Bourriaud is an art critic and curator who has organized contemporary art exhibitions and written for international art and cultural publications. He is the founder and director of the experimental journal Documents which focuses on the new movements in contemporary culture and political science. He has written books on contemporary art theory, of which Relational Aesthetics is the most referenced in critical writing. Bourriaud is the co-director of Palais de Tokyo, a new contemporary art center in Paris.

Bourriaud presented a talk as part of his research for the upcoming publication on the topic ALTERMODERNISM: Globalization, Buddhism and Contemporary Art. He discussed connections between art and Buddhist philosophy in contemporary society.

Beautyform Unisuit: Pla Pra Mode in Lamphun
Workshops at Lamphun Technical College, July 30th, 2004 and Bahn Pan Pitayakom Secondary School, August 3, 4, and 5, 2004
Fashion Show at Kuamung Bridge, Lamphun, August 7, 2004
Exhibition at the Japan Foundation, Bangkok, August 16-27, 2004

Lamphun used to be one of the greenest cities in the north of Thailand, famed for prolific fruits and natural products. However, during the rapid economic growth of the late 1980s, Lamphun was selected as the site for the Northern Region Industrial Estate (NRIE). Today there are more than 200 joint-venture factories in the NRIE, with others scattered in several districts of Lamphun. It cannot be denied that this sudden industrial development has drastically affected the daily life of local people used to rural life. There is a large amount of in-migration from neighboring provinces as well as increased health problems and death rates amongst workers in the factories.

Against this backdrop, Fly with Me to Another World has initiated community art workshops centered around environmental issues, specifically the theme of recycling normally discarded materials from Lamphun's industrialized surroundings. The objectives are to encourage awareness of environmental issues, to use art as a form of expression for these issues, and to encourage the younger generation to take part in community awareness programs. These workshops will serve as alternatives to standard prevention models in the present and the future of the Lamphun community.

In the activities surrounding the project Beautyform Unisuit: Pla Pra Mode, the participating local artists were the Chiang Mai-based Beauty Suit Group consisting of artists Chakkrit Chimnork, Estelle Cohenny, and Katherine Olsten. They were joined by Fukuoka-based Japanese artist Hiroshi Fuji. The artists as well as members of the project team worked primarily with the students from Bahn Pan Pitayakom Secondary School in Lamphun to create experimental suits and ornaments from recycled materials found in the local vicinity, including used and discarded objects (i.e. banners, tires, plastic bags) from industrial venues and general commercial consumption. These suits were inspired by uniforms in society, questioning the role that they play in positioning roles and identity. The works were show-cased to the public in the form of a fashion show event at Kuamung Bridge in Lamphun with much enthusiasm from the local audience. The students themselves were the runway models for the event. The suits and documentation from the fashion show were then exhibited at the Japan Foundation in Bangkok.

Public Talk by Shingo Yamano and Hiroshi Fuji
August 11, 2004, 7.00 p.m. at Umong Silapadhama Art Space, Chiang Mai
August 14, 2004, 5.00 p.m. at About Studio / About Cafe, Bangkok

Shingo Yamano is the founder and director of the Museum City Project, a well-known community-based art initiative in Fukuoka, Japan. Established in 1990, the project continues to collaborate with several Fukuoka communities, art professionals, and international artists. Yamano gave a talk with slides to introduce the Museum City Project and also shared a conversation with a close collaborator of the project Hiroshi Fuji. The lecture was given in Japanese with Thai translation.

This public talk in Chiang Mai was organised in collaboration with the alternative art spaces Umong Sippadhamma and About Art Related Activities.

Art & Health Awareness
Workshops at the HIV/AIDS Network, Donkaew, Mae Rim and the Haripunchai National Museum, Lamphun
November 12-14 2004

The project Fly with Me to Another World in collaboration with the AIDS Network, Lamphun conducted a workshop on health awareness through art. Khun Pimchai Inthamul, head of the People Living with HIV/AIDS network in Donkaew, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai presented a lecture on how people live and cope with this disease as well as their support network in Thailand and the international realm. Professor Chatchawan Nilsakul, lecturer from the Department of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University gave a lecture on finding inspiration and developing the basic process of creating an illustration book.

The aim of this workshop is to use art as a channel to help people living with HIV/AIDS express the value and hope in their experiences through the form of illustration story books. These people gathered in groups to communicate their lives in a creative and enriching way that dissipates the stigma of the disease. Local artists and students from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Rachamongkol University in Chiang Mai then collaborated by helping to visually illustrate the people's stories. Through the coming publication, exhibition, and distribution of these books, the people can, thereby, build a supportive and informative relationship with the local communities through educating them about the realities of HIV/AIDS. This project may be used as an example of art therapy for HIV/AIDS organizations.

Identifying Queen Chamadevi: Supporting Local Women through Art
Field-trip to the Women's Network Conference on Development at Wat Ban Don Luang, Pasang, Lamphun, December 17, 2004
Workshops at the Haripunchai National Museum, Lamphun, December 20, 2004

Fly with Me to Another World project in collaboration with the Northern Women's Network organized a field-trip and 2 workshops to encourage the sharing of experiences and stories amongst local women across generations. The activity also encouraged the younger generation of women to analyze their roles in society and find inspiration in the traditions of the generations of women that preceded them. The participants were ten female students from Nam Dip Witthayakhom.

On December 17th, they first took a field-trip to the women's conference in Don Luang where they partook in discussions such as OTOP's influence on the traditional weaving livelihood of the village women. On December 20th, they then met at the Hariphunchai National Museum for a morning workshop with Ajarn Kulavir Prapapornpipat from the Women's Studies Center, Chiangmai University. Ajarn Kulavir asked the girls what they though about the definitions of sex and gender. Together, they explored gender as a social construction, surrounded by myths and double-standards. Ajarn Kulavir encouraged the girls to go beyond the surface of societal norms that tend to limit diversity, criticality and expression in general. She asked the girls to also question the relevance of certain traditions in the dynamic contexts of the contemporary world. The goal of the workshop is to support the girls in realizing their valuable inner potential in every aspect of their lives, both in the private and public spheres.

This workshop was then followed in the afternoon with a lecture by Dr. Pensupa Sukkata Jai-in, a writer, poet, and the director of the Hariphunchai National Museum. In her lecture to the students, she introduced a process of arranging ideas and building inspiration in order to express them in the form of writing such as essays and poems. She rallied the girls to look inside themselves and their everyday experiences in order to draw out sincere emotions and a heightened understanding of life. The lecture then ended with the students doing a writing and illustrating workshop. These works will then be compiled in a book along with stories about the roles of women in Lamphun by Dr. Pen and two local journalists. Articles from the students and their experiences will also be published in the local newspaper Sua Lamphun. All publications will be distributed in January 2005.