This exhibition Monologue Dialogue 3 continues an important conversation initiated 8 years ago in Thailand supported by the British Council resulting in exhibitions of a group of British and Thai artists in both Bangkok and London. The group of artists participating in this third exhibition has evolved organically to include new artists that are interested in this kind of diverse, international and unpredictable dialogue. The key words here are fragility and monumentality. This show illustrates nothing. It is not an illustration of a theory or concept; it embraces the poetic and uncertainty will sometimes surface. The artists will interact, fabricate, assemble, paint and construct this show – we expect an electric conversation with excitement and perhaps even failure. Failure and nothingness are key words in art and ones that can be embraced resulting in fragility and a vision that is unexpected. Monumentality is about presence, and can be about the awkwardness of being. 

Tuksina Pipitkul will surprise us with her large white sculpture, a new version of ‘Respond’ that holds the space; the complexity of Tintin Cooper’s pavilions provide a cross between sports stadiums and modern shrines; Nipan Oranniwesna is planning a new and ambitious installation especially for the exhibition; Neil Jeffries is making a series of small wall relief works situated somewhere between painting and sculpture; Nathaniel Rackowe will make sculptural neon installations with a strong sense of the urban; Miranda Housden will play with the unexpected attempting to suspend a giant chandelier from the ceiling; Panya Vijinthanasarn has made a very large painting touching on chaos and unpredictability, playing with the words nuclear and new clear and an image of the Buddha; Jedsada Tangtrakuwong will create a surprising and monumental site-specific installation integrating (or not) with the architectural structures in the space; Eric Bainbridge will arrive with The Ghost of Jimmy the Nail and will make a sculpture in situ; Be Takerng Pattanopas will install a 20-metre-wide new edition of gas-p which will include sound elements and comprise of two long tapered tunnels, leading to mysterious luminous counter-forms of human figures; Atsuko Nakamura will make a new sculptural installation, scavenging for wood and natural materials such as driftwood, salt, sugar, and water and will make a video; Andrew Stahl will include a large painting, The Death of Trotsky.

This exhibition on the entire 9th floor of the BACC provides a nervous platform for an extraordinary conversation that will develop between the artists participating and their artworks. There will be a dynamic range of installations, sculptures and paintings from this extremely diverse group of artists that touch on a range of contemporary issues such as the transcultural language of art, spectacular painting and installation and artistic dialogue.

*image (left)
© Neil Jeffries
courtesy of the artist