คล้าย คล้าย (“Same, Same”) | BANGKOK 1899
Image courtesy of Creative Migration
Title: คล้าย คล้าย (“Same, Same”)
Artist: Elvire Bonduelle
Presenting Partner (gallery/institution/venue): Bangkok 1899 (Bangkok Design Week 2023)
Category: SOLO EXHIBITION/WORKSHOPIntroduction
“A dictator of happiness” is how Elvire Bonduelle (1981, Paris) defines herself and her art, devoted to domestic comfort. Eluding limitations of media - spanning painting, installation, usable sculptures, video, and performance, - and categorizations of her practice, Elvire deliberately refers to Arts & Crafts and design, creating artworks which, in a very personal way, intend to be solutions for people, making their life better and happier. Joyfully colorful, Elvire Bonduelle’s creations do not fear the right to stand out against the gray background of contemporary art’s cliches. Her art is sharp and, at the same time, democratic; it triggers the intellect while providing a comfortable environment to stay in; it addresses a reflection on painting, installation, and art presentation while advocating for a better world.
Elvire Bonduelle spent one month at Bangkok 1899 for her international artist residency supported by Creative Economy Agency, Bangkok Design Week 2023 and the French Embassy in Bangkok. During that time she has imagined Thai letters in new forms designed based on various grids and elements within the urban context of Bangkok and created the artworks for her exhibition “Same, Same'', which were displayed during Bangkok Design Week 2023 and part of the NangLerng Immersive Exhibition. She was drawing inspiration from exploring neighboring communities and designing based on grids and elements within the city. Through the designed typography and the presentation of their artworks, viewers can perceive the urban community of Bangkok, as well as previous works inspired by various locations throughout Thailand. She also held a 2-day workshop for people to explore a new font for the Thai alphabet as part of the Exhibition opening weekend on February 10-12, 2023. Her exhibition was then extended through April 30, 2023. In addition, her sculpture Crowd Control was on view within the grounds of Bangkok 1899. This sculpture, inspired by gates that you can see all over Thailand, invites us to engage ourselves and get lost in order to take another look at what surrounds us.
Background:
Bangkok 1899 was a partner venue for Bangkok Design Week 2023 (February 4-12) and NangLerng Immersive Exhibition (April 10-30, 2023) during Songkran Festival. Bangkok 1899 is a cultural and civic hub established by Creative Migration, a women-of-color-led, international arts organization based in Los Angeles and Bangkok. Our mission is to bring together cultural and climate diplomacy with a special focus on collaborative community building through intersectional practices.
Bangkok 1899 curates an international artist residency program, hosts locally/globally themed events, has a public garden and houses a social impact cafe run by Na Projects. Since 2011, our nonprofit has employed environmentally regenerative practices throughout our projects and day-to-day operations. Throughout the years, we have accumulated knowledge and experience to create our organization-wide Climate Policy, which features guidelines and recommendations for all our operations.
Our historic location was designed by Italian architect Mario Tamagno under King Rama VI. Built in 1899, our hub is the former home of Chao Phraya Thammasakmontri, considered to be the father of Thailand’s modern education, and is centrally located in the city’s Old town neighborhood of Nang Loeng. Bangkok 1899 opened its doors in 2019 with founding support from the Ford Motor Company Fund and The Rockefeller Foundation.
Read more about Creative Migration’s Climate Policy here: https://creativemigration.org/Climate-Policy-2023
Carbon Emissions
-
2 people:
Susannah Tantemsapya (Los Angeles to Bangkok)
Elvire Bonduelle (Paris - Bangkok round trip)
International Flights Economy:
Paris - Bangkok (round trip): 18,902 km → 2.61 tCO2e
Los Angeles - Bangkok: 13.296km → 1.83 tCO2e
Taxi:
to/from Paris airport (roundtrip): 26.7 km x 2 = 53.4 km → 0.01 tCO2e
to/from Bangkok airport (roundtrip): 31.5km x 2 = 63 km → 0.01 tCO2e
from Bangkok airport (one-way): 31.5 km → less than 0.01 tCO2e
Local Travel (taxi+car):
Total of around 159 km → 0.03 tCO2e
Attendees Travel Average (Bangkok Design Week):
3211 people x 20 km average (round trip) = 64220 km → 11.37 tCO2e
-
On average, the building uses 1,500 KWh of electricity per month, which is an average of 50 KWh every day.
The artwork didn’t directly consume electricity daily.
The exhibition was mainly open for 7 days during Bangkok Design Week, resulting in approximately 350 KWh, which is 0.17 tCO2e. However, the exhibition was extended for a total of 3 months, but didn’t necessarily consume extra energy from the building. The total energy usage for the entire building for that time would result in 4500 KWh and 2.24 tCO2e. The exhibition was held in a space that is around 20% of the premise, therefore it results in 0.45 tCO2e.
-
Shipping for 10 painting frames:
8 frames, 30km, 8kg + 2 frames: 30km, 2kg → less than 0.01 tCO2e
(final artworks not yet shipped)
-
Waste Report
|
Waste Category |
Examples of Items |
Notes |
|
Reuse: to be reused for the same purpose as the original use |
|
|
|
Repurpose: to be kept, sold, or donated and used for a different purpose in the future |
|
|
|
Storage: items sent to storage, but without a clear plan for immediate reuse or repurpose |
|
|
|
Refuse: item was not used at all and therefore potential waste was avoided |
|
|
|
Recycle: items placed in the recycling bin |
|
|
|
Landfill items sent to a landfill |
|
|
|
Consumable: “consumed” during the exhibition |
|
|
Supporting people
Our partner Urban Studies Lab (USL) organized Nang Loeng Design Week, which is a localized part of Bangkok Design Week 2023. They have been involved with communities and neighborhoods all over the district. In terms of environmental impact, they hired youth from the neighborhood to assist with their "Park Pods" project, a portable and interactive green space. USL designed Park Pods in collaboration with Precious Plastic Bangkok (PPB) utilizing recycled bottle caps as part of the overall design. In addition, upcycled old furniture from colleagues and community members was integrated within the design. Community youth hired have acknowledged the process of recycled materials, refurbished furniture and assembly, trained by PPB.
Collective Action
Here are some of the ways the team contributed to collective action:
Share a Climate Impact Report at artistscommit.com.
Share what was learned in the Report to audiences.
Learn from what other projects have done, connect with other institutions or artists to ask for advice, acknowledge them in your report.
Be available to advise or support other artists or presenting partners who want to do a climate impact report for the first time.
Make sure all artists you work with know that the Climate Impact Reports is an available tool.
Use the report to refine future practices. Share those new practices internally, with your artists, or with your audiences.
Additional Thoughts
The tCO2e in the travel section is very high, which was the result of calculating an average of 20 km (round trip) for the more than 3000 attendees of Bangkok Design Week. There is the possibility that most people actually came to Bangkok 1899 either by using the canal boat or by MRT and then either walked or took a taxi/bike from Sam Yot station, which would only be 2 km per person to calculate for the emissions. This option would significantly lower the overall emissions and change the total impact of the residency significantly.
The artworks will remain in Thailand, so will be transported locally once sales have been finalized, However, to store them we had to use a lot of plastic and bubble wrap to preserve the quality. One possibility for next time could be taking the canvas off the frame, rolling it, and then packing it for shipping. That would reduce all the plastic wrap that will probably go to the landfill afterwards.
Credits
This report was prepared by Susannah Tantemsapya and Leonie Hüppe.
All images courtesy of Creative Migration.
Total hours worked on this report: 9 hours