Courtesy of the artist, Nova Contemporary, and Bangkok Kunsthalle. Images by Krittawat Atthsis.
In partnership with Nova Contemporary, Bangkok Kunsthalle proudly hosted Cole Lu as its artist in residence in October 2024. This residency underscores both organizations' commitments to fostering creative dialogue within Thailand and Southeast Asia, while contributing to a wider global conversation of contemporary art.
Officially opened in early 2024, Bangkok Kunsthalle occupies the historic Thai Wattana Panich building, once a leading printing house that was razed by fire in 2001. The brutalist complex, with sections dating back over seven decades, lay abandoned for more than 20 years. In Lu’s hands, this space is reactivated as a vessel for creation.
Officially opened in early 2024, Bangkok Kunsthalle occupies the historic Thai Wattana Panich building, once a leading printing house that was razed by fire in 2001. The brutalist complex, with sections dating back over seven decades, lay abandoned for more than 20 years. In Lu’s hands, this space is reactivated as a vessel for creation.
Lu’s medium and background resonate deeply with the building’s history. Raised within a literary household, with a father who is a librarian for two universities, Lu’s relationship with books, stories, and the printed word has long been fertile ground for his work.
His practice of pyrography, involving meticulously burnt wood panels and linen, also uses fire as a generative force, carrying the echoes of trauma, transformation, and renewal. Through his meditative and laborious process of burning, he traces the origins of storytelling and unites mythology and autobiography to create new narratives.
This residency will culminate in a site-specific installation at the Museum & Library of Abbots of Wat Bowonniwet Vihara as part of the Bangkok Art Biennale 2024 (BAB2024): Nurture Gaia from October 24, 2024, to February 25, 2025.
The artist will participate in a discussion at Bangkok Kunsthalle with Hera Chan, Adjunct Curator of Asia-Pacific, supported by Asymmetry Art Foundation, at Tate, on October 22, 2024, from 2pm onwards.
His practice of pyrography, involving meticulously burnt wood panels and linen, also uses fire as a generative force, carrying the echoes of trauma, transformation, and renewal. Through his meditative and laborious process of burning, he traces the origins of storytelling and unites mythology and autobiography to create new narratives.
This residency will culminate in a site-specific installation at the Museum & Library of Abbots of Wat Bowonniwet Vihara as part of the Bangkok Art Biennale 2024 (BAB2024): Nurture Gaia from October 24, 2024, to February 25, 2025.
The artist will participate in a discussion at Bangkok Kunsthalle with Hera Chan, Adjunct Curator of Asia-Pacific, supported by Asymmetry Art Foundation, at Tate, on October 22, 2024, from 2pm onwards.
19 October 2024