MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art Bangkok
What hasn't already been written about Bangkok? The great city in Southeast Asia, the noisy tourist magnet, the quiet, wonderful Buddhist temples in contrast, the impressive Royal Palace, the huge shopping centers and unique sights. The city with its everyday traffic chaos, consisting of cars, tuk tuks, scooters and cabs or the countless street stalls with excellent food and, last but not least, the most important thing, the warm-hearted Thai people.
Bangkok, and Thailand as a whole, is also a place for the visual arts. With a creative and vibrant art scene ranging from traditional arts and crafts to modern painting, sculpture and installations.
An impressive testimony to the creativity and diversity of contemporary Thai art is the Museum of Contemporary Art Bangkok, or MOCA for short.
We take a cab from the city center to the north of Bangkok. There is no public transportation. Apart from buses, whose timetables and routes, even after several visits to Bangkok, are still a mystery to us. We have overcome the language barrier with the cab driver, explained to him where we want to go and are now enjoying the ride. After half an hour, we arrive and stand in front of a large, almost windowless building.
We buy a ticket and go inside. Take the escalator to the second floor. Walk a few steps and stand in the first exhibition room. What a room. White. Flooded with bright light. Large. Very large. Empty. Silence. A few paintings hang on the walls. Large and in bright colors. The paintings speak for themselves. The clarity of the room draws the eye to the painting. The art unfolds its effect in the room and the room gives it the opportunity to do so. The rooms are windowless. The artificial lighting provides uniform, clear illumination. The entire architecture takes a back seat and serves the art with its minimalism, while the expanse of the rooms gives the works space to breathe. The interplay of space, light and art creates a calm atmosphere, allowing the viewer to concentrate on the paintings and be captivated by their effect.
Opened in 2012, the museum houses the private collection of patron, entrepreneur and art lover Boonchai Bencharongkul. He had the museum built to make the contemporary Thai art that he had collected over three decades accessible to a wide audience.
As we wander from room to room and floor to floor, we become increasingly captivated by the calm and clarity of the building. Our tour has a meditative quality. The senses are calmed, the mind is free from distraction and only the art remains. The first and second floors are dedicated to the works of a large number of Thai artists. On display are some impressively large-format paintings, with motifs that often appear surrealistic and fantastic, full of color and detail. The artists' origins are evident in the depictions inspired by historical Thai architecture and everyday scenes. The East Asian way of life, which at first glance appears cheerful but on closer inspection has its darker side, is reflected in the works and is often paired with subtle social criticism. Buddhism is also a recurring theme.
On the third floor, we suddenly find ourselves in a room with bright red walls, which creates a completely new sensory impression. The bright red is like a warning signal to sharpen our senses. What a contrast between the dominant black and white of the large-format paintings and the red of the walls. The depictions of animals, mythical creatures and Buddhist deities take on a special dimension and depth. A little further on, visitors can expect the opposite color concept. The walls are black and the paintings are a deep red. On the one hand, the art contrasts strongly with the walls, while on the other hand there is an interplay of opposites and contradictions dissolve. The antagonistic colors do not create separation, but rather harmony. The artist to whom these rooms are dedicated is Thawan Duchanee, one of Thailand's most important artists.
Our further path leads us through a narrow, winding corridor. The walls are black and only very sparsely lit by LEDs; the outline of a galaxy, the Milky Way, is dimly visible. We get the feeling of being engulfed by the infinity of this darkness. The fitting name of this walk-through installation: Passage Across The Universe. We walk through it without knowing what awaits us and where the path will lead us, like a metaphor for life itself. Emerging from the darkness, we enter one of the largest rooms and one of the few that is flooded with daylight. In front of us is the museum's most impressive work of art. The joint work of the three artists Prateep Kochabua, Sompop Budtarad and Panya Vijinthanasarn. Three monumental paintings called "The Three Kingdoms". Each of the paintings is 7 meters high and 3 meters wide. We need a moment to take in the scenery. The paintings depict the three kingdoms of earth, heaven and hell and are intended to remind us of the eternal cycle, samsara, of birth, death and rebirth, which we live through according to the teachings of Buddha. Everyone's deeds in this life determine karma, both good and bad, and our existence in the next life. In order to break this eternal, disastrous cycle and reach nirvana, we must let go of all attachments, desires and wishful thinking in order to reach enlightenment through knowledge.
We continue slowly and reach the fourth floor via the staircase. We let the calm of the architecture take effect on us: the restrained white of the walls and floor, the clear and free lines, light streams in through a large opening in the roof, the room is filled with a calming brightness. We climb the steps to the last part of the museum. This consists of an eclectic collection of paintings and sculptures from many parts of the world, in a wide variety of styles.
Almost four hours have passed since we entered the museum. We walk out and stand again in front of this large, almost windowless building, where the warmth of the setting sun welcomes us. The building has not changed, but we have. We are richer in sensory impressions, have had new experiences and have learned a lot about East Asian art. True to the motto "Ars longa, vita brevis", we immerse ourselves once again in vibrant Bangkok.
