Rirkrit Tiravanija | Brisbane interview

Filmed during Rirkrit Tiravanija's onsite preparation for '21st Century: Art in the First Decade' at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from 18 December 2010 -- 26 April 2011 | © 2010 QAG|GoMA

Tiravanija spoke with Russell Storer, Curatorial Manager, Asian and Pacific Art about his practice and contribution to the '21st Century: Art in the First Decade' exhibition.

| EXHIBITION WEBSITE |
http://qag.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/coming_soon/21st_Century

In today's image-saturated world, every time we turn on the television, open the newspaper or surf the internet we are bombarded with images of people, events and problems far removed from our own lives. Since the early 1990s, Rirkrit Tiravanija's practice has involved shifting his audience from passive spectators to active subjects.

For 'Untitled (demonstration drawings)' 2001, Tiravanija commissioned Thai artists to reproduce images representating the strife, hardship and protest we see daily in the media in a new context and form. By involving other artists in creating these drawings, Tiravanija underlines the distance and estrangement we feel from the images they depict, and makes us aware of our passive relationship to them.

Rirkrit Tiravanija first served Thai food to visitors at the opening of his solo exhibition at the Paula Allen Gallery in New York in 1990. This was an exploration of the ways in which objects and spaces gain meaning in social situations. His 'lunch box' works disrupt the usual art viewing experience by introducing the smells and noises of cooking, eating and talking. During the course of the '21st Century' exhibition, a Thai lunch will periodically be served to Gallery visitors.

Rirkrit Tiravanija | 'Untitled (lunch box)' 1998 [Cooking event] | Stainless steel tiffin, certificate, menu, Thai newspaper, Thai takeaway food from local restaurant dimensions variable | Gift of the artist through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2009 | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

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