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Interesting times with an unsustainable world wide economic system crashing, I am currently reading about the fall out in the art market which has been so much part of that Capitalist System, Read this interesting piece in the Financial Times : Artful practitioners of a confidence trick By Luke Johnson.

Does this mean a chance for a new thinking to emerge that is based on a different set of values? More in tune to compassion and nature and others? We'll have to wait and see I guess.

I have been back in Dublin now for 2 weeks and am settling back into my life here with a busy schedule ahead. I have a residency starting in airfield trust in November http://www.airfield.ie/arts_page.htm.
My collaborative project with South African artist Ralph Borland 'Tac tic" (www.tacticproject.blogspot.com) has an incubation period in Dublin's The Lab' art space and I have an exhibition with "Trespass" (www.trespass-trespass.blogspot.com) here in Dublin in February 2009.
Laters. Seoidin x

Bangkok

"จากที่นาสู่สยามสแควร์ " โดย ส่วนหนึ่งของศิลปินที่ร่วมใช้ชี

วิตร่วมกันในโครงการหนึ่งปีรุ่นที่ 2 ณ มูลนิธิที่นา, เชียงใหม่
เปิดวัน ศุกร์ 17 ตุลาคม 2551, 19 น. - 22 น. ที่ไวท์สเปซ แกลเลอรี่ สยามสแควร์
การแสดงงานกลุ่มศิลปินไทยและศิลปินต่างชาติที่เคยร่วมโครงการหนึ่งปี รุ่นที่ 2 พำนักอาศัยร่วมกันอยู่ในพื้นที่ของมูลนิธิที่นา งานแสดง "จากที่นาสู่สยามสแควร์" เป็นการนำเสนอและเปิดมุมมองที่แตกต่างของกลุ่ม 11 ศิลปิน ซึ่งได้รับแรงบันดาลใจจากผืนที่นา ศิลปินแต่ละท่านได้ค้นหาความสัมพันธ์กันระหว่างผืนที่นากับสิ่งที่สะท้อนให้เห็นชุมชมเมืองอย่าง "สยามแสควร์"
นิทรรศการครั้งนี้เป็นการนำเสนอมุมมองที่แตกต่างกันของแต่ละศิลปินที่ได้รับแรงบัลดาลใจจากการเข้าร่วมโครงการ การตั้งคำถามเกี่ยวกับที่นาและความเชื่อมโยงกับสยาม แสควร์ผลงานของศิลปิน ถูกสะท้อนและถ่ายทอดออกมาเป็นผลงานที่หลากหลาย ตั้งแต่ งานภาพถ่าย งานวิดีโอ และงานจัดวาง ไปจนถึง งานที่ถ่ายทอดออกมาทางความคิด หนังสือ และเสียงเพลง

"FROM THE LAND TO SIAM SQAURE"by part of One Year Project Residency Program The Land Foundation's Artists One Year Project 2 at the Land Foundation
Opening Friday 17th October 2008, 7-10 pm at Whitespace gallery Siam Square

An exhibition of both Thai and International artists participating in the One-Year Project 2 residency program at the land foundation. From
the land to Siam Square explores the varied perspectives of 11 visual artists inspired by the land. Each artist investigates how the
ethos of the land relates to the urbanization of Siam Square. This common thread weaves throughout this multidisciplinary exhibition
comprised of a variety of works from photographs, videos, and installations to conceptual works, books and sound.

1.Alexander F.Wang (U.S.A.)
2.Rashanna Rashied Walker (U.S.A)
3.Panomporn Choosak (Thailand)
4.Ulrika Jansson (Sweden)
5.Seoidin O'Sullivan (Ireland)
6.Komol Kongcharoen (Thailand)
7.Pitt Martliam (Thailand)
8.Aoife Desmond (Ireland)
9.Sorasak Seangow (Thailand)
10.Marius Notvik (Norway)
11.David Doyle (Australia)

WHITESPACE GALLERY
Room #260, 2nd Floor, Lido Bldg.
Siam Square Soi 3, Rama 1 Rd.
Pathumwan, Bkk 10330. Thailand

Gallery Hours
tu we th fr 13:00-19:00
sa su 11:30-20:00
or by appointment

for more info pls contact
T +66(0) 2252 2900 EXT 315
E gallery@whitesp-ce.com

"Tools of The Trade" at Minimal Gallery, Chaing Mai

We, the One Year Project 2 Participants at The Land Foundation are all busy preparing for a show opening on Tuesday evening at Minimal Gallery in Chaing Mai. Irish artist Aoife Desmond and myself are going to be presenting new work from our collaborative project 'Trespass'. Trespass investigates the different issues around land use and ownership in Urban environments through lens based documentation and performative actions. Together we map and intervene in disused urban space that through neglect has become wilderness. Through 'Trespass' we research and reveal the delicate balance between nature and the the built environments of cities.

So better get back to art making now . . tick tock tick tock.


Here are some images of Trespass work at Minimal:
http://picasaweb.google.com/seoidin/TrespassAtMinimalGalleryChaingMa

Mobile Rice Seed Bank Project

Mobile Rice Seed Bank Project Proposal

Artists: Seoidin O'Sullivan and Suwan Laimanee

Proposal: We propose to build 'A Mobile Rice Seed Bank' that will be parked at 'The Land'. This Mobile Seed Bank will be able to be cycled to nearby farms and villages in and around 'The Land.' It will act as a point of information on the necessity of 'seed saving'. It will provide information on the different seed varieties and also act as a distribution point for genetic rice seed varieties initially (This can later include other varities of food and vegetable seed).
It is also a point at which people can seed swap, it will be an interactive community installation to encourage the sharing of local rice seed varieties. It is about returning variety conservation to communities to strengthen the work of seed saving and protection and to help to return seed banks to their original purpose. 'being that of a back up for existing in situ conservation by farmers' (www.greennet.or)

Rice is the staple food for a large part of the world's population. The Thai government lead the way in Asia with its decision to stop field trials of GM crops in 2001. The agriculture ministry was ordered to withdraw approval for the trials to protect farmers, biodiversity and the environment from genetic pollution.'(the guardian, wednesday april 18, 2001) This year (2008) has seen an increase in the price of Rice due the current fuel crisis. Rice prices are expected to continue to increase. This project offers a small solution for future direction for local farmers. Rice demand recently outstripped supply. With the increase in urbanisation has come an increase in the demand for meat production, rice fields are being converted into places for live stock. There is a large knock on effect ocurring. Severe weather across Asia has also damaged production.With this project we wish to offer an alternative. This project encourages the sharing of resources and information, it is also about localisation . The economic and social impacts of this food crisis are having an impact on the livelihoods of poor farmers and communities.

References:

a. Temescal Seed Swap

b. Nils Norman, 1999. "The Gerard Winstanley Radical Gardening Space Reclamation Mobile Field Center and Weather Station Prototype (NYC Chapter)












c. Mobile service vehicles in Chaing Mai, September 2008.

Artist Statement on Climate Change

Artist Statement on Climate Change for The Land Foundation: Seoidin O'Sullivan

Climate Change

Climate Change is the human race finally comprehending the impact our modern livelihoods and lifestyles are having on our natural environment. It is an opportunity for a large, collective realisation that some of our modern life choices and ways of living have a destructive effect on ourselves, our communities, other countries(usually poorer nations suffer the worst health consequences) and our planet. This knowing is not new. Many wise people have warned us about this over the last 100 years or more(see Silent Spring, Rachel Carson and The One Straw Revolution,Masanobu Fukuoka), but unfortunately we did not listen. Climate change is the environmental crisis reaching such a logger-head that the evidence can no longer be hidden or the truth denied. Averting or even slowing down Climate Change may seem like a daunting task, but many inspiring small-scale local projects all over the world give evidence that other ways of living and being are indeed possible. In order to address Climate Change we need to make lasting connections between the political, environmental, socio-economic and cultural facets of our lives. We need to comprehend that we all have a shared responsibility to bring about the necessary changes so that together we can set a new direction towards a more sustainable planet that works with and has a deep respect for nature.

Climate Change is a cultural as well as an environmental challenge. The Arts community globally (like so many other professional and business industries) has been very slow to even acknowledge climate change. Through cross disciplinary dialogues and the sharing of information and knowledge, we have the opportunity to creatively address and discover how this challenge can be met with solutions that will make a better world possible now and for the future.

Samuel Yates

Artist Samuel Yates is traveling through Thailand with his wife, Michelle. Yin and Aof from 'The Land Foundation' take them to see 'The Land' on Thursday, I travel with them. It is interesting to call to 'The Land' as an art tourist, we catch a red taxi and spend an hour out there and then drive back. Aiwa, the care taker of The Land has the buffalo in one of the ponds, they look cool and content. Aof and Yin give Samuel and Michelle a tour of 'The Land' and Aiwa cuts down some coconuts that he prepares for us to drink. I am enjoying drinking fresh coconuts, my first time having one was when I arrived at our accommodation in Chaing Mai. My neighbour prepared one for me, delicious. I have been drinking them practically every second day since.

That evening Samuel Yates gives 'The Land Foundation' and friends a talk about his art practice. We all meet in Kamin's (artist and co-founder of 'The Land') studio where a large easel sits on 2 paint tins and will be the projector screen for the evening. Samuel lives in San Francisco, California and recently finished his studies in Colombia University where he was taught by Rirkrit Tiravanija. His talk is really engaging and his art practice interesting. He initially studied english literature to a degree level and then went on to study a Masters in Fine Art. He talks us through his work made over the last 12 years. Take a look at his website if you want a gander at his work: www.samuelyates.com