On the lookout for the world’s best hotels? Bangkok is one of the hottest cities in all of Asia. With a very sizable urban population, increasingly from a wide variety of countries, the city has become something of a multicultural metropolis, making for a very exciting blend of languages, foods, and traditions. There is a long tradition of hospitality here, and the tropical flavor permeates everything, so that there is something for everyone, and all the time.
Since 1998, it is also one of the primary locations hosting the Asiatopia International Performance Art Festival . The festival is an artist-driven and artist-run weekend event that explores the boundaries of this boundless art form. Begun by artist-administrator Chumpon Apisuk, the intention here is to create a forum where performance artists can gather to discuss the nature of their particular work, working processes in performance generally, and to see some of the work in practice. The aim is to center these issues in a specifically Asian context, in order to bring to light issues that artists face in this part of the world, and also to define new ways of making and thinking about art.
The festival happens in the fall, usually over a few days, and has participants from all over the world. Issues of translation sometimes make the participants have to speak to each other in new and creative ways. It is part of the mercurial and fluid nature of performance art to absorb tensions and create something new and exciting from these tensions. Asiatopia’s track record in bringing together artists year after year also speaks well to the art form, constantly shifting and growing, in order to speak to changing situations and changing cultures. The art here is constantly innovative, speaking to diverse traditions in complicated and fascinating new artistic languages.