RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA

“Be sure to pack the toothbrush, eat Curry noodles through the wormhole.”

Travel through time with Spongebob Squarepants, a bowl of curry noodles and a clock without numbers.
This exhibition Time Travelers Chronicle (Doubt): 2014 – 802,701 A.D by Rirkrit Tiravanija takes us on a journey where the future is chromed, and time is experienced afresh in all its possibilities.

Viewers encounter the fluidity of time through eight life-sized silver works on paper, paired with 3D printed objects on chromed pedestals that convert STPI gallery into a series of time portals. The experience of time in flux continues in thermo-chromatic works such as The time travelers calendar B, negative present, where at a touch, traces of handprints are left behind to dissipate over time.

Inspired by H.G. Wells’ dystopian novel Time Machine, Tiravanija’s works present multi-layered references of how we keep track of time that could be measured scientifically or re-imagined through our selective memory of past, present and futures.

Rirkrit Tiravanija - a pioneer of relational aesthetics - bring attention to the nature of human relationships through his constructed social environments. His most iconic work Untitled (Free) starting in 1992, converts museums and galleries worldwide into a kitchen where he serves rice and Thai curry to visitors, transforming these spaces into places of communion. He extended this to STPI last year in Curry & Conversations, engaging audiences in Singapore in an informal exchange of ideas and opinions on art by sharing a meal.

Raised in raised in Thailand, Ethiopia, Canada, and educated in Chicago and New York, Tiravanija’s nomadic life has shaped his practice that is characteristically performative and participatory. Adept at negotiating boundaries, Tiravanija’s experimentation with time, temporality and space is further explored in this series of work that make new breakthroughs in STPI’s creative vocabulary.

A recipient of Hugo Boss Art Prize, his works are part of notable public collections which include the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; The Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis; Carnegie Museum of Arts, Pittsburgh; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Migros Museum, Zurich; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Spain; Fundacîon Tantica, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Fond National d’Art Contemporain, France; TATE London, UK; as well as the Bangkok Museum of Contemporary Art, Thailand. Upcoming group exhibitions include VIVRE(S) at Château du domaine departmental de Chamarande and 1984-1999. La Décennte at Centre Pompidou Metz, France.