rirkrit tiravanija

Work

His artwork explores the social role of the artist.Of Rikrit Tiravanija's art could be said that it is very typical for the type of contemporary expression that emerged in the mid-1990s that is sometimes referred to as "relational aesthetics", a term invented by French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud, or simply "social art". Tiravanija's art is indeed highly social and often dependent on the visitors input to function and come alive. Tiravanija, who was born in Buenos Aires in 1961 but has lived most of his life in the New York is of Thai origin and in his early works he often used the skills he learnt from his grand-mother, who was a cook, to prepare Thai meals for the visitors, works which in a sense became a type of low-key interactive performances including all involved to socially engage in everyday tasks. His installations often takes the form of stages or rooms for sharing meals, cooking, reading, playing music or even living and they can be seen as open-ended social experiments in which the artist as much as the public is testing the borders of the work. Rirkrit Tiravanija is in a subtle way contesting and questioning the structure of the institution while at the same time working within it. Architecture or structures for living and socializing are a core element in his work, which forms the sculptural structures he exhibits.

Recent solo exhibitions (include)

The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1997); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1999); Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu, Japan (2000); Portikus, Frankfurt (2001); Secession, Vienna (2002); Galerie für Zeitgenossiche Kunst, Leipzig (2003); and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2003–04).