Once Upon a Time in the West

Sergio Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il west) will be screened at Smalls, the Bangkok bar, on 24th March. The rooftop screening is free of charge.

History of Illustration

History of Illustration, edited by Susan Doyle, is the first comprehensive study of illustration from antiquity to the present day. It's also the first global history of illustration, with chapters on Indian, Chinese, Latin American, African, and Islamic illustration in addition to more familiar Western and Japanese material.

The book is structured chronologically, though it also follows three additional narratives: geographical (histories of illustration in each continent), thematic (chapters on the illustration of anatomy, fashion, and propaganda), and technical (essays on developments in printing). The bibliography includes annotated entries on comic illustration, and there are more than 900 images. The definitive history of illustration, this is a unique guide to more than 1,000 years of visual culture.

History of Illustration is a broad overview of the entire subject, though individual forms of illustration have also been comprehensively surveyed. Essential books on each field include: History of Graphic Design, by Philip B. Meggs; A History of Book Illustration, by David Bland, The Poster: A Worldwide Survey and History, by Alain Weill; The Art of the Print: Masterpieces, History, Techniques, by Fritz Eichenberg; A History of Illuminated Manuscripts, by Christopher de Hamel; and The World Encyclopedia of Comics, by Maurice Horn.

Atta

Atta (อัตตา) opened at RCB Galleria in Bangkok on 2nd March, and runs until the end of the month. The exhibition features new works by Anupong Chantorn, whose painting Perceptless (ภิกษุสันดานกา) attracted controversy for its depiction of monks as scavenging birds. His solo exhibition Hope in the Dark (ความหวังในความมืด) included Moral Boundary (ชาย-ผ้าเหลือง), a painting of a monk with an erection.

Atta includes a less graphic study for Moral Boundary (ชาย-ผ้าเหลือง), and two preparatory sketches for Perceptless: สันดานกา ('native') and The Bad Monks (ภิกษุสันดานกา). There are also several new paintings, including Double Life (คู่จิ้นจีวรหลุด) and The Undercover (ใต้ผ้ากาสาวพัสตร์). Double Life depicts two monks in an embrace, and The Undercover is a portrait of a monk exposing himself; both were painted directly onto saffron robes. The folio-sized exhibition catalogue was edited by Wanida Rujikietkumjorn.

Sunset Boulevard

Billy Wilder's masterpiece Sunset Boulevard will be shown on 17th March at Smalls, the Bangkok bar. The rooftop screening is free of charge.

“The act is deemed hostile to the constitutional monarchy...”

On 7th March, as was widely predicted, the Constitutional Court voted to dissolve the Thai Raksa Chart party and ban its executives from political office for ten years. The party had caused a sensation on 8th February by nominating Princess Ubolratana as its candidate for prime minister in the election to be held on 24th March. The nomination was followed by another unprecedented bombshell later that day, when King Rama X issued a statement condemning his elder sister’s involvement in politics. On 13th February, the Election Commission ruled that the nomination was invalid, and recommended the party’s dissolution to the Constitutional Court.

In the court’s verdict, announced on live television, judge Taweekiat Meenakanit severely criticised Ubolratana’s nomination: “The act is deemed hostile to the constitutional monarchy.” He also described it as a “devious scheme”. Thai Raksa Chart is the third party affiliated with Thaksin Shinawatra to be disbanded by the Constitutional Court, after Thai Rak Thai in 2006 and the People Power Party in 2008.

ความจริงวันนั้น

ความจริงวันนั้น (‘the truth about that day’), compiled by the Daily World Today (โลกวันนี้) newspaper, was published in 2010. It includes articles and colour photographs documenting the 2010 red-shirt protests and massacre in Bangkok. The book also includes a VCD, ความจริงประเทศไทย (‘the truth about Thailand’).

สมุดภาพแห่งความทรงจำ

สมุดภาพแห่งความทรงจำ จารึกประวัติศาสตร์ ๑๔ ตุลา ในวาระครบร ๓๖ ปี ๑๔ ตุลา ('photobook of memories thirty-six years after 14th October') was published in 2009. The book includes more than 1,000 images (including newspaper front pages), providing a comprehensive visual archive of the 14th October 1973 demonstration and massacre in Bangkok. It also includes บันทึกไว้ในประวัติศาสตร์ ('recorded in history'), a CD with five songs inspired by the event, which was first released as a 7" EP in 1973.

Several other albums and singles have been recorded in commemoration of the 14th October incident. Phanom Suksaeng's single 14 ตุลาคม เลือดไทยสามัคคี ('14th October: Thai blood and unity') was released shortly after the event. The band Caravan contributed to the album รวมบทเพลงเพื่อชีวิต 14 ตุลาคม 16 ('compilation of songs for life: 14th October '73'). Caravan's albums ตุลา-คม ('sharp October') and 30 ปี คีตนุกรม 14 ตุลา ('30 years: collection of 14th October songs') mark the twenty-fifth and thirtieth anniversaries of the protests, respectively. The album ตุลาธาร ๑๔ คน ๑๔ เพลง ต้องห้าม ('October: 14 people, 14 forbidden songs') also commemorates 14th October, though it includes one song—6 ตุลา ('6th October') by Pongsit Kampee—about the 6th October 1976 massacre. Euthana Mukdasanit adapted Kiss of the Spider Woman (จุมพิตนางพญาแมงมุม) as a stage musical in 2001, during which he projected archive footage of 14th October followed by a list of the victims.

Artists have also been inspired by the massacre. An exhibition of art inspired by the incident, 14 ตุลา ผ่านสายตาศิลปิน ('14th October through artists' eyes', 2003), included Tang Chang's self-portrait depicting the artist's bloodstained face and chest. Pratuang Emjaroen's painting Dhama and Adhama (ธรรมะ-อธรรม) (1974) depicts bullet holes on the Buddha's face. Amnard Yensabye's painting ภาพคนเดือนตุลาคม 2516 (picture of October 1973) is a semi-abstract depiction of the massacre's chaotic aftermath. Sanya Wongaram's woodcut The Ten Days, which depicts soldiers and students, was inspired by press photographs of the massacre.

The United Artists’ Front of Thailand (แนวร่วมศิลปินแห่งประเทศไทย), formed in the aftermath of 14th October, organised an outdoor exhibition of political billboards along Bangkok’s Ratchadamnoen Avenue in 1975. The group promoted socially-conscious ‘art for life’ (‘ศิลปะเพื่อชีวิต’), in parallel with the ‘songs for life’ (‘เพลงเพื่อชีวิต’) movement of bands such as Caravan. (The ‘art for life’ slogan was inspired by Chit Phumisak’s book ศิลปะเพื่อชีวิต ศิลปะเพื่อประชาชน/‘art for life and art for the people’.) Two Artists’ Front retrospective exhibitions have been held at the Pridi Banomyong Institute, both featuring newly commissioned replicas of the 1975 billboards: Political Cut-out Artworks of the October Event (ภาพศิลปะคัทเอาท์การเมืองเดือนตุลา) in 2003 (curated by Nonglak Laowor) and ภาพคัตเอาท์การเมืองเดือนตุลา (‘October political billboard artworks’) from 3rd–20th October 2009.

The Washington Post

Last week, Johnny Depp filed a defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Depp is seeking $50 million in damages for an op-ed Heard wrote in The Washington Post on 19th December last year, headlined “A transformative moment for women”. In the article, published on p. A21, Heard referred to her own experience as an abuse victim—“two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse”—though she did not name Depp directly.

Chinatown

Roman Polanski's neo-noir masterpiece Chinatown will be shown tomorrow night at the Bangkok bar Smalls. The rooftop screening is free of charge.

Thailand Casino

Anonymous street artist Headache Stencil's exhibition Thailand Casino opened on 24th February at WTF Gallery, and runs until 31st March. It includes Beautiful 6th Oct, a stencil of the vigilante from Neal Ulevich's famous photograph showing the lynching of a student on 6th October 1976. Most provocatively, "Y" Card depicts the king of spades playing card with the face of coup leader and current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

The exhibition's centrepiece is an installation featuring busts of Prayut and former PM Thaksin Shinawatra playing a high-stakes poker game for the future of Thailand. The installation is replete with symbolic references to the country's political, royal, and military power structures. Prayut is concealing the four of clubs and four of spades, a reference to his unlimited authority under article 44. The cards on the table include the nine of clubs (Rama IX) and ten of hearts (Rama X).

Behind Thaksin's bust is 8th Feb '19, a calendar marking the extraordinary day when one of Thaksin's proxy parties nominated Prince Ubolratana as its candidate for prime minister in the upcoming election. Prayut's backdrop is a map of Thailand featuring the word โกง ('cheat'). Merchandise on sale at the gallery includes the election campaign slogan "STOP DICTATORSHIP", though as the exhibition makes clear, the game is rigged: while Thaksin has more chips (indicating his personal wealth), Prayut has numerous hidden cards.

"contemptuous by reason of it scandalising the Court..."

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the state of Victoria, Australia, has written to dozens of journalists, accusing them of contempt of court in relation to the trial of George Pell, a former Catholic archbishop accused of child abuse. Pell was convicted of five counts on 11th December last year, though the guilty verdict could not be reported by Australian media due to a gagging order imposed to prevent coverage potentially prejudicing a subsequent trial.

The reporting restrictions effectively amounted to a superinjunction, as even the existence of the gagging order could not be reported. On the day after Pell's conviction, the Sun Herald newspaper ran the banner headline "CENSORED" on its front page, describing the case in general terms as "a very important story that is relevant to Victorians." Similarly, other news outlets referred to the conviction of a high-profile figure on unspecified charges.

The restrictions were lifted yesterday, after Pell's second trial was dismissed, though DPP Kerri Judd warned journalists that they faced "substantial imprisonment" for contempt. In letters to individual reporters, she claimed that indirect coverage of the case had "a definite and real tendency to interfere with the administration of justice and therefore constitutes sub judice contempt, is contemptuous by reason of it scandalising the Court, and aided and abetted contempts by overseas media".

Wonder Women

To celebrate International Women's Day on 8th March, the Thai Film Archive will be showing a month of movies from female directors. The Wonder Women (เมื่อผู้หญิงทำหนัง) season's highlights are the first and last days' screenings: Kanittha Kwunyoo's Karma (อาบัติ) on 1st March, and Anocha Suwichakornpong's By the Time It Gets Dark (ดาวคะนอง) and Pimpaka Towira's The Island Funeral (มหาสมุทรและสุสาน) on 31st March. All screenings are free.

Clouzot Retrospective

Several venues have teamed up to organise a season of films directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. The Clouzot Retrospective begins on 5th March and runs until 17th March, and includes his documentary The Mystery of Picasso (Le mystère Picasso), his suspense thriller The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur), and his horror classic Diabolique (Les diaboliques).

The Mystery of Picasso will be shown at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya on 10th March. It will have an extended run at Warehouse 30's Doc Club Theater, screening on 8th, 10th, 14th, 16th, 19th, 22nd, 25th, 29th, and 31st March; 1st, 5th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 25th, and 29th April; and 3rd and 10th May. (It played last week at Smalls, and in 2013 at TCDC.) The Wages of Fear will be screened on 9th March at two venues: the Thai Film Archive and Cinema Oasis. (It was also shown at the Archive last year, and at Alliance Française in 2017.) Diabolique is at the Thai Film Archive on 10th March and at Bangkok Screening Room on 13th March. (It was screened at Alliance Française last year.)

“The most hateful song in Thai political history...”

Army chief Apirat Kongsompong invoked arguably the darkest period in Thailand’s history earlier this week, when he recommended a song associated with violence and intolerance. At a press conference on 18th February, General Apirat was asked to comment on the Pheu Thai party’s manifesto pledge to reduce military spending after the 24th March election. In response, he said that they should listen to หนักแผ่นดิน (‘burden of the land’). He then issued an order for military radio stations to play the song, though the directive was rescinded shortly afterwards.

หนักแผ่นดิน, composed by Boonsong Hakritsuk in 1975, denounces anyone not affirming their loyalty to the nation, religion, and monarchy as traitorous ‘scum of the earth’. This ultranationalist song fomented anti-Communist violence when it was repeatedly broadcast in the days before the 6th October 1976 massacre. In an editorial today, the Bangkok Post accuses Apirat of “reviving the most hateful song in Thai political history”.

The song was also the theme tune to a film of the same name, directed by Sombat Methanee in 1977. The Village Scouts, a paramilitary group that instigated the 1976 massacre, are the heroes in this anti-Communist propaganda movie, and หนักแผ่นดิน is their anthem. (Rachel V. Harrison discusses this and similar films in a chapter of Cultures at War.) Apirat’s invocation of หนักแผ่นดิน despite (or because of) its incendiary legacy sends a disturbing signal that the army has barely changed in the past forty years. (Apirat’s father, General Sunthorn, led the coup that resulted in the 1992 ‘Black May’ massacre. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.)

Apirat’s resurrection of such a divisive song has overshadowed the issue of military spending that Pheu Thai highlighted. As The Nation reveals today, the military’s budget has increased by almost a quarter since the 2014 coup. Much of this money has been spent on sophisticated equipment that is largely redundant. (Paul Chambers and Napisa Waitoolkiat discuss military expenditure and corruption in Khaki Capital.)

“Such action must be deemed transgression...”

8th February was one of the most extraordinary days in Thailand’s political history. That morning, in the first of the day’s unprecedented developments, the Thai Raksa Chart party formally nominated Princess Ubolratana as its candidate for prime minister ahead of the 24th March election.

The nomination caused an immediate sensation, as it indicated an apparent deal between Ubolratana (and, by extension, the royal family) and Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin is loathed by Thai royalists, and Ubolratana’s association with Thai Raksa Chart, a party linked to Thaksin, caused profound shock. Prime Minister and coup leader Prayut Chan-o-cha had long been expected to contest the election himself, and Ubolratana's nomination immediately put his political ambitions in doubt.

The junta’s constitution allows the military to appoint all 250 members of the Senate, gives senators the right to vote for the prime minister, and permits a non-politician to be PM. With 250 votes from the Senate, Prayut would require only 126 additional votes from the 500 elected MPs. The constitution also introduced a proportional representation system, designed to prevent a single party (namely, Thaksin’s Pheu Thai) from achieving a landslide.

Parties controlled by Thaksin have won every election since 2001. The 2006 and 2014 coups were both launched with the express purpose of eradicating his influence, though Pheu Thai remains one of the main contenders in the upcoming election. Thai Raksa Chart, led by former Pheu Thai politicians backed by Thaksin, was created as part of a pincer movement: a potential Pheu Thai and Thai Raksa Chart coalition that could subvert the constitution’s restrictions on an absolute Pheu Thai majority.

Even if Thaksin’s strategy had succeeded, the Senate votes would almost certainly ensure that Prayut remained PM. Hence the remarkable nomination of Princess Ubolratana: Thaksin recognised that Prayut could not be seen to challenge a member of the royal family. (Ubolratana became a commoner in 1972 in order to marry an American. After their divorce, she resumed her royal engagements, albeit without a formal title.)

At first, the bombshell announcement seemed like a masterstroke. However, by the evening, it looked more like political suicide. King Vajiralongkorn, Ubolratana’s brother, issued a written statement confirming his unequivocal disapproval of her nomination: “Any attempt to involve a high-level member of the Royal Family in the political process—by whatever means, would be tantamount to breaching time-honoured royal traditions, customs and national culture. Such action must be deemed transgression and most inappropriate.”

The King’s intervention was as unprecedented and unexpected as Ubolratana’s. In addition to instantly terminating the nomination, it publicly signalled that Thaksin remained persona non grata. (The statement also noted that legal immunity, constitutionally granted only to the King, could apparently be extended at his discretion: “Such provisions should no doubt apply to the Queen, the heir to the throne, and those members of the Royal Family close to the person of the Monarch”.)

Following the King’s statement, the Election Commission recommended that the Constitutional Court dissolve Thai Raksa Chart. The court is currently considering the case, though it has previously dissolved two other parties run by Thaksin (Thai Rak Thai and the People Power Party).

The Mystery of Picasso

Henri-Georges Clouzot's documentary The Mystery of Picasso (Le mystère Picasso) will be shown on 17th February at Smalls. The screening, on the rooftop of the Bangkok bar, is free of charge. The documentary was previously shown at TCDC, and Clouzot also directed the classic suspense thriller Les diaboliques.

World Class Cinema

The Thai Film Archive's World Class Cinema season continues this year with Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet) on 17th March, and Billy Wilder's classic comedy Some Like It Hot on 16th June. As in 2017 and 2018, screenings will take place at Bangkok's Scala cinema.

BKKSR Cinémathèque

This week, Bangkok Screening Room is launching BKKSR Cinémathèque, a monthly programme of classic French films. The inaugural film is François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups), showing on 7th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, and 17th February.

"The secret life of Melania..."

The Daily Telegraph has paid "substantial damages" to Melania Trump in settlement of a defamation lawsuit filed by the First Lady last week. The newspaper printed a correction on 26th January (on page two), apologising for "a number of false statements which we accept should not have been published."

The lawsuit relates to the cover story from The Telegraph Magazine, published on 19th January. The article, by Nina Burleigh, appeared on pages fourteen to twenty, and was based on her book Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump's Women, which was released in the US last year. (The book's publishers avoided a lawsuit, as American libel law requires proof of 'actual malice', a high bar intended to protect freedom of speech.)

The article was reprinted by the Irish Sunday Independent on 20th January, on page twenty. It has since been deleted from the Telegraph and Independent's websites, and is "suppressed for editorial and/or legal reasons" on the PressReader digital archive.

Ironically, following the Telegraph's retraction, Burleigh has also filed a defamation case against the newspaper, claiming that its apology damaged her journalistic reputation. Yesterday, in a letter to the Telegraph Media Group (TMG), her lawyer argued that "fear of Mrs Trump's lawyer Mr Harder, "the Gawker slayer", caused TMG to capitulate abjectly". This is a reference to Charles Harder, who represented Hulk Hogan in a privacy lawsuit that bankrupted the Gawker website. Harder also won $3 million in damages from the Daily Mail in a previous Melania Trump defamation case.

Bencharong

Bencharong: Chinese Porcelain for Siam, by Thai ceramics expert Dawn F. Rooney, is a guide to Bencharong, enamelled Chinese porcelain made for export to Thailand. As the author writes in her preface, it's the first book to provide a general survey of Bencharong porcelain: "Bencharong as an art form has received little attention and few details about its origins, production, and symbolism have been published. This book addresses that gap."

The first chapter is a largely unnecessary account of Thailand's early development and Sino-Thai relations. Chapter two describes the origins of Bencharong, and chapter three explains the technical aspects of its production. The book's main interest lies in chapters four, five, and six: illustrated examples of a wide range of Bencharong decorative motifs and objects, with extended captions.

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil, the classic Orson Welles film noir, will be shown at Smalls tomorrow. The screening, on the rooftop of the Bangkok bar, is free of charge.

More or Less

Miguel Januário's exhibition More or Less opened at Bangkok's WTF Gallery on 14th December last year, and runs until 19th February. The exhibition includes an interactive installation commenting on Thailand's political situation since the 2014 coup: a simulated polling station, complete with ballot papers, a pen, and a ballot box.

On closer inspection, the ballot papers are a parody of recent Thai political factions, and a Thai flag backdrop is overlaid with army camouflage to indicate the military's pervasive influence over the country. Also, the ballot box has no bottom, so ballot papers fall straight onto the floor, symbolising the futility of elections that are often invalidated (as in 2006 and 2014) or postponed. According to the junta, a return to democracy is always on the horizon, and elections are perpetually due 'next year'. In the meantime, gallery visitors can vote via Januário's ballot papers.

A month after the coup, on 28th June 2014, Prayut Chan-o-cha promised an election by October 2015. On 9th February 2015, he committed to an election by February 2016. On 9th August 2016, he announced that an election would take place by November 2017. On 10th October 2017, he gave assurances that an election would happen by November 2018. On 27th February 2018, he pledged an election by February 2019, though another delay seems inevitable.