HUBS: BANGKOK

ABOUT JOLT IN THAILAND

In 2010, JOLT's Bangkok HUB will begin presenting it's  first JOLT events under the artistic directorship of Pawit Mahasarinand and Prapon (Joe) Kumjim. Both Mahasarinand and Kumjim are Bangkok-based cultural workers from very different artistic disciplines. As co-artistic directors for JOLT events in Thailand, Mahasarinand and Kumjim will seek to explore their common interests in cultural translation, cross-disciplinary projects and collaboration. Kumjim’s arts practice is based on photography and Mahasarinand’s practice on theatre, but these disciplines will be treated as points of departure in developing and artistically directing future JOLT projects in Thailand.

THAI JOLT: THE CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

PRAPON (JOE) KUMJIM

PAWIT MAHASARINAND

PRAPON (JOE) KUMJIM

Prapon (Joe) Kumjim holds B.A (Hons.) in Fine Art, painting and printmaking from University of East London, MFA from Glasgow School of Art and is currently finishing his Fine Art doctorate degree at RMIT University in Melbourne. Joe is a lecturer of Intermedia at the Visual Art Department, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University. Joe is a photomedia installation artist who has exhibited internationally; he has also been involved in several artist-run initiatives and was head of Chulalongkorn University’s Art Centre.   

PAWIT MAHASARINAND 

Pawit Mahasarinand has taught at Chulalongkorn University's Department of Dramatic Arts since 1992, and written dance and theatre reviews for The Nation newspaper since 2001. A Fulbright scholar and an Asian Cultural Council fellow, he has studied in the USA's three different time zones for eight years and is finishing his Ph.D. by dissertation there at the University of Michigan. Back home in Bangkok, he has translated ten European and American plays for professional and university productions. He also staged Mamet's Oleanna, Hanke's Offending the Audience, Rabe's A Question of Mercy, Dietz's Private Eyes, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre, published by Greenwood Press, has his entries on modern Thai theatre.

Pawit can still recall his first trip to Melbourne back in 1991 when the Australasian Debating Championship made him realize that English was not his mother tongue. His team’s only victory, out of six matches, was merely one point over a Sydney team who didn’t realize Thailand was the world’s No. 1 exporter of rice. After practicing his English, he has been back to Australia – to  Melbourne the Garden City - for the past few Octobers exclusively to attend the Melbourne International Festival.

His recent articles for The Nation can be accessed at http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/danceandtheatre

THAI JOLT PROJECTS

to be announced

THAI JOLT CONTACT

Prapon (Joe) Kumjim

Co-Artistic Director 

JOLT THAILAND

email: to be announced