Tian Tian Xiang Shang (BACC)
My sculpture exhibited among 200 versions of Danny Yung’s pointing-boy statue, in Bangkok iteration of his evolving international exhibition
1 March to 12 April 2019, Bangkok Art & culture Centre (BACC), Bangkok, Thailand
Decades before the Bearbrick trend, the phenomenon of inviting others to design a conceptual adaptation for a blank template sculpture was first conceived in the 1970s by Hong Kong artist Danny Yung, a founder of the avant-garde art group Zuni Icosahedron, and then Chairperson of the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture. He was inspired by the Chinese slogan Tian Tian Xiang Shang, literally translated as “looking up, every day”, which was popularised in the 1950s to encourage reflection and self-improvement, especially among children. His upward-looking Tian Tian statues of a chubby boy pointing towards his gaze has been taken to many countries, where Yung invites locals to create their own versions. In Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, Yung brought 100 of the best previous statues to the show, and invited Bangkokian professionals, artists and art lovers to contribute another 100 to the collection, including one by me. Visitors could also join the cultural dialogue by decorating another 2,000 miniature white figurines provided in the gallery with pints and adornments.
My concept was ‘99 Strings’. It features 99 threads of white cotton tied around the wrist as a ‘sai sin’ – a Thai blessing of multiple ambiguous meanings and possible sources. This charm of multiple meanings is also a social bond, blessing homes and businesses, and as a social bond that can be tied by one person onto another in a way that shows their relative relationship. The 99-word caption was:
‘99 Strings’
“Tian Tian heard that white wrist strings are sacred, but can’t find any fixed rules. Experts on Thainess claim it’s Buddhist, but it looks animist and Chinese wear red strings, while Google says its Hindu. But his taxi driver’s magic charm was bound in sai sin. And his first was tied by the hotel receptionist, who said it means ‘welcome’ in her village. Then a fortune teller told him 9 is lucky, so now he has 99 sai sin. But nobody agrees on how, or even if, he can take them off. Hmm, maybe he should ask a medium?”
