Description

Combining art and social engagement

Rirkrit Tiravanija (*1961, Buenos Aires, Argentina) grew up in Thailand, Ethiopia and Canada and studied at art schools in New York, Chicago, Banff and Toronto. His actions and performances are primarily aimed at bringing people together and into contact with contemporary art in a sociable context. Thus in 1990, for example, he launched the project pad thai, in which he prepared and served meals to visitors in galleries and museums. His installations and art objects are similarly designed to promote interaction. They investigate ideas of relationships and communities, and seek to combine aesthetic and social activity.

Rather than making objects for static display, Rirkrit Tiravanija is concerned with the interactions between people and their environment. He also encourages visitors to become active participants in the production of culture instead of mere passive consumers of culture. Since the 1990s, Tiravanija has been making artworks that reflect his personal history and daily experiences.

“In many ways maybe all of the work I do or have done is about trying to locate myself.”