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To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Judith Benhamou Reports, I asked five leading figures in the art world to come and speak to us in public: Glenn Lowry, Maja Hoffmann, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lina Ghotmeh and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Here is the third episode in this short series.
Once upon a time there was an artist who liked to offer food. In places as unexpected as an exhibition venue like the Grand Palais, or the plaza facing an art fair such as Art Basel in Basel, he would organise a giant banquet during which people met, ate and, carried along by the euphoria of the generosity extended to them, ended up feeling happy. This artist is Rirkrit Tiravanija (born 1961), a placid global star of contemporary art. Rirkrit is a conduit for happiness. Rirkrit, like Marcel Duchamp, does as little as possible. He asks others to do the thinking for him, and above all for themselves. From early childhood he travelled all over the world. Today Rirkrit lives between New York, where he teaches at Columbia University, Berlin, and the marvellous region of Chiang Mai in Thailand.
The most burning question about him is: how does one become Rirkrit?
The beginning of an answer lies in the meaning of his first name, which in Thai is a combination of the words “auspicious sign” and “magical power”. Quite a programme…
Happy listening!
For Parisians, an exhibition devoted to him is on view through 22 November at Galerie Chantal Crousel. It is titled “In Aliens we trust”:
https://www.crousel.com/exposition/rirkrit-tiravanija-in-aliens-we-trust/
