Baan Kang Wat lies on a road less frequently travelled, out of sight of elephant hippy panted tourists and locals on zippy scooters. One would never stumble upon this artist village deep-set in the jungle terrain of the Mueang district of Chiang Mai, Thailand. However, if time is set aside to visit this art space, one can learn from the quiet art of sharing.
On an ample plot of land, the idyllic artist village exists in a humble state. Fourteen traditional Thai homes dot the premises, artists living on upper levels while keeping their ground floor studios and shops open to the public. While being a niche art space, it doesn’t boast its presence which leaves it off the radar and on the periphery both geographically and in art circles. However, scattered visitors leisurely visit the area, taking photos against the aesthetic architecture, lazily walking through the tree-lined trails connecting the houses and reading in the open-air library. The site permeates a warm, comforting ambience.
The project was director Big’s (Nattawut Ruckprasit) personal dream, inspired by cherished childhood memories. “I was born with the sharing,” he told me, explaining how he developed core values through growing up in a home with his extended family, sharing food, space and daily life in communal delight. After finishing university and encountering loneliness in his adult life, he wished to recreate the feeling of community he experienced as a child. Fortuitously, he was able to make his dream a reality when his friend purchased a piece of land where Big could create an artist village.
Big developed Baan Kang Wat as a sculptural project to emphasise philosophies of sharing. The project could deceptively be perceived as primarily architectural but, however, the site’s open-plan houses highlighting cultural aesthetics, art and nature are largely a monument to sharing. The property is home to excess greenery, the vine-ridden open-air studios overpouring with contemporary whilst traditional handicrafts. The houses are both home and workspaces to artists and a place for the general public to engage with art, whether observing artists in their studios, buying their work, participating in art classes or drinking coffee in one of the on-site cafes. Footpaths and gardens link the houses emphasising strength in collaboration; such sense of sharing is key to the site’s oeuvre. The visitor feels welcomed into the space’s peaceful creativity rather than participating as a temporary outsider, a negative feeling imposed by many art spaces. Anyone present will feel, in Big’s words, “easy,” and the overall sculptural composition generates an effortless simplicity.
Rather than merely an art project, Baan Kang Wat is an economic experiment incorporating values of sharing and harmonious living into the professional lives of artists. Considering contemporary consumerist culture oppressive and diminishing the serenity of daily life, Big rebelled. He designed Baan Kang Wat to gently raise revenue for its artists while stressing a sense of calm to ensure both artists and visitors experience the easy-going nature of the site.
While artist-run spaces usually avoid recognising economic realities of professional subsistence, Baan Kang Wat identifies that emerging artists can rarely survive solely on income from their artwork. Big created Baan Kang Wat as an environment which sustains emerging artists, helping them avoid the dichotomy of balancing non-related art careers and creative development. Artists can conduct art classes and sell their work, including smaller handicrafts outside their main practice, to help them develop while being sustained economically. Additionally, the visitor can explore the artists’ studios without feeling pressure to make purchases (anyone who has visited Thailand will find this a relief!). Overall, the place provides an escape from the rush of consumerism while still letting a small art economy thrive through the duality of the studio-shops.
Specifically, the project is aimed at resident artists between the ages of 22-30 to help them avoid fatigue from striving for success and allowing them to live in a shared space to nurture professional and personal growth. Artists are residents for at least three years to ensure they become part of the Baan Kang Wat family and fully comprehend a lifestyle which benefits from sharing, including a daily shared evening meal created from the on-site community garden.
Baan Kang Wat is a quiet, hidden space and its significance lies in this. The site isn’t flocked with tourists and locals and, if it was, it’s purpose would be negated. As a sculptural entity, it is formed of serenity and stands as a contradiction to aloneness of modern living through applied notions of sharing. The project’s composition connects each entity. On a plot of land infiltrated with jungle, houses exist in partnership with natural qualities of the land. Artists live harmoniously in the houses, sharing their lives collaboratively with each other and visitors. Whomever the visitors are, they participate in this sculptural project and learn the art of sharing.
From a young age, Big saw the infinite value in togetherness and the power of collaboration and used art to share this with others. In a world where individualism pushes people to strive for grand personal success and ego, estranging one another in the process, Baan Kang Wat is a monument to gathering together, being calm and valuing community.