Video/Film
Bronze tires, copper sheets, video, color, sound
In 2010, Bangkok erupted in violence with protesters from both the Left and Right, battling the military in the streets. The main weapon on both sides was the tire, both as a barricade and as improvised Molotov cocktail, rolled instead of thrown. In 2015, Rirkrit Tiravanija created an installation, untitled 2015 (bangkok boogie woogie, no. 1), sourced from this particularly vernacular form of action, straight from the streets of his hometown. In what became the very last action at the old Gavin Brown’s enterprise space on Greenwich St. in New York before it was demolished, Tiravanija cast rubber tires into bronze doppelgängers, and rolled them flaming through the gallery filled with petroleum fuel; all of this was filmed, edited, and used as the backdrop for the installation. The mirrored copper floor reflects the rolling burning movement, while the metal tires produce a clanging soundtrack, conjuring a feeling of violent assault within the gallery space. Part political reflection, and part kinetic experiment, untitled 2015 (bangkok boogie woogie, no. 1) passes on messages from the protesters, and also from other brothers-in-arms: Fischli & Weiss, Allan Kaprow, and Jean Tinguely.
