Pratchaya Phinthong. sleeping sickness

Les Prairies, the 3rd edition of Les Ateliers de Rennes – Biennial of Contemporary Art, focuses on the many embodiments of that all-conquering legend, the pioneer. The aim is to scrutinise the contradictory aspects of an ambiguous figure from the American pioneer to today's global migrant. To mark the occasion, La Criée receives Thai artist Pratchaya Phinthong for a new exhibition titled sleeping sickness.

The 3rd edition of Les Ateliers de Rennes – Biennial of Contemporary Art spotlights the figure of the pioneer. The word's etymology conjures up personal characteristics and a portrait that has lost nothing of its contemporary relevance: of a trailblazer who lays the groundwork for projects and buildings; of a "displaced" person constantly on the move, interacting with surroundings he transforms according to his needs or his vision of the world. This definition fits closely with the approach taken by Pratchaya Phinthong, artist, traveller, and groundbreaker for complex social, economic and geopolitical situations. Engaging with a global trade system, his work sets out to reveal the different reality strata that system is made of. In most cases his creations involve a research process culminating formally in a poetic, imaginative space. To cite one example, his project Give more than you take (2010)—shown successively at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Brétigny, at GAMEC in Bergamo, and on an Internet site—takes us to the heart of the atrocious human and economic situation of Thai workers in Lapland.

Pratchaya Phinthong
sleeping sickness