Akeroyd Collection
Artists
Kawita Vatanajyankur
b. 1987 Bangkok, Thailand; lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand.
In her performative videos, Kawita’s Vatanajyankur transforms her body into a site upon which issues of labor, feminism, oppression, and consumerism are thoroughly interrogated and challenged. Vatanajyankur undertakes various repetitive and strenuous tasks, turning herself into mechanical tools and domestic objects as she pushes her body to its limits as a testament to human capabilities and female resilience. Drawing from a globalized and digitally networked visual language of consumption and instant gratification, her videos bear semblance to bold and colorful commercial advertisements, only breaking away from their similarities within her constantly recurring moments of physical and emotional discomfort; the result is a body of work that is visually striking yet uncomfortable to witness.
Kawita Vatanajyankur's recent projects include Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2024); Body, Labour, Consumption, Museo Novecento, Florence (2022); Mental Machine: Labor in the Self Economy, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (2022); Balance, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2022); #empowerment. Planetary Feminisms in Art, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (2022); Nation, Narration, Narcosis: Collecting Entanglements & Embodied Histories, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2021); Watch and Chill, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon (2021); Domesticated, MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Bangkok (2020); The Repetitiveness of Work, Project Fulfill Art Space, Taipei (2019); Performing Textiles, Alongside 58th Venice Biennale, InParadiso3030, Venice (2019); Squeezers, Flint Institute of Arts: Fleckenstein Video Gallery, Michigan (2018); Kawita Vatanajyankur, Kuiper Project, Brisbane (2018); Beyond Bliss, Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, Bangkok (2018); Work, Clear Edition & Gallery, Tokyo (2016); Machinized, Stills Gallery, Sydney (2016); Tools, The Jam Factory, Bangkok (2015); and Play, Beam Contemporary, Melbourne (2014).
For further information about this artist please click here.
For Kawita Vatanajyankur's entry on Asia Art Archive's website please click here.
Exhibitions
Nova Contemporary , Thailand (solo)
The 11th Asia Pacic Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (group)
Everyday Practices, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (group)
Liquidscape: Southeast Asia Today, Arts Maebashi, Maebashi, Japan (group)
Indonesia Bertutur, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia (group)
The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, an ocial collateral exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (group)
Can't Help but Love Her, Suwon Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea (group)
Chronic Compulsions: Selected Works from Art Addicts Anonymous, , The Private Museum, Singapore (group)
The Managed Heart: Art and Emotional Labour , NTU ADM Gallery, Singapore (group)
She’s a Knockout: Sport, Gender, and the Body in Contemporary Art, Lowe Art Museum, Miami, US (group)
Field Work (Solo Booth), Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China (solo)
Table Manners, Appetite, Singapore (group)
Uncanny Encounters, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Busan, Busan, Korea (group)
The Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre (BACC) and Central World, Bangkok, Thailand (group)
Fun Feminism, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland (group)
Body, Labour, Consumption, Museo Novecento, Florence, Italy (solo)
Mental Machine: Labor in the Self Economy, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia (solo)
No False Idols, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, Australia (group)
Balance, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (group)
Invisible Labor, ArtYard, New Jersey, USA (group)
Nation, Narration, Narcosis: Collecting Entanglements & Embodied Histories, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (group)
Spinning Wheels, Jim Thompson House Museum, Bangkok, Thailand (solo)
OzAsia Festival, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, Australia (group)
Watch and Chill, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon, Korea (group)
Errata: Collecting Entanglements & Embodied Histories, Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand (group)
Fertile Ground, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia (group)
Stories Across Rising Lands, Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia (group)
Domesticated, MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Bangkok, Thailand (solo)
No Frontiers: What Happens in Bangkok Does Not Stay in Bangkok, Galerie Arnaud Lebecq, Paris, France (group)
Additions + Alterations, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand (group)
Power Play, The Art House, Singapore (group)
Looping Paradoxes, Dip Contemporary Art, Lugano, Switzerland (solo)
Unveil Escape, Gallery See Scape, Chiang Mai, Thailand (solo)
The Repetitiveness of Work, Project Fulfill Art Space, Taipei, Taiwan (solo)
Performing Textiles, 'The Cube' Space, Mosman Gallery, Sydney, Australia (solo)
Foul Play, Albright Knox Art Gallery, (Buffalo) New York, USA (solo)
Conversation Starters 2019: Temperature Rising (Event), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia (group)
Performing Textiles, Alongside 58th Venice Biennale, InParadiso3030, Venice, Italy (solo)
Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2019, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (group)
The Balancing Act (Curated by Antidote), Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia (solo)
Performing Textiles (Part II), Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (solo)
The Scale of Justice, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, Australia (solo)
Beyond Bliss, Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, Bangkok, Thailand (group)
Absurdity in Paradise, Kasseler Kunstverein, Fridericianum Museum, Kassel, Germany (group)
Performing Textiles, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand (solo)
ART FORMOSA, Shongshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taipei, Taiwan (group)
The Scale 2, Flint Institute of Arts: Fleckenstein Video Gallery, Michigan, USA (solo)
Kawita Vatanajyankur, Kuiper Project, Brisbane, Australia (solo)
Negotiating the Future, Asian Art Biennial 2017, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan (group)
Art Jakarta, Jarkarta, Indonesia (group)
Islands on the Stream: Alamak!, Alongside 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (group)
MeCA l Media Culture in Asia: A Transnational Platform curated by Japan Foundation Asia Center, Laforet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan (group)
Splashed, Nova Contemporary, Bangkok, Thailand (solo)
Extraordinary Meetings, Small Compendium of Oriental Art, Census Foundation, Florence, Italy (group)
Work, Clear Edition & Gallery, Tokyo (solo)
Squeezers, Flint Institute of Arts: Fleckenstein Video Gallery, Michigan, USA (solo)
Thailand Eye, Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand (group)
Machinized, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia (solo)
Thailand Eye, Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom (group)
The Carrying Pole, Screen Space, Melbourne, Australia (solo)
Tools, The Jam Factory, Bangkok, Thailand (solo)
Work, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia (solo)
La Movida, Biblioteca Municipal de Barranco, Lima, Peru (group)
Season 14, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia (group)
The Museum of Abject Sentimentality, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (group)
New Grand Narrative (Next Wave Festival 2014), Testing Ground, Melbourne, Australia (group)
Play, Beam Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia (solo)
The Ice Shaver, Sencus Luoghi per l'Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy (solo)
Tools, Beam Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia (solo)
The Ice Shaver, Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Melbourne, Australia (solo)
Domesticated, Trocadero Art Space, Melbourne, Australia (solo)
Body and Elements, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (solo)
Walking on Water, First Site Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (solo)
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
Awards
Generation T Asia 2019, Art Category, Thailand Tatler / Asia Tatler
Winner of Art Category in Perspective 40 Under 40 Award, Hong Kong, China
Winner of Young Alumni Community Engagement Award, Bangkok, Thailand
Finalist of Australian Alumni Awards, Bangkok, Thailand
Finalist of Jaguar Asia Tech Art Prize, Taipei, Taiwan
2019
2018
2016
2015