Apinan Poshyananda

Apinan Poshyananda was born in Bangkok, Thailand in 1956. He is one of the most renowned curators and art writers in the Asian region.

Biography

Education

Poshyananda received an MFA degree from the University of Edinburgh, and a PhD in art history from Cornell University.

Career

Poshyananda is now Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Culture, Thailand. Before joining the Ministry of Culture, he acted as the chief curator of the Art Center of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University.

Contribution to contemporary art

Poshyananda eagerly promotes Thai contemporary artists by sending them overseas to participate in such major international art exhibitions. With his expertise in art and culture, as well as his great contribution to the art world, he then became an internationally recognized curator.

In 2001, Poshyananda was awarded the Outstanding National Research Award by the National Research Council of Thailand.

Selected works

• Traditions/Tensions (New York, U.S.A., traveling, 1996)
• 1st and 2nd Asia Pacific Triennial (Brisbane, Australia, 1993, 1996), Thai and Australian section, respectively
• Appointed as a commissioner for the Asian section of 24th São Paulo Biennale (Brazil, 1998)
• 9th Sydney Biennale (1992)
• 4th Istanbul Biennale (1994)
• 1st Johannesburg Biennale (1995)
• 1st Liverpool Biennale (1999)
• Curating solo exhibitions by Nobuyoshi Araki, Yasurmasa Morimura, Choi Jeong Hwa, Zhang Peili, Hung Liu, Marina Abramović and Mella Jaarsma
• Organizing numerous exhibitions including one-person shows by Pinaree Sanpitak, Chatchai Puipia, Kamol Phaosavasdi, Vasan Sitthiket, Jakapan Vilasaneekul, Pratuang Emjaroen, Manit Sriwanichpoom and Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook.
• Organizing a solo show by Montien Boonma in New York
• Joining the exhibition Beyond Paradise of the Moderna Museet in StockholmGuest as a guest curator.
• Selecting contemporary Nordic art to travel to Asia in 2002
• International advisor for 1st Echigo-Tsumari Triennal (2000), 1st Yokohama Triennal (2001), and the art acquisition committee of The Asia Society, New York.
• Author of Modern Art in Thailand (OUP, 1992) and Western-style Painting and Sculpture in the Thai Royal Court (Bangkok, 1993)
• One of the curators writing for Fresh Cream (Phaidon, 2000)
• Co-author of a major text book on modern and contemporary Asian art, published in New York
• Co-editor of Over Here (The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York)
• Artistic director of the Bangkok Art Biennale