Akras Pornkajornkijkul
Born in 1988, Bangkok, Akras is a Thai artist whose areas of interest spread across different media: sculpture, performance, participatory and Intervention art especially in public areas. Interested in social issues such as equality and cultural diversity, he researches and explores social phenomena such as paradigm shift and social dynamics as a means to achieve those ideologies. Believing science and art do not have to be polarized, in his practice, he often uses scientific mechanisms to explore the artistic realm.
For example, in Morphosyntopia (2023), he studied the social behavior and structure of a colony of ants under crisis, comparing them to that of humanity. In ‘Hopeful Breeze’ (2021) exhibited in the Thailand Biennale 2021 in Korat, he demanded the audience’s participation in paddling the bikes that are a part of his sculpture. The act of paddling stimulated the rotational mechanism and the propellers which in turn generated the wind. The more people participated, the stronger the wind generated. The work subtly addressed the social dynamic of change which also requires consensus in making any tangible impact. Besides the participatory element, his works also deal with abstract ideas such as equality. In Equalize (2017), he allowed viewers to interact with work by playing with weight transferring to create balance in the teeter totter swing. By interacting with the artwork, the audience explored and, in the meantime, materialized the myriad aspects of equality. Currently, Akras not only works as an independent artist based in Bangkok, but also as a full-time professor at the Department of Fine Arts, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang.
