COVER STORY

Give yourself a muchneeded break and a breath of air at these new, and cold, galleries that are worth your time.

Charoen Krung 36 WarinLab.com, fb.com/WarinLabContemporary

Opened: February 2021

Art has always been a medium that has been used not just to promote but to also effect social change, so much so that certain artworks can be censored because of their powerful messages.

Warin Lab Contemporary continues that legacy in their gallery by showcasing art that tackles important social issues. “I believe art has a versatile role in society,” says Sukontip Prahanpap, Warin Lab Contemporary’s founder. “Apart from delivering aesthetics, art can be a communication tool to engage audiences with social issues. Warin Lab Contemporary is founded with the purpose to be a catalyst for social change.” Sukontip entered the art business in 2013 and opened the La Lanta Fine Art gallery on Charoen Krung in 2016. But La Lanta and Warin Lab are vastly different in their purposes.

Warin Lab is focusing on the environment this year. The current exhibition is by Thai artist Ruangsak Anuwatwimon called “Reincarnations III: Ecologies Log Life”, which is centred around the extinction of Schomburgk’s deer, an animal that was last seen in 1936 and is believed to be extinct due to hunting and urban expansion. Warin Lab also holds educational programmes and talks, which are open to the public. The latest talk was on the critically endangered pla siew sompong or Trigonostigma somphongsi, which is available for viewing on their FB page.

Sukhontip says that the third wave caused them to adjust gallery openings and the number of visitors allowed, but it also made them create and use digital avenues to make content available for the public from video footages of installations to webinars.