By using ordinary objects and simple mediums, Orawan Arunrak plays with our expectations and perceptions of the familiar and unfamiliar in relation to our surroundings. Snack plates are used as material for small drawings, depicting landscapes from non-remarkable places. At first glance Arunrak’s large paintings seem void, but, after looking closer, the delineating miniature drawings become apparent. They are like brown road signs indicating the presence of a touristic or historical site that is in the vicinity yet out of sight. However, in Arunrak’s work they indicate common places from daily life. The installation is accompanied by cards with single sentences and words in Thai, English, and German, which are based on Arunrak’s observations of these landscapes. They become an associative map, presenting a way to freely connect the pictures and words—they allow for smaller narratives to be recognized in larger ones, related to the visitor’s own experience.

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KW Institute for Contemporary Art and BPA// Berlin program for artists are pleased to present the BPA// Exhibition 2022, featuring works that second year BPA// participants produced over the course of their working period with the program. The exhibition takes place on two floors of KW’s front house, and allows for the individual positions as well as for cross-references to be explored.

Participating artists: Orawan Arunrak, Benjamin Busch, Dina El Kaisy Friemuth, Sarah Friend, Julian Irlinger, Paul Kolling, Shirin Mohammad, Nnenna Onuoha, Tang Han and Ernie Wang.

Curator: Léon Kruijswijk Assistant Curator: Anna-Lisa Scherfose The exhibition runs from November 3, 2022–January 15, 2023 at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany.

Image: Orawan Arunrak, After This…, 2021–2022. Installation view of the exhibition BPA// Exhibition 2022 at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2022; courtesy the artist; photo: Frank Sperling