Perishable Beauty

Art again, oh yezzz! And what kind of art. Just imagine the most splendid dinner you ever had. A juicy, crusty roast, freshest seafood, cheeses from France, freshly baked breads, fruits – a feast for palate, senses and mind. And all those delicacies decaying. First for one day, then for a week, a month … That’s exactly what’s happening at the art exhibition PERISHABLE BEAUTY at the Thailand Creative & Design Center TCDC.

The show, and a show it is, should be mandatory for Thais and residents, as Perishable Beauty is a most Thai theme indeed. You pass the age of thirty years in the land of the ageless and are considered as old as the hills. Beauty, life and time, they’re a highly fragile, momentary condition over here. And that’s what the show is all about. But if even the universe lies in a casket and perishes, what value is there left in life? And it’s getting even more brilliant:

You’ll witness this huge decaying feast with ten live cameras displaying the process of decomposition. Now and then a fly and a maggot and lots of mold. You’re just grateful the huge glass case is properly sealed and doesn’t release the stench of death. A most un-Thai exhibition in the heart of Bangkok. Seriously, I’ve hardly come across something as deep and profound and thought-provoking in Thailand as this Perishable Beauty.

A large digital watch counted over 44 days of continuing decay, while this Feast of the Living Dead is just the overture to mankind’s destiny, the main theme of Perishable Beauty. As the sumptuous meal that gives us so much pleasure is merely a symbol of our fruitless attempt, we’re told, to forget the ultimate dominance of death. All pleasures we contrive to escape death eventually come to an end – and we are really no different from a rotting piece of meat.


And we meet the Egyptian mummy – a real Egyptian mummy? To fight the scent of death and natural decomposition, the ancient Egyptians developed an elaborate science of mummification – the cost of denial, man’s earliest attempt at immortality:


We’re told how the brain and liver and such were carefully removed and stored and how the body cavity was filled with natron and the body was tightly wrapped in fine linen and adorned with sacred symbols, precious amulets and a gilded face mask.

Along the scents of myrrh, musk, the Indian civet and heavy symbolism we’re guided to the centerpiece of the exhibit, the human – the devotees of beauty and youth who’d do about anything against wrinkles and fat. Every year, we’re told, people around the globe spend some 305.5 billion U.S. dollars – the equivalent of Thailand’s GDP – reshaping their bodies and faces in pursuit of beauty.

Profiting from the insecurities of others is Thailand, who stitches them up with a smile.

Hub for medical tourism anyone?

Picture perfect life?


The urge for anti-aging creams, cosmetic surgery, botox and stem cell therapies are all symbols, we’re told, of our struggle to conquer impermanence. Why therefore not create business opportunities out of the perishable beauty around us.

Billions of dollars are spent in industries of “rot” and “decay” even as the world economy sinks.

Experience this exhibition that literally perishes before your very eyes and even dares you to ponder the meaning of black holes, the beginning and end of all cosmic life.

The exhibit ends with this: As financial markets melt, oceans rise and landforms shift, in a never-ending display of perishable beauty, finding an opportunity is up to you.

And what’s the world’s largest wholesale market of impermanence?

Now that’s a no-brainer … Find the answer and more at Thailand Creative & Design Center TCDC, 6th Floor, The Emporium, Bangkok – Tel. 02 664 84 48

Perishable Beauty is open until February 22nd, 2009. Mondays closed, admission free.




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January 7, 2009 | Filed Under Culture & Arts, Health, Body & Mind, Society, TTT - Top Thai Things 

Comments

2 Responses to “Perishable Beauty”

  1. Chris on January 7th, 2009 9.01 pm

    Wow! Now you are cooking! And the art/design scene in Bangkok is getting lively!

  2. JJ on January 8th, 2009 5.06 pm

    A decaying feast and mummy in the middle of Bangkok in a temple of consumerism and nobody knows about it!!! Thank you very much for this one Dan!

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