The Last Supper

Damien Hirst's series The Last Supper (produced in 1999) will be on show next month at 100 Tonson in Bangkok, as part of a British Council exhibition called Monologue/Dialogue (throughout August). The Last Supper is a group of thirteen screenprints, designed to resemble the labels and boxes of pharmaceutical products though given the names of traditional British foods (steak and kidney pie, chips, Cornish pasty, etc.).

Several of the images include a clearly phallic fake company logo, suggesting that, on one level at least, Hirsts combination of pills and pub grub can be taken as a wry joke. They also suggest the 'space food' eaten - or presumed to be eaten - by astronauts, and the futuristic food in pill form which has been predicted for decades yet has not yet materialised. More seriously, they comment upon the increasing amount of artificial additives found in processed foods.

With its emphasis on product packaging, The Last Supper has a superficial connection to Pop Art, though Hirst's images are more muted and clinical than Andy Warhol's bright, garish Brillo boxes and Campbell's screenprints. The Last Supper was produced in an edition of 150, an unusually high quantity for Hirst (who is most renowned for his unique installations and sculptures), echoing Warhol's love of multiple copies.

The thirteen images of The Last Supper signify Christ and the disciples, originally represented in the Gospels and, of course, in Leonardo DaVinci's Milan mural. Hirst himself has also represented Jesus and the disciples in other forms: in Twelve Disciples (1994), the twelve followers were each represented by cows' heads in tanks, with Jesus represented by an empty tank; in The Apostles (2003), each disciple was symbolised by a medicine cabinet filled with found objects, with Jesus represented by an empty cabinet. Most recently, in The Stations Of The Cross (2004, a photographic series by Hirst and David Bailey), Jesus was depicted as a nude woman with a cow's head.

The Apostles, part of Hirst's fascinating exhibition Romance In The Age Of Uncertainty, emphasised the suffering and deaths of the disciples, the cabinets - stained with blood and containing skulls, bones, and weapons - becoming physical manifestations of the bodies of the apostles themselves. The Last Supper is also a reference to death, though the theological element is less explicit.

Although there are thirteen screenprints in The Last Supper, representing the thirteen people at the Biblical last supper, each image does not stand explicitly for a specific person in the way that the cabinets and cows' heads do. Rather, the Last Supper of the title can be seen as a comment on our own reliance upon pills to prolong our lives, the implication being that each tablet, or each meal, could be our last.

Science, medication, and pharmaceuticals are recurring themes in Hirst's work. He has produced a series of medicine cabinets filled with pill boxes (Modern Medicine, 1989-1993), and his long-running geometric 'spot paintings' all illustrate chemical compounds. He created a full-scale replica of a chemist's shop, Pharmacy (1992). His restaurant, Pharmacy, was in business from 1997-2003, and one of his companies is called Science Ltd. His epic monograph I Want To Spend The Rest Of My Life Everywhere, With Everyone, One To One, Always, Forever, Now (1997 [one of my most prized possessions]) takes science as its design theme, and the catalogue of Hirst's work from the Saatchi collection (2001) itself imitates the typography of The Last Supper.

Ultimately, Hirst's installations (the animals in formaldehyde, the medical cabinets, etc.) are more substantial than these screenprints. Also, for a more contemplative contemporary last supper, we can turn to Chris Ofili's The Upper Room (1992), a stunning group of 13 paintings, each depicting a rhesus monkey, installed in a beautiful walnut-panelled room with soft lighting. However, Hirst is surely the most significant of all contemporary artists, so any exhibition of his work is an important artistic event in Bangkok.

Lady Diana

Lady Diana, by Jean-Michel Caradec'h, is an analysis of the French police investigation in the death of Princess Diana. What has made the book infamous is its twenty-page insert, featuring photocopies of the police dossier itself. The insert includes an image of Diana receiving first aid and drawings detailing the findings of her autopsy.

The images were also published by Chi magazine in Italy, in an article about the book. The Chi article is fully authorised by Caradec'h, and includes a long interview with him, though it's strange that he (or his publishers) would allow all of his book's images to be published elsewhere.

(Following the Chi publication, their "L'ULTIMA FOTO" was also reprinted in Bild, the German newspaper, on 15th July.)

Election Commissioners jailed

The Thai Criminal Court has given three members of the Election Commission four-year prison sentences, following the invalidation of the general election. The three EC members, who are now utterly disgraced, had refused to resign despite the Constitution Court's criticism of them. A fourth member did resign, and therefore retained some dignity.

The Suspended Moment

The Suspended Moment is a touring exhibition of works from the collection of Han Nefkens, currently on show in Bangkok from 6th-30th July. In her catalogue introduction, curator Hilde Teerlinck interprets the title as an instant frozen in time ("A Split Second"), which she describes as "the instantaneousness and transience of a moment". This recalls the 'decisive moment' philosophy of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Teerlinck doesn't cite Cartier-Bresson, though she does mention another interesting parallel. She notes a thematic correlation between the novel Girlfriend In A Coma - specifically its chapter titled "Dreaming even though you're wide awake" - and Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.

The concept of the exhibition is explored most literally in Blast, Naoya Hatakeyama's series of dramatic rock explosion photographs, in which the enormous energy of the blasts is eternally frozen. Otto Berchem's installation, Deadheading - a vase of stalks on a pedestal, with the flower heads scattered on the floor below - demonstrates the fragility of time, and the transience of perfection. Highly acclaimed Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook's video Conversation, in which she speaks to a group of shrouded corpses, takes Berchem's concept to its logical conclusion.

More than the artworks themselves, however, the most important thing about The Suspended Moment is the very fact that it is on show in Bangkok. Such international group exhibitions of contemporary, conceptual art, in such diverse media (video, installation, painting, photography, and sculpture), are rare indeed in this city. The exhibition has been split into three venues (PSG, Tadu, and 100 Tonson), some of which are better organised than others, though when the forthcoming contemporary culture building is finished Bangkok will have a truly modern space large enough to accommodate such exhibitions, and will hopefully attract or even produce many more of them.

The King Never Smiles review blocked

A review of The King Never Smiles at friskodude.blogspot.com has been blocked in Thailand. The reviewer even writes that "I need to be careful so that this blog is not blocked by Thai internet authorities", but, of course, reviewing the book is reason enough to be blocked. One consolation is that the blocking seems very intermittent.

El Jueves cartoon banned

Yesterday's issue of El Jueves, the satirical Spanish magazine, featured a cartoon of Prince Filipe and his wife having sex, with Filipe telling her: "if you get pregnant this will be the closest thing I've done to work in my whole life". The magazine has consequently been banned by the Spanish High Court.

The King Never Smiles

Paul M Handley's unauthorised biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, The King Never Smiles, has been published. (I wrote about Thai censorship of it earlier this year.)

In Thailand, criticism of the monarchy is the ultimate taboo. Bhumibol is revered as an almost literally divine figure, the father of the nation. Last month marked his sixtieth anniversary, and the entire country wore yellow (the royal colour) in his honour. Any comment intended or construed as anti-monarchy would result in social disgrace and possibly in violent reprisal. Furthermore, the law of lese majeste is always on hand to punish any criticism of the royal family. Natural devotion to the King, desire to maintain social harmony, and fear of lese majeste ensure that the King remains absolutely immune to criticism.

Handley's book is unique in that it does not blindly accept the conventional, uncritical public viewpoint: it challenges the accepted view of Bhumibol's reign. Handley portrays the King as a firm traditionalist who actively sought to reinstate the superiority of the monarchy after Thailand's democratic revolution, conspired with the military to maintain his position ("Sanctifying Royalty and Stonewalling Democracy", as Handley puts it), and calculatedly cultivated his public image.

Bhumibol's New Theory, emphasising the importance of a self-sufficiency economy, is rationally evaluated by Handley as a PR triumph though "at best pseudo-economics". Serious environmental objections to the King's multiple dam projects are presented. A palace PR campaign to engender "reverence and myth-making", fostering the King's semi-divine public image, is alleged.

By far the most substantial criticism in the book is reserved for Bhumibol's son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, whom Handley describes as "roundly feared and reviled". Vajiralongkorn is portrayed as a violent, corrupt womaniser, unsuitable as an heir to the throne. These characteristics are hardly news, as rumours of his misbehaviour have circulated for decades. However, what is different is that the rumours now appear, collectively, in print, in Handley's biography. The problem, however, is that, although Handley is careful to identify rumours as speculation and gossip, he has no way of authenticating any of this speculation, therefore the most scandalous rumours remain unresolved.

To worship someone absolutely unquestioningly, as if they were divine, is not advisable in the long-term. Indeed, King Bhumibol himself, in his birthday speech last year, unexpectedly invited constructive criticism, and announced that the popular dictum 'the king can do no wrong' was itself wrong. Though The King Never Smiles is, of course, banned in Thailand, it is a necessary book, because no individual or institution should be immune from criticism.

The amazon.com ordering page for the book is now unblocked in Thailand, and my parcel was not intercepted by Thai customs. Also, the book is part of amazon.com's Online Reader system, so we can access its contents online. The publisher's website, which is still blocked in Thailand, features a series of extracts from the book, notably its preface and introduction.

Fifty Films To See Before You Die

Channel 4's film channel, Film4, has produced a list of Fifty Films To See Before You Die, as follows:

1. Apocalypse Now
2. The Apartment
3. City Of God
4. Chinatown
5. Sexy Beast
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. North By Northwest
8. Breathless
9. Donnie Darko
10. Manhattan
11. Alien
12. Lost In Translation
13. The Shawshank Redemption
14. Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India
15. Pulp Fiction
16. Touch Of Evil
17. Walkabout
18. Black Narcissus
19. Boyz 'n The Hood
20. The Player
21. Come & See
22. Heavenly Creatures
23. A Night At The Opera
24. Erin Brockovich
25. Trainspotting
26. The Breakfast Club
27. Hero
28. Fanny & Alexander
29. Pink Flamingos
30. All About Eve
31. Scarface
32. Terminator II
33. Three Colours: Blue
34. The Royal Tenenbaums
35. The Ladykillers
36. Fight Club
37. The Searchers
38. Mulholland Drive
39. The Ipcress File
40. The King of Comedy
41. Manhunter
42. Dawn Of The Dead
43. Princess Mononoke
44. Raising Arizona
45. Cabaret
46. This Sporting Life
47. Brazil
48. Aguirre: The Wrath Of God
49. Secrets & Lies
50. Badlands

This list was selected by a committee including David Puttnam, Jason Solomons, Karen Krizanovich, Tessa Ross, and Menhaj Huda. Puttnam is a key figure in the British film industry, though his is the only worthy name on the committee.

Apocalypse Now is a pretty good choice as #1, but many, many films are too recent to be included in such high positions (City Of God, Sexy Beast, Donnie Darko, Lost In Translation...). Maybe they should rename it 'fifty best cult films'.

Like the recent list by Andrew Collins, The Godfather and Citizen Kane are inexplicably omitted. Scarface is the remake rather than the original.

How To Be A Film Buff

Andrew Collins, film critic for Radio Times magazine, has produced a list of twenty-five essential films, called How To Be A Film Buff. Each entry also has an alternative, making a total of fifty films. The full list is as follows:

• Casablanca (or Citizen Kane)
  
• The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (or Nosferatu)
  
• Blade Runner (or 2001: A Space Odyssey)
  
• A Matter Of Life & Death (or The Red Shoes)
  
• Out Of The Past (or The Big Sleep)
  
• La Dolce Vita (or Bicycle Thieves)
  
• High Noon (or The Searchers)
  
• Rear Window (or Psycho)
  
• The Hidden Fortress (or Rashomon)
  
• Bonnie & Clyde (or Easy Rider)
  
• Bringing Up Baby (or His Girl Friday)
  
• The Hills Have Eyes (or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
  
• Un Chien Andalou (or L'Age D'Or)
  
• Armageddon (or Con Air)
  
• Heaven's Gate (or Dances With Wolves)
  
• Annie Hall (or Manhattan)
  
• Singin' In The Rain (or An American In Paris)
  
• Paths Of Glory (or A Few Good Men)
  
• Performance (or Blow-Up)
  
• Bride Of Frankenstein (or Dracula)
  
• Blackboards (or The Apple)
  
• The Day The Earth Stood Still (or Invasion Of The Body-Snatchers)
  
• Pulp Fiction (or Reservoir Dogs)
  
• Shoah (or Night & Fog)
  
• Winter Light (or The Silence)

Mostly, the alternate choices are films of equal quality to their main counterparts, though not in all cases. Bride Of Frankenstein, for example, is paired with the much weaker Dracula. (Paths Of Glory has A Few Good Men as its alternate choice, but I think we all know that, in this case, no alternative is necessary, least of all A Few Good Men.) It's strange that La Dolce Vita and Bicycle Thieves are paired, as they seem more like opposites. There is a choice between Armageddon or Con Air - how about a third choice of 'neither'?

There is a distinct lack of epics here: no Gone With The Wind, no Metropolis, no Apocalypse Now, and no Lawrence Of Arabia. Unusual, and certainly regrettable, is the lack of The Godfather. The biggest surprise, though, is that Citizen Kane is one of the alternative choices and not on the main list: it's an essential film, especially in a list titled How To Be A Film Buff.

An Encyclopedia Of Swearing

Geoffrey Hughes's 1991 book Swearing is still the only serious academic text on the subject, though it's quite thin and its sources are now outdated. So his new book, the much expanded (though not significantly updated) An Encyclopedia Of Swearing, is a milestone in the field.

The Encyclopedia includes entries for key historical periods (such as medieval, Renaissance, and Restoration), significant writers and texts (including William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Lady Chatterley's Lover), and swearwords themselves.

Of course, I turned first to one entry in particular. The entry for this word discusses medieval usage, a brief (Germanic and Latin) etymology, the Earl of Rochester, and two outdated variants. There is no mention of feminist reappropriation, though, and no discussion of contemporary usage.

In his introduction, Hughes explains that the book is not a dictionary - it does not include a comprehensive list of all known swearwords. (For a better analysis of offensive words, see Hugh Rawson's Dictionary Of Invective; for a definitive list of terms, see Jonathon Green's Cassell Dictionary Of Slang.) As an encyclopedia, however, this new book is valuable for its account of the history of swearing - a history often summarised, though rarely described in as much detail as found in Hughes's Encyclopedia.

There are brief repetitions throughout the book, with several anecdotes and quotations oddly duplicated in different entries. Also, he writes that Mary Whitehouse personally influenced Kubrick's decision to withdraw A Clockwork Orange from the UK: ""Her objection [...] led to the director withdrawing the film from showings in Britain", though in reality Kubrick's action was a result of death threats his family received.

The Encyclopedia provides a necessary historical account of swearing, though its sources don't seem sufficiently up-to-date. There are a couple of token references to HBO, though he appears much more comfortable when quoting from medieval manuscripts than with contemporary popular culture/media.

Solo

Bangkok's annual French arts festival, La Fete, ended yesterday with Solo, a modern dance performance by Philippe Decoufle (first performed in 2004).

The performance began with Decoufle explaining that dance is essentially autobiographical, prompting him to sit at a desk and show us snapshots of his friends and family. This may have demonstrated his charm, though it had nothing whatsoever to do with modern dance.

After this quirky introduction, the performance developed into a multimedia spectacle. Using video cameras and projectors, Decoufle was able to interact with a reversed projection of his own image. With another camera, he could infinitely replicate his every movement on a large screen behind him, in a tribute to Busby Berkeley's musical choreography.

It was the Berkeley tribute section that was the most impressive in the show. Somehow, the multiplied images of himself spiralled into the distance, and each one was delayed by a split second, so that, when Decoufle moved, he was followed by a virtual chorus line of his own reflections. (A live video version of the mirrored corridors in Citizen Kane, The Lady From Shanghai, and Enter The Dragon.) Further camera tricks produced a video kaleidoscope of Decoufle's multiplied body.

Decoufle has worked as a clown, a mime, and a film-maker, and these skills were all central to Solo. Only at the end of the performance did the cameras and screens disappear, leaving the performer isolated (truly solo) and actually dancing.

Overall, Solo was amusing though a bit too whimsical, with tricks and jokes in place of substance.

Princess Diana crash photograph

Today's UK tabloids are in full outrage mode, after Italian magazine Chi and Spanish magazine Interviu both published a photograph showing Princess Diana receiving medical attention at the scene of her fatal 1997 car crash ("SHAME ON YOU", as The Sun's banner headline puts it).

Chi's "L'ULTIMA FOTO" image was reprinted in the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera on 12th July. The magazines have taken the image from a forthcoming French book, Lady Diana, by Michel Caradec'h. The same photo caused a similar controversy on 21st April 2004 when it was included in a 48 Hours documentary (Diana's Secrets) on American TV.

[Many thanks to Filippo for sending Chi by airmail from Italy.]