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MoMA PS1 presents the first US survey and largest exhibition to date dedicated to Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija (b. 1961, Buenos Aires). Rirkrit Tiravanija: A LOT OF PEOPLE traces four decades of Tiravanija’s career and features over 100 works, from early experimentations with installation and film, to drawings, works on paper, ephemera, sculpture, and newly produced “demonstrations” of key participatory works.
The exhibition will gather rarely seen early works from the late 1980s and 1990s, a period in which the artist was developing a post-studio practice and introducing biographical references to highlight his experiences as an immigrant with a palpable sense of “otherness” in a Western-centric art world. These works include many original sculptures, installations, and editions, some of which have been subsequently reimagined, cast, and memorialized over the years in new materials from plaster to bronze. Formative to his early practice, Tiravanija’s concern with the politics of the personal expanded into works that tackle global politics as well as the quotidian news cycle. To make many of these works, Tiravanija has set up a studio near his home in Chiang Mai, Thailand, creating an economy of art production that is explicitly localized and collaborative.
Rirkrit Tiravanija: A LOT OF PEOPLE is organized by Ruba Katrib, Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, MoMA PS1, and Yasmil Raymond, Rector, Städelschule and Director of Portikus, Frankfurt, with Jody Graf and Kari Rittenbach, Assistant Curators, MoMA PS1.
Major support for Rirkrit Tiravanija: A LOT OF PEOPLE is provided by Maja Hoffmann / Luma Foundation, the Family of Lise Stolt-Nielsen, the Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, and the International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.
Generous support is provided by Glenstone Foundation and Ellen and Michael Ringier.
Additional support is provided by Steven and Alexandra Cohen, Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg, and Craig Robins and Jackie Soffer. Funding is also provided by Eileen and Michael Cohen and Laura Steinberg and Bernardo Nadal-Ginard.
Special thanks to Artek and Jungly Restaurant.
Learn more about the exhibition on our website.
Press Kit
Images
Untitled 2014 (the days of this society is numbered / December 7, 2012). Image courtesy The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Committee on Drawings and Prints Fund. © 2023 Rirkrit Tiravanija. Photo: Thomas Griesel
Rirkrit Tiravanija and Nico Dockx. untitled 2011 (erased Rirkrit Tiravanija demonstration drawing). 2011. Stereo equipment, blue carpet, wooden Thai pillow blocks, drawings and vinyl. Dimensions variable. Installation view, 1301PE, Los Angeles, 201. Courtesy the artist and 1301PE, Los Angeles, 2011. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 2017 (fear eats the soul) (white flag). 2017. Courtesy Creative Time. Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 1990 (pad thai). 1990. Mixed media. Overall dimensions variable. Installation view, Project Room, Paula Allen Gallery, New York, 1990. Courtesy the Rirkrit Tiravanija Archive
Portrait of Rirkrit Tiravanija. 2019. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and Pilar Corrias, London. Photo: Mark Blower
Tiravanija cooking tom ka soup at the opening of Brooklyn, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, 1991. Courtesy Tilton Gallery, New York
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 2011 (t-shirt, no t-shirt). 2011. Installation view, FEAR EATS THE SOUL, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, 2011. Courtesy Rirkrit Tiravanija Archive, Berlin
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 1993 (rucksack installation). 1993. Camping stove, dishes, can opener, cutlery, and ingredients for a Thai rice meal. Rucksack: 15 ¾ × 12 ⅝ × 11 7/16″ (40 × 32.1 × 29.1 cm). Map: 76 5/16 × 68 ⅛” (193.8 × 173 cm). Published by Klosterfelde Edition. Courtesy Rirkrit Tiravanija Archive, Berlin
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 2011 (558 broome strreet, the future is chrome). 2011. Plywood, tempered glass, aluminum window frames, and glazed ceramic with palladium luster. Installation view, FEAR EATS THE SOUL, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, 2011. Courtesy Rirkrit Tiravanija Archive, Berlin
Installation view, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Tomorrow is the Question, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, 2019. Courtesy Remai Modern. Photo: Blaine Campbell
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 1993 (wine glass). 1993. Watercolor on paper, 7 15/16 × 5 15/16″ (20.2 × 15.1 cm). Courtesy Rirkrit Tiravanija Archive, Berlin
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 1993 (sleep/winter). 1993. Straw mat, foam matress, cotton, pillow, and duvet. Installation view, Sleepless Nights, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, 1993. Courtesy Rirkrit Tiravanija Archive, Berlin
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 1992 (cure). 1992. Cloth tent, table, stools, teakettles, hot plate, ceramic teapots and cups, metal shelf, loose Chinese herbal tea, and water. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. A.W. Mellon Acquisition Endowment Fund. Courtesy Rirkrit Tiravanija Archive, Berlin
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 1991 (bottles from the opening of untitled 1990 (blind)). 1991. 96 empty beer bottles in cardboard boxes, 38 × 17 × 27″ (96.5 × 43.2 × 68.6 cm). Courtesy Rirkrit Tiravanija Archive, Berlin
Rirkrit Tiravanija. untitled 1999 (young man, if my wife makes it . . . ), 1999. Wooden chopsticks, plastic, and enamel bowl. Courtesy the artist © 2023 Rirkrit Tiravanija
Rirkrit Tiravanija. U.F.O. – NAUT JK (Július Koller). Mexico City, 2012. Image courtesy kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York. Photo: Michel Zabé & Omar Luis Olguín, 2012