What's On

SA SA BASSAC is pleased to announce the opening of The Halo of the Omnipresent Eye by Than Sok, a solo exhibition presenting interactive sculpture and installation through which the artist seeks to provoke questions around the practice of monetary almsgiving in Cambodia while playfully drawing connections between the roles of monastics and artists. 

In Cambodia, where Buddhism co-exists alongside pre-Buddhist animism and Brahman practices, both monks and artists have long occupied a unique position in the transmission of Khmer culture and values; monastic discipline has provided a living model of the most meritorious Buddhist behavior, while artistic practice has been regarded as visionary and with spiritual associations.

Although some monks commit to permanent vows, monkhood in Cambodia is traditionally considered a right of passage in which young males are expected to serve temporary terms intended as merit-building activities for parents. Due in part to a shift in almsgiving practices in which laity replace food with cash offerings - a practice antagonistic to precepts meant to prevent monks from indulgences including the handling of money - many young men can now consider monkhood as an opportunity to escape poverty, relocate to urban centers, participate in secular education, and are seen as participating in laic life before disrobing. Still, alms remain a central practice and symbol of the sangha, or Buddhist community, and provide the opportunity for givers to earn merit for a better rebirth.

Than Sok deliberated the monkhood-for-opportunity model, and served three months as a novice assistant, during which time he was offered what he considered a more favorable opportunity: to become an artist through the offering of the Reyum Art School in Phnom Penh. Since graduating in 2005, his artistic practice has investigated the materials and rituals of spiritual practices in his country.

The Halo of the Omnipresent Eye stages the artist's own alms scenarios in the gallery. To Give Is To Receive I and II (2012) reconfigure materials and forms used in exchanges between monks and laity. The pair of alms stations are presided over by representational halos associated with divine knowing – a reminder that intention, the source of good or bad action, which is invisible, is "visible" via its karmic effect.

To Give Is To Receive I concentrates on alms made to the temple. A colorful LED moiré light glows in the eastward direction onto a field of humble sand mounds – forms representing Mount Meru, the mythical axis of the Hindu world - which are built outside temples during major Khmer ceremonies. Money and other paraphernalia are slid into the sand mountain for which the person is released from sins and can request prayers answered. To Give Is To Receive II focuses on alms made to the individual monk. Suspended from the ceiling, a sole light bulb hangs in the center of bamboo hoop; its "rays" are made from the bright red cotton string, which monks tie to the wrists of laity as a general blessing, and connect to a ring of eight bat lok, or alms bowls. Playfully, the artist asks viewers to perform almsgiving, for which they will, by level of intention and belief, receive merit from supporting the artist. 

About the Artist

Than Sok (born 1984, Takeo) investigates religious and spiritual beliefs, materials, and rituals through sculpture, installation, video and performance. Than graduated from Reyum Art School (2005), Reyum Workshop (2007) and is currently studying architecture. Select exhibitions include Tragedy, Bophana, Phnom Penh (2009), Forever Until Now, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong (2009) and Video: An Art, A History, Singapore Art Museum (2011).  Than was a resident at Tokyo Wonder Site (2005) and S-AIR, Sapporo (2011). His work is collected by the Singapore Art Museum.

About SA SA BASSAC

SA SA BASSAC is a gallery and resource center dedicated to creating, facilitating, producing, and sharing contemporary visual culture in and from Cambodia