This painting was created as part of an ongoing collaboration between Rawanchaikul and Tiravanija for the ‘Cities on the Move’ exhibitions, which toured the world between 1997 and 1999. Curated by Hou Hanru and Hans Ulrich Obrist, ‘Cities on the Move’ was the first major exhibition of contemporary Asian art to be held in Europe, and launched the international careers of many artists, including Navin. Both artists were influential in the conception and realisation of the exhibition, particularly its open character and participatory approach. ‘Cities on the Move’ continues to be a seminal event in the history of Asian contemporary art exhibitions.This painting was produced for the final – and only Southeast Asian – edition of ‘Cities on the Move’, held in Bangkok in 1999. The artists responded to the exhibition’s theme of Asian urban life by devising an interactive project that included tuk-tuks and large paintings created by cinema billboard painters, evoking an Asian cityscape. The paintings were used as hero images for the project, printed on posters and calendards, and one appears on the cover of the exhibition catalogue.
