This dissertation is about the tension and continuum between localism and nationalism in contemporary Thai Buddhist art and architecture. It deals with two contemporary Buddhist temples as works of art and architecture set into particular spatial relations. In this dissertation I compare two contemporary neo-traditionalist Buddhist temples, Wat Rong Khun and Wat Pa’O Ram Yen, situated near the city of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. Neo-traditionalism has been identified as an important and relatively standard artistic style in Thailand since the 1970’s. However, the social anxiety experienced during the 1970’s social uprisings, then following the 1997 Asian financial debacle and more recently during and after the early 21st century yellow and red shirts rallies in Bangkok and Chiang Mai led to a profound reevaluation and reassessment of Thai national identity formation. Many Buddhist, social, ecological and political movements have since either obviously or subtly destabilized the perceived Thai national image. These movements often include, even promote, discourses on localism where Thai nationalism is experienced, questioned and adapted by and for the local community. Yet the art historical discourses on neo-traditionalism still follow a conventional national identity formation and visual propaganda. In this dissertation I analyze how two northern temples promote different national vocabularies, from a centralized and more accepted nationalism, to one where concepts based on localism, such as local knowledge, have the potential to destabilize and reevaluate, national identity, without negating it. Charlermchai Kostipipat is the mastermind behind Wat Rong Khun’s design and construction. Though this temple seems to differ from other temples in Thailand, I will show how the main emphasis of this neo-traditional monument is to promote and support a more conventional and institutionalized version of national identity. I will show how the visitor’s aesthetic experience emphasizes aspects of Buddhism also promoted by the centralized Thai national identity formation. Most importantly, there is a strong artistic emphasis on the Traiphum Phra Ruang, an important religious text in Thailand. Wat Pa’O is also the artistic project of another northern Thai artist, this time Somluk Pantiboon, a ceramicist established in the village of Pa’O. The temple of Pa’O is a neo-traditional work because of its use of traditional media, artistic details and monastic conventions. Yet I will show how this artistic architectural project has the potential to destabilize the more conventional understanding of ‘neo-traditionalism.’ For example it promotes different elements of the Thai discourses on localism, including an engaged form of Buddhism focusing on social interactions and an acknowledgement of one’s relation to others at the immediate local level. It also promotes a connectedness with nature, allowing the participant to experience and realize dependent origination by observing and experimenting with nature. This dissertation shows the complexity of Thai national identity negotiated in two case studies of northern Buddhist art and architecture in a post-1997 financial debacle and current political situation. I hope to have demonstrated that this complexity needs to be taken into account in the artistic discourses on Thai neo-traditionalism.
