In 1998, the artist initiated the Land Foundation together with Kamin Lertchaiprasert as an actual experiment in living such a modest life in harmony with nature. Roughly a twenty-minute drive from the northern Thai city of Chang Mai, The Land is located on rice fields abandoned by farmers due to unfavorable weather conditions. The Land is not a place of art in a stricter sense. The Land seeks to spread and promote an open exchange of ideas on art, ecology, economics, and community spirit—fundamental issues especially in a country like Thailand whose economy is largely dependent on tourism. The project is also a field of experimentation regarding ideas of ownership. Nobody owns The Land. Everyone is welcome and can spend time there, collaborating and contributing their ideas. All that transpires on The Land is based on a bigger idea or might become one. This includes buildings designed by artists such as Tobias Rehberger or Philippe Parreno and François Roche, but also how the ground is cultivated: there are three quarters of water to every quarter of earth (soil), the same ratio in the human body. Tiravanija sees art as a method for inventing and playing out new ways of living. The Land is an utopia that invites us to radically rethink the issues facing us today.
“untitled 2007 (solar cooker)” comes with a Buddhist rice pot and rice grown on site. Like “untitled 2010 (bicycle shower)”, “untitled 2007 (jacket turns to tent)” and “untitled 2019 (HOPE HAS NO RIGHT ANGLES)”, it references the special living conditions at the Land Foundation.