Chakkrit’s banana-leaf football shoes.

When it comes to Thai exports to Singapore, wait till they get a load of this

The inaugural Signature Art Prize is coming up in Singapore, and Thailand is going to submit clothes made from banana leaves and cooking pots in the shape of women's breasts.

Relax, this sort of stuff wins the Turner Prize every year.

Major cash prizes await the champions in next month's competition, sponsored by the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation, which will include 34 works from 12 countries.

Prof Somporn Rodboon of Chiang Mai University, whose work as a curator overseas has garnered acclaim, selected the Thai entries:

Chakkrit Chimnok's painstakingly rendered and actually wearable clothing made from banana leaves, including high-heel shoes. His green togs and furniture wowed everyone at the Third Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale in 2005.

Pinaree Sanpitak's breast-shaped baking moulds and other cooking vessels are part of her "Breast Stupa Cookery" project. She gets people to actually cook with them in a bid "to alter attitudes through the senses that are aroused by this strong female symbol".

Bundith Phunsombatlert's interactive installation "On the Ball (The Game Has Begun. 'Beware Crossing the Grid')" is a bit of a wind-up. You play Pong against someone else or the machine while other "people" watch. In fact they're videos of spectators whose reactions to your moves are pre-programmed.

It's something to do with war, we think.

XTRA

There's money in this?

>> Judges will narrow the 34 artists down to 10 by July 30, at which time the public gets to decide online which of the survivors has the best idea. The Singapore Art Museum will exhibit the finalists' pieces.

>> The People's Choice, to be crowned on August 30, gets about Bt250,000, and then the formal judging continues, with the winning works to be announced on October 14.

>> The grand prize is a cool Bt1.1 million, and three winners of Jurors' Choice Awards get about Bt250,000 each.