ART CITIES:Porto-Korakrit Arunanondchai

Korakrit Arunanondchai draws on an eclectic array of references in his practice: from popular culture, technology and geopolitics, to Buddhist and animist precepts and their contemporary manifestations in Thailand. Whether taking form as denim body painting, performance, or immersive installation, Arunanondchai’s pastiche of styles and mediums celebrates the blurring of fantasy and reality, science and incorporeality, art and life.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Serralves Museum Archive

Korakrit Arunanondchai’s interlinked series “No history in a room filled with people with funny names”  started in 2013. The recurring central character, a fictional Thai painter, is depicted in situations that reflect the interaction between traditional beliefs, the natural environment, and developments in the technology, politics, and culture of a changing Thailand. “No history in a room filled with people with funny names 5”  is the first exhibition in Portugal of Korakrit Arunanondchai (an artist who moves between the fields of video, performance, sculpture and installation, and bridges two cultures: the East, where he was born and grew up, and the West, in particular the USA, where he moved to the USA in 2009 to study art and has lived there in recent years. Arunanondchai explores and links themes, such as Eastern religion and mythology, environment, ecology, music, geopolitics and technological development, contrasting Asian spirituality with Western pragmatism. He reflects on contemporary life and the situation of humanity in the technology age, speculating on the consequences of the Anthropocene – a recently defined era because of the effect of human activity as the dominant environmental force on the planet, capable of altering its geological composition. The artist uses autobiographical events and personal experiences in his work. Friends and family participate in several works and are involved in them in certain ways. “No history in a room filled with people with funny names 5” (2019) is an installation made in partnership with his friend, the artist Alex Gvojic, with whom he has been working for several years. Another person involved in his work is Boychild – an artist linked to performance and dance – who regularly collaborates with him. “No history in a room filled with people with funny names 5”  involves the viewer in a mysterious and nocturnal environment, in which a triple video projection is combined with laser rays emitted from a sculpture that is reminiscent of a prostrate human figure. The earth covering the floor and the presence of natural materials (shells, branches) make it look like a pre- or post-historic environment. The work was initially commissioned by the Center d’Art Contemporain Genève for the 2018 Biennale of Moving Image and presented at the Venice Biennale in 2019. “No history in a room filled with people with funny names 5” combines a tremendous diversity of images and sounds, creating an excessive, engaging and disturbing atmosphere. The videos combine original footage – such as drone videos recorded from the radio station of Camp Ramasum, a symbol of Thailand’s recent history as a US ally during the Vietnam War, which has now been transformed into a tourist destination – and other pre-existing footage, such as television broadcasts of the media story of the rescue of 12 boys and their football coach, who were trapped in a cave in Thailand in 2018.

Photo: Korakrit Arunanondchai, No history in a room filled with people with funny names 5, 2020, Installation view, © Korakrit Arunanondchai 2020, Courtesy the artist; Carlos/Ishikawa, London, Clearing-New York; Bangkok CityCity Gallery Bangkok

Info: Serralves Museum, R. Dom João de Castro 210, Porto, Duration: 6/11/2020-4/4/2021, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, sat-Sun 10:00-19:00, www.serralves.pt