The Spirits of Maritime Crossing
Collateral Event of the 60th La Biennale di Venezia : Foreigners Everywhere
20 April - 24 November 2024
Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana, Venice
The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, a Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, showcases a constellation of artworks from Southeast Asia reflecting upon cultural flows and moving water as metaphors of unexplored ocean and territories. The featured artworks range from paintings, and sculptures to mixed media works and video installations. The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, curated by Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, highlights themes of displacement, diaspora, colonialism, and hybrids of diverse cultures across Southeast Asia with a particular emphasis on symbolism of water and maritime crossings.
Collateral Event of the 60th La Biennale di Venezia : Foreigners Everywhere
20 April - 24 November 2024
Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana, Venice
The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, a Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, showcases a constellation of artworks from Southeast Asia reflecting upon cultural flows and moving water as metaphors of unexplored ocean and territories. The featured artworks range from paintings, and sculptures to mixed media works and video installations. The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, curated by Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, highlights themes of displacement, diaspora, colonialism, and hybrids of diverse cultures across Southeast Asia with a particular emphasis on symbolism of water and maritime crossings.
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Thailand's Premiere :
Bangkok Art Biennale : Nurture Gaia
24 October 2024 - 25 February 2025
Siwamokhaphiman Throne Hall, National Museum, Bangkok
In Greek mythology, Gaia is a goddess who offers life and nourishment. She has evolved in many forms and is revered as a mother, nurturer and giver of life. References to her have been found in temples, shrines, statues and paintings. In prehistoric times, she was worshiped as the feminine earth mother related to fertility and agriculture; in Hinduism, she is the earth as a living organism symbolized as mother earth Prithvi; in Southeast Asia, she takes on the form of Phra Mae Thorani found frequently in Buddhist scriptures and temples.
Gaia hypothesis, which proposed that the earth is a living being that sustains life, has received much attention. With climate change, pandemics, war and the destruction of the environment caused by Homo sapiens, there is critical awareness that humanity as an integral part of Earth, can no longer survive. When nature is defiled, people and animals ultimately suffer.
Scientists, environmentalists, sages and artists, including Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, James Lovestock, Bruno Latour, Jayasaro Bhikkhu and Sulak Sivalaksa, have discussed Gaia in the context of the earth as a living organism. Due to the lack of respect humans have for Gaia, the damage done to rainforests and the reduction of planetary biodiversity resulted in global catastrophe.
The World Meteorological Organization announced the hottest summer months measured in Europe. In September 2023, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres put the blame squarely on humans. “Scientists have long warned what our fossil addiction will unleash,” he said. “Our planet is imploding faster than we can cope with extreme weather events hitting every corner of our planet.” He added, “Surging temperatures demand a surge in action. Leaders must turn up the heat now for climate solutions.”
Bangkok Art Biennale : Nurture Gaia
24 October 2024 - 25 February 2025
Siwamokhaphiman Throne Hall, National Museum, Bangkok
In Greek mythology, Gaia is a goddess who offers life and nourishment. She has evolved in many forms and is revered as a mother, nurturer and giver of life. References to her have been found in temples, shrines, statues and paintings. In prehistoric times, she was worshiped as the feminine earth mother related to fertility and agriculture; in Hinduism, she is the earth as a living organism symbolized as mother earth Prithvi; in Southeast Asia, she takes on the form of Phra Mae Thorani found frequently in Buddhist scriptures and temples.
Gaia hypothesis, which proposed that the earth is a living being that sustains life, has received much attention. With climate change, pandemics, war and the destruction of the environment caused by Homo sapiens, there is critical awareness that humanity as an integral part of Earth, can no longer survive. When nature is defiled, people and animals ultimately suffer.
Scientists, environmentalists, sages and artists, including Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, James Lovestock, Bruno Latour, Jayasaro Bhikkhu and Sulak Sivalaksa, have discussed Gaia in the context of the earth as a living organism. Due to the lack of respect humans have for Gaia, the damage done to rainforests and the reduction of planetary biodiversity resulted in global catastrophe.
The World Meteorological Organization announced the hottest summer months measured in Europe. In September 2023, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres put the blame squarely on humans. “Scientists have long warned what our fossil addiction will unleash,” he said. “Our planet is imploding faster than we can cope with extreme weather events hitting every corner of our planet.” He added, “Surging temperatures demand a surge in action. Leaders must turn up the heat now for climate solutions.”
Our Place In Their World
Online platform : instagram.com/ourplaceintheirworld
E-book (Thai & English) : BAB2024
Our Place In Their World, a collaborative work by Nakrob Moonmanas and Chitti Kasemkitvatana, focuses on a string of moments when the head of state and commoners from the far east - Siam traveled to the west at the turn of the 20th century. On the threshold of Siamese modernity, King Chulalongkorn perceived the seriousness of foreign affairs with imperial power. His Majesty desired European recognition of Siam as a fully independent power, then made a diplomatic journey to Europe for the first time in 1897. It marked the beginning of an auspicious moment of Siam having its place in the international assembly. By taking account of all possible histories, the project presents an official narrative of modern-groomed Siam together with the chronicle accounts of commoners, K.S.R. Kulap, Nai Tong Khum, Boosra Mahin, among others.
“K.S.R. Kulap, a commoner who lifted himself from obscure background to take a prominent place in the history of Siamese journalism. He fed his passion for history by collecting books, unpublished manuscripts and bits of printed matter from which he fashioned historical essays. Controversy arose over the accuracy of these essays, many of which concerned monarchical history, and the royal was sufficiently alarmed to respond officially to Kulap’s activities.” wrote Craig J. Reynolds in his essay “The Case of K.S.R. Kulap : A Challenge to Royal History Writing in the Late 19th Century Thailand” (Journal of The Siam Society 61 part 2, July 1973). K.S.R. Kulap transmitted bodies of knowledge once preserved for royal circle and high ranking monks to commoners at the arrival of new medium of printing, a medium which gave him authority and power.
The 16 years old Nai Tong Khum, from Phetchaburi, traveled alone to Europe and then the US and lived abroad for 25 years. Over there, he earned his living from being a laborer to an entrepreneur. During his time in England, he became a famous acrobat with the stage name “Tom Kuma”. Upon his return, he became a foreigner in his homeland, being called “Manu Pralad Chat Thai” (trans. weirdo of Thailand) by his people.
Boosra Mahin, who traveled with his hybrid theater troupe to Europe and contributed to world history. His troupe was the first Siamese who performed overseas. In 1900, whilst performing at the Berlin Zoo, his orchestra was recorded for the first time ever on the Edison wax cylinder by Carl Stumpf, an ethnomusicologist from the University of Berlin. The recordings were filed “Sonic System and Music of the Siamese" and kept at Berliner Phonogramm Archiv. In 1999, the collection was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
Our Place In Their World redrafts the historical scene of Siamese maritime crossing by assembling the remnants of the forgotten with the grand narrative. The project demonstrates the coexistence of different narrative layers in the same moment, in which they are interwoven in a multitude of ways.
Our Place In Their World is commissioned by Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation for The Spirits Of Maritime Crossing, a collateral event of 60th La Biennale di Venezia, 2024. This project is made possible with the support of Thai Film Archive, Office of Art and Culture - Chulalongkorn University, National Archives of Thailand and "The Landscape of legend : The Drive of Cultural Ecosystem in Chiang Saen Basin, Chiang Rai" by Mae Fah Luang University.
Online platform : instagram.com/ourplaceintheirworld
E-book (Thai & English) : BAB2024
Our Place In Their World, a collaborative work by Nakrob Moonmanas and Chitti Kasemkitvatana, focuses on a string of moments when the head of state and commoners from the far east - Siam traveled to the west at the turn of the 20th century. On the threshold of Siamese modernity, King Chulalongkorn perceived the seriousness of foreign affairs with imperial power. His Majesty desired European recognition of Siam as a fully independent power, then made a diplomatic journey to Europe for the first time in 1897. It marked the beginning of an auspicious moment of Siam having its place in the international assembly. By taking account of all possible histories, the project presents an official narrative of modern-groomed Siam together with the chronicle accounts of commoners, K.S.R. Kulap, Nai Tong Khum, Boosra Mahin, among others.
“K.S.R. Kulap, a commoner who lifted himself from obscure background to take a prominent place in the history of Siamese journalism. He fed his passion for history by collecting books, unpublished manuscripts and bits of printed matter from which he fashioned historical essays. Controversy arose over the accuracy of these essays, many of which concerned monarchical history, and the royal was sufficiently alarmed to respond officially to Kulap’s activities.” wrote Craig J. Reynolds in his essay “The Case of K.S.R. Kulap : A Challenge to Royal History Writing in the Late 19th Century Thailand” (Journal of The Siam Society 61 part 2, July 1973). K.S.R. Kulap transmitted bodies of knowledge once preserved for royal circle and high ranking monks to commoners at the arrival of new medium of printing, a medium which gave him authority and power.
The 16 years old Nai Tong Khum, from Phetchaburi, traveled alone to Europe and then the US and lived abroad for 25 years. Over there, he earned his living from being a laborer to an entrepreneur. During his time in England, he became a famous acrobat with the stage name “Tom Kuma”. Upon his return, he became a foreigner in his homeland, being called “Manu Pralad Chat Thai” (trans. weirdo of Thailand) by his people.
Boosra Mahin, who traveled with his hybrid theater troupe to Europe and contributed to world history. His troupe was the first Siamese who performed overseas. In 1900, whilst performing at the Berlin Zoo, his orchestra was recorded for the first time ever on the Edison wax cylinder by Carl Stumpf, an ethnomusicologist from the University of Berlin. The recordings were filed “Sonic System and Music of the Siamese" and kept at Berliner Phonogramm Archiv. In 1999, the collection was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
Our Place In Their World redrafts the historical scene of Siamese maritime crossing by assembling the remnants of the forgotten with the grand narrative. The project demonstrates the coexistence of different narrative layers in the same moment, in which they are interwoven in a multitude of ways.
Our Place In Their World is commissioned by Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation for The Spirits Of Maritime Crossing, a collateral event of 60th La Biennale di Venezia, 2024. This project is made possible with the support of Thai Film Archive, Office of Art and Culture - Chulalongkorn University, National Archives of Thailand and "The Landscape of legend : The Drive of Cultural Ecosystem in Chiang Saen Basin, Chiang Rai" by Mae Fah Luang University.
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Our Place in Their World, 2024
2 channels moving-image installation (Video : colour, sound, 5.04 minutes) Dimension variable Production : Moving-image work Motion design : Winn Phummarin 3D motion : DDMY STUDIO Score : Pradit Saengkrai (An interpretation of Eugène Cinda Grassi's La Procession) Inter-titles : Sayan Daengklom E-book Introduction : the artists Ku, Kala, Gaia, and the Wandering Mind : Sayan Daengklom Italian translation : Sankavat Pradithpongse Graphics : Natthorn Tansurat |
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E-book : English Edition
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E-book : Edizione italiana
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