9 September 2021

copied

Art4D talks with Joe-Apichatpong Weerasethakul about MEMORIA (2021) which recently won the Cannes Film Festival 2021's Jury Prize, and his latest exhibition, A Minor History, at 100 Tonson Foundation, as well as the stories of his career and the future - Pratan Teeratada | Art4D

Interview/story : Pratan Teeratada | Cover photo: Ketsiree Wongwan

 

(Excerpts from the full article)

art4d: And now we have ‘A Minor History,’ how did that come to be? What story do you intend to tell with this exhibition?

AW: I was wrapping up the making of Memoria and I hadn’t been in Thailand at all. But there has been such a tremendous political movement going on and it’s inescapable now. I decided to go back to the route I’ve taken, which is making art. To me, making art is like having a meal. It’s nutrients I feed my brain with. With each work, I take a considerable amount of time researching, but I don’t think of it as a job. I look at it as something that fulfills what was stolen from me when I was kid, a chance to learn about things in elementary and secondary school. I was in the area but I didn’t know anything that happened at the time since the Primitive project. It intensified my passion for travelling as well. I took the same route, along Mae Khong River, from Nong Khai, Nakhon Panom, Mukdaharn to Ubon Ratchathani.

I want people who have seen the exhibition to do the same. Travel, in Thailand, on the route you love and take your time. Each year, you can see the changes that have taken place. With this project, I intend to talk with the young generation, especially in Khon Kaen where I grew up. Young people operate differently from how people in my generation used to. They don’t care about seniority or believe in systems they are told to believe in anymore. Meanwhile, I’ve seen how the environment has changed. It’s the first time for me to see Mae Khong River in this color. It’s blue now. It used to be this earthy, muddy color. Since ‘For Tomorrow For Tonight,’ I’ve known and witnessed how China and Lao’s dam construction at different water sources have created devastating impacts, but I’m not an activist.

I only went there to film, and to document. The project is divided into two parts. The first part emphasizes on traces, from dead bodies to deteriorated structures of old movie theaters, whatever I came across during the journey, including the traces of Mae Khong River that will never go back to the way it used to be. I could really feel that. Then, there are political memories of the area. The second part will focus more on young people and citizens.

 

 

Read full original article here

SOURCE| Art4D Thailand \ www.art4d.com