A slang term to describe lazy behaviour – “goblin mode” – was named by Oxford English Dictionary as this year’s word of the year, according to Oxford University Press, which publishes the dictionary.
This was the first year a public vote was used to select the word of the year. The phrase took 93% of the votes cast, or 318,956.
“Goblin mode” is defined as “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations”.
Oxford University Press said the term started appearing online in 2009, but went viral earlier this year over a fictitious headline scandal involving actress and model Julia Fox as well as a popular Reddit post describing someone who has been acting like a goblin.
As Covid restrictions eased, the term continued to grow as people realised they did not want to go back to the way life was before.
“Given the year we’ve just experienced, ‘goblin mode’ resonates with all of us who are feeling a little overwhelmed at this point,” Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, told the BBC. “It’s a relief to acknowledge that we’re not always the idealized, curated selves that we’re encouraged to present on our Instagram and TikTok feeds.”
Oxford’s runner up was “metaverse”, the term assigned to the virtual world introduced by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, with 14,484 votes, followed by #IStandWith, a hashtag that shows support to victims of war in Ukraine, with 8,639 votes.
Meanwhile, Collins English Dictionary named “permacrisis” as its word of the year. The word refers to an extended period of instability and insecurity, which may sum 2022.
Merriam-Webster dictionary announced “gaslighting” as its word of the year, based on searches for the word on merriam-webster.com that increased 1,740% in 2022.
Merriam-Webster’s definition for “gaslighting” is the psychological manipulation of a person, usually over an extended period of time, that “causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator”.
Immersive show of Korean cultural heritage opens at National Museum Bangkok
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 04, 2022
A Korea gallery utilizing immersive video content has opened at the National Museum Bangkok.
The exhibition, titled “A New Encounter: Immersive Gallery of Korean Art,” presents Korean cultural heritage reinterpreted by the latest digital media technology. The exhibition is organized jointly by the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum Bangkok.
Also on display are two sculptures of Buddha from the two countries that, while hailing from different eras, share rich and long histories of Buddhist stories.
In organizing the first official public presentation of Korean cultural heritage in Thailand, the organizers aimed to blend cultural heritage and digital technology in introducing Korean art and history in an approachable way to the museumgoers.
Two large-scaled immersive digital content, “Journey of the Soul” and “Royal Procession with the People,” produced by the NMK are on display.
The two newly created content are based on Joseon-era Buddhist paintings and “Uigwe,” a collection of royal protocols of the Joseon era.
“Journey of the Soul,” explores the Buddhist worldview and depicts Koreans’ beliefs in the afterlife at the time.
The work puts together several major Joseon-era Buddhist paintings, such as “The Ten Kings of Hell,” “Underworld Messengers” and “The Assembly of Amitabha Buddha.”
Meanwhile, “Royal Procession with the People” illustrates the rites of the Joseon royal court that embodied core Confucian values.
Visitors will be able to view King Jeongjo’s majestic processions to Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon Gyeonggi Province. The illustrations in “Uigwe,” listed on Unesco’s Memory of the World Register in 2007, served as the main source for creating the immersive content.
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva from the Unified Silla period of Korea currently on exhibition at the National Museum Bangkok (NMK)
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva from the Srivijaya period of Thailand currently on display at the National Museum Bangkok (NMK)
Buddha statues from Korea and Thailand — an Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva statue from the Unified Silla period and an Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva statue from the Srivijaya period of Thailand — are also on exhibition, facing each other.
“At the exhibition’s opening ceremony, Korean delegates were surprised to learn that Thailand also shares a similar history of recordings of the king’s rituals,” said an NMK researcher who attended the gallery opening ceremony in Bangkok.
National Museum of Korea hopes the exhibition will play a pivotal role in opening a permanent Korean section within the Gallery of Asian Art at the National Museum Bangkok in the future.
The exhibition is scheduled to run through May 21, 2023.
‘The Art of Dreams’ exhibits larger-than-life childhood dreams
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 02, 2022
With the immersive installation ‘Dream Big.’ by Scottish artist Chris Labrooy, Porsche is bringing its global initiative ‘The Art of Dreams’ to North America for the first time.
The initiative illuminates the topic of dreams with temporary works of art in major cultural centres. Labrooy’s sculpture addresses the child in every one of us and challenges beholders to dream big. It forms a physical anchor point to a project by Porsche in the virtual world that will be presented in the near future. ‘Dream Big.’ can be viewed at the beach of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).
The installation is open daily from 11 am to 6 pm from 29th November to 3rd December.
Homage to childhood dreams The centrepiece of ‘Dream Big.’ is a white Porsche 911 Carrera. In the hand of a larger-than-life figure with a racing driver’s helmet, the Coupé looks like a toy car. The artwork is an homage to the dreams of childhood. With a playful tone, the instal-lation is intended to inspire the beholder to wonder where their dreams will take them next.
Digital artist and Porsche fan Chris Labrooy first created ‘Dream Big.’ via CGL and then transferred it into reality. The artwork is also a reference to a Porsche project in the virtual world that will be unveiled in the near future.
“Porsche embodies the fulfilment of dreams. With our ‘The Art of Dreams’ initiative, we want to inspire people to do just that – to dream,” says Robert Ader, Chief Mar-keting Officer (CMO) at Porsche. “But we also want to support artists and make ex-traordinary works accessible to the public. In the US, the best way to reach the art and design community is during Miami Art Week, when the creative heart of the world is beating in Florida. We’re excited to be making our first appearance there.”
About ‘The Art of Dreams’ In October 2021, Porsche launched ‘The Art of Dreams’ – a series of interactive art installations in major cities. A work by the French artist Cyril Lancelin kicked things off in Paris. His installation ‘Remember your dreams’ with giant air-filled elements was later also exhibited in Singapore. This was followed in June 2022 by the installation ‘Everywhereness’ by Ruby Barber (Studio Mary Lennox, Berlin) at Milan Design Week. This botanical artwork with a labyrinth of wild roses and a 1972 Porsche 911 S 2.4 probed the relationship between nature, human-made spaces and technology.
About Chris Labrooy Chris Labrooy studied product design at the renowned Royal College of Art in Lon-don. After completing his master’s, the Scotsman was drawn to the digital sphere. He combined his knowledge of real objects with an increasing fascination for the surreal. Many of his 3D works depict classic Porsche 911 models placed in dreamy desert landscapes or in the form of a flamingo at the home swimming pool. As part of the ‘20 Years of Porsche in China’ jubilee, Labrooy transferred one of his digital artworks into the real world for the first time in 2021. The result was the art car ‘996 Swan’. The artist is a long-time Porsche fan and owner.
Post-pandemic, B-Floor Theatre remains prolific in collaborations and creations—their members can deliver dialogues too
Before the pandemic, B-Floor Theatre had been known —both locally and internationally— as Thailand’s premier physical theatre company. Winners of IATC Thailand Dance and Theatre awards, their movement-based productions have voiced, silently yet powerfully, social and political commentaries. The same can be said for their international collaborations like that with Japan’s Hanchu-Yuei in “Girl X” and South Korea’s Theatre Momggol in a trilogy of “Something Missing.”
However, two recent international collaborations, developed during the pandemic and mainly supported by foreign funds, have proved that members of B-Floor are also deft in handling dialogues in both Thai and English—namely, “A Thai Mirror” and “I Don’t Care.”
As part of Bangkok Theatre Festival 2022, “A Thai Mirror” (in Thai title, “Krachok Thai”) was B-Floor’s collaboration with France’s Compagnie franchement, tu, with support from Institut Francaise, Region Hauts-de-France and French Embassy in Thailand. Two performances, by-invitation-only, at Thammasat Playhouse on Rangsit campus were followed by three public performances at Alliance Francaise Bangkok auditorium last weekend.
French playwright and director Nicolas Kerszenbaum’s compelling “political thriller” first tells how a French woman visits her brother and his Thai fiancée in Kanchanaburi and finds them missing and then flashes back one year prior to the Northeastern historic French town Besancon where the romantic and political relationships took shape.
The two French actors Marion Bottolier and Ulysse Bosshard and the two Thai ones Sarut Komalittipong and Wasu Wanrayangkoon worked well altogether as they spoke naturally in colloquial French, Thai and English. On an almost bare stage, they made it the scenes in France and Thailand credible and told the story clearly.
The music and sound design collaboration of Sarah Metais-Chastanier and Warong Boonaree was another highlight as their work not only created the corresponding atmosphere and stirred the audience’s imagination but also told many stories. Watching them perform different instruments, both traditional and electronic, on stage right was a delight as both became another two actors in this work.
A few slight letdowns are that disappearance of political activists is one of the most frequently used storylines by Thai theatre artists since the last coup d’etat. Some audiences might also feel, after watching this work, that this is yet another reaffirmation of the French government’s assistance for Thai political activists who fight for “democracy”.
Two months earlier, B-Floor’s collaboration with Munich’s Residenztheater “I Don’t Care” (in Thai title, “Mai wa yang rai”), billed as a docufiction by writer and critic Jurgen Berger and funded by Goethe Institut Thailand, had its world premiere at Jim Thompson Art Center.
Based on Berger’s interviews with transgender people in Thailand and Germany between 2017 and 2022, the work was filled with vast amount of information but never felt like an information overload thanks to the co-directors B-Floor’s co-artistic director Jarunun “Ja” Phantachat and Anna-Elisabeth Frick. As the German director’s works range from spoken drama to dance and music, it’s a good match with Ja to begin with.
Setting the performance area in traverse configuration with two sides of the audience facing each other, they asked us to look not only the performers and their stage actions but also how they’re related to other audience members or representatives of the society. The work then relied on presentational modes, frequently like that of a game show, to engage the audience effectively and then discuss issues about transgender people openly and directly.
Interestingly, the tone was considerably light-hearted throughout the performance although the issues discussed were not, like the legal process involved in one’s change from one gender to another in Germany and the fact that Thailand is still far behind the rest of the world when it comes to inclusivity. Credit was due in part to a tightly knitted ensemble comprising German performer and member of Residenztheater ensemble Mareike Beykirch and her Thai counterparts Sarut and Pathavee Thepkraiwan who’s having a ball in this work. Shifting back and forth effortlessly among Thai, German and English languages as the audience occasionally read the translation surtitles, the trio was like storytellers, performers, entertainers, moderators and discussants all at once.
In October, “I Don’t Care” had a two-week run in the Bavarian capital and I’m sure it will continue elsewhere soon. In the program it’s noted that “both Bangkok and Munich are home to an unusually large number of specialists in sex reassignment surgery.” Lastly, theatregoers may recall that Berger was an initiator of the 2016 Thailand-Germany physical theatre collaboration on interracial relationship “Happy Hunting Ground” by Democrazy Theatre Studio and Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. To put it differently, this cultural relationship has sustained and it’s important that Thailand’s cultural bodies start taking a look at it and lending support.
This month, B-Floor is back at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s 4th floor Studio, with fewer dialogues and more physical movement, as they will close out BACC’s Performative Art Project (PAP) with “Cloud State” featuring two works.
From today (December 2) to Sunday, 7pm, and December 7 to 11, veteran actress and dance movement psychotherapist Dujdao “Dao” Vadhanapakorn’s “Paranoid – Schizoid”, an experiential performance in which she explores, as the title suggests, “a state of infants who cannot process the fact that a person can consist of both good and bad” and, as B-Floor always does, how this relates to the contemporary Thai society. Sharing the stage with Dao are two recipients of Silpathorn Award and B-Floor’s co-artistic directors themselves, “Ja” and Teerawat “Ka-ge” Mulvilai, in addition to another seasoned thespian Ornanong “Golf” Thaisriwong. Dao notes, “This performance aims to use the psychological state merely as an inspiration for her art; it’s not meant to be a scientific study to prove any clinical facts.”
The following weekend (December 15 to 18) at the same venue, the newly graduated Thammasat University theatre class of 2022, who have studied with B-Floor members, will restage their senior project work “It’s Just a Fiction (Not Mentioning Anything)”, described as “a story of a society oppressing its people with a so-called ‘education’.” Rumor is that Thailand’s most prolific complainer Srisuwan Janya may book a ticket.
Baritone Patrizio Buanne brings ‘La Dolce Vita’ to Benjakitti Park on Sunday
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2022
Stephanie Adair
MedPark Hospital is marking its second birthday on Sunday with “Med Music in the Park” featuring famous Italian baritone Patrizio Buanne.
The free-for-all concert will be held in Benjakitti Park’s amphitheatre on Sunday from 4pm to 8pm. Thai musicians and the RSU Symphony Orchestra will be sharing the stage with Buanne.
The baritone, known for his renditions of the famous aria La Dolce Vita, said he was excited to bring his music to Thai fans.
“My contribution here is music, which is tonic for the soul. I’m very, very excited to perform tomorrow … Tomorrow I want to make sure that I will make people feel simply good,” Buanne said.
The tall, dark Italian-Austrian singer has sold more than 10 million albums and has been delighting audiences for more than 15 years at venues like London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Singapore’s Esplanade and New York’s Lincoln Centre.
Joining him on stage will be Thai divas like Gob Saovanit, Lookwa Pijika and Pure Ekkapan along with Dolchai Boonyatavej, duo act Sunny Trio and Natt Buntita, with the RSU Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Denny Euprasert.
The kebaya is a traditional woman’s upper garment that is popular in the region, said the NHB, and it “represents and celebrates the region’s shared history, promotes cross-cultural understanding and continues to be present and actively produced and worn by many communities across Southeast Asia”.
“The kebaya has been, and continues to be, a central aspect in the representation and display of cultural heritage and identity for Malay, Peranakan and other communities in Singapore, and is an integral part of our heritage as a multicultural port city, with links across South-east Asia and the world,” NHB chief executive Chang Hwee Nee said.
She added that the joint nomination “underscores this multiculturalism and our common roots with the region”.
The NHB said Malaysia had proposed and coordinated the multinational nomination and the idea was discussed as part of a series of working meetings among a number of countries in 2022.
Thailand, Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia agreed to work on the nomination together, said the board, adding that the four countries welcome other countries to join the nomination.
Between August and October, the NHB held six focus group discussions with 48 participants to seek views on the nomination. These included cultural practitioners, cultural association representatives and researchers involved in kebaya production and wearing.
From November 1 to 3, representatives from the NHB and the community attended a workshop organised by Malaysia in Port Dickson, where they discussed the nomination, including what to include in the submission.
Unesco will assess the nomination based on its definition of intangible cultural heritage, and how well each of the four countries will ensure the promotion and transmission of kebaya-related practices, the NHB added.
The result of the nomination is expected to be announced at end-2024.
Kebaya-related crafts and practices were added to the NHB’s intangible cultural heritage inventory in October 2022, joining other elements such as orchid cultivation and soya sauce making on the 102-strong local list.
Kebaya craftsman Ratianah Tahir, who owns Kebaya by Ratianah in Kampong Glam, said the garment has been a staple in her wardrobe since she was young, and she recalls wearing it, especially during festivals and weddings.
The 52-year-old, who has been selling and making kebayas for 18 years, said she hopes the nomination will help raise awareness and increase appreciation for the kebaya and kebaya-wearing among the next generation.
As of 2021, 61 multinational elements have been added to the Unesco list. They include craftsmanship of mechanical watchmaking and art mechanics – a joint nomination by Switzerland and France, as well as Arabic coffee, practised in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.
Separately, the Singapore Botanic Gardens was inscribed on Unesco’s World Heritage List in 2015.
Immerse yourself in the ancient Thai lacquer art of Lai Kammalor
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2022
Chanchai Pratheepwatanawong
An exhibition of lacquer art at The Peninsula Bangkok seeks to promote the cultural value of ancient Thai art and provide visitors with an immersive artistic experience.
The Peninsula Bangkok welcomes art lovers to discover the vanishing traditional lacquer-art technique of Lai Kammalor, with a special installation by acclaimed local artist and associate professor Niroj Jarungjitvittawat.
The exhibited works, collectively titled “Sati” (a Buddhist term meaning mindfulness or consciousness), have been commissioned as part of the hotel’s artist in residence programme, which is a collaboration with up and coming local artists to offer hotel guests “uniquely immersive artistic experiences”.
Lai Kammalor is a centuries-old painting technique that dates back to the Kingdom of Siam during the Ayutthaya period. The technique employs lacquer, gold leaf and powdered tempera to create elaborately patterned designs. These were used to adorn doors, windows, partitions and cabinetry in many of the country’s grandest historic palaces and temples, including Bangkok’s Grand Palace.
Niroj has made it his personal mission to preserve this distinctive artistic tradition through his own works.
“My dedication to Lai Kammalor goes beyond simply wanting to introduce this ancient Thai method to modern-day art enthusiasts or to my students,” said Niroj, who teaches art atRajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin.
“It is my way of promoting higher cultural values embodied in the approach – goodness, faith, truth – to viewers around the world.”
For The Peninsula Bangkok general manager Joseph Sampermans, the Sati exhibition offers guests a sort of “deeply engaging, culturally relevant art experience” that the hotel seeks to share with the artist-in-residence programme.
“Installations like associate professor Niroj’s fulfill an important purpose,” Sampermans said. “Not only do they surround our guests with exquisitely beautiful artworks and introduce them to local creators, they also connect our visitors with the vibrant culture of our home city and our home country.”
Sati is on display at The Peninsula Bangkok’s mezzanine floor and artist studio until December 30. Both hotel guests and outside visitors are welcome to see the exhibition.
Who’s to say that the digital age and spiritual belief cannot go hand in hand? Thailand has been known as a buddhist country to the extent that it has been stated so in its constitution.
Buddhism followers in Thailand have also been known to collect and trade holy totems known as amulets or phra-krueng (พระเครื่อง) in the native tongue. Each amulet is mostly made to be a resemblance of late famous monks in the past. It is held in a strong spiritual belief that carrying and worshiping the amulets will enhance the luck of the owners, which different amulets are believed to enhance luck in different aspects e.g. wealth, relationship and health. The belief regarding the amulet has been passed down from generations to generations of Thai Buddhists, which, in turn, created markets to trade and sell amulets.
ENNXO, Thai online classified ads platform, sees a growing market of people buying and selling amulets online and decides to join in. As we’re in the online era, ENNXO believes that the same can also be done with the amulet and spiritual totems market as well. Since the start of the pandemic, COVID-19, the platform said it has seen a massive growth in the online amulet category on its platform. The platform states that, on the recent trend, customers are searching for the amulets that will bring one fortune or luck based on one’s birthdate (day of the week). For example, if you’re born on Monday and carry some specific amulets, it is believed that it’ll bring you more fortunes than holding some other amulets.
Monday
People born on Monday are believed to be humbled and loved by people; however, they tend to overthink the situation and can be easily swayed if not careful. It is believed that carrying an amulet that has a resemblance of a long-ear monk (phra-hoo-yarn or พระหูยาน in the native tongue) will help mitigate the downside.
Tuesday
In the belief, people born on Tuesday tend to be brave, proud and decisive; however, they tend to be very hot-tempered. Followers believe that if people born on Tuesday carry around phra-som-dej (พระสมเด็จ), it will help calm the holders from provocations.
Wednesday
People born on Wednesday tend to be very friendly, kind-hearted and direct; however, by their nature of being kind-hearted, they tend to be taken advantage of. Carrying an amulet phra-lee-laa (พระลีลา) is believed to keep the people looking to take advantage away.
Thursday
People born on Thursday are believed to be intelligent and knowledge-seeking. That said, by their nature of being intelligent, they tend to be ignorant to what other people think and tend to believe only themselves. It is recommended that people born on Thursday should carry an amulet phra-ruang (พระร่วง).
Friday
It is believed that people born on Friday tend to be well-mannered, respectful and gentle, but they tend to be sulky when their gentleness is not well received. The followers born on Friday tend to carry eyes-covered amulet, phra-pid-ta (พระปิดตา).
Saturday
Being born on Saturday is believed to be risk-seeking, thrill-seeking and a little egocentric. In order to mitigate the downsides from seeking risks, it is recommended to carry phra-luang-pu-tuad (หลวงปู่ทวด). Amulet luang-pu-tuad (พระเครื่อง หลวงปู่ทวด) is believed to keep harms away from the holders.
Sunday
It is believed that people born Sunday tend to be ambitious and proactive; however, their proactiveness usually comes with the low ability to focus on a single task for a long period of time. To mitigate that, it is recommend that people born on Sunday to should carry phra-khun-phan (พระขุนแผน) or phra-kring (พระกริ่ง).
One-day event to showcase 110 decorated manhole covers from across Japan
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022
Manhole covers are everywhere and many people just walk by them on the street without even thinking about them. Increasingly in many parts of Japan, however, artistically designed covers are making pedestrians stop in their tracks for a closer look.
A one-day free event showcasing 110 such covers from all across Japan will be exhibited at the 10th Manhole Summit in Tokorozawaon Nov. 19, just north of Tokyo in Saitama Prefecture.
This “street art” has been attracting attention from around the world. By drawing visitors to the event to see the variety of designs on manhole covers, many of which are often region-specific, the organizers aim to promote understanding of sewage systems.
The theme this year looks to convey the cool aspects of manhole covers, with the largest number ever displayed for the Manhole Summit.
Two specially made manhole covers featuring the anime “Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin,” which were created to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Tokorozawa’s incorporation, will be among the must-see covers on display. The event will also include a discussion on decorated manholes, a stamp collection challenge and free distribution of Gundam manhole cards in English.
The venue, Tokorozawa Sakura Town, is on the site of the city’s former sewage treatment facility.
Fukuoka Prize laureate Danny Yung brings his latest stage work, plus a conference, to Bangkok Theatre Festival this weekend.
For those who have read The Nation throughout these years, Hong Kong stage director, designer and cultural activist Danny Yung is already a familiar name. For example, our National Artist Patravadi Mejudhon performed in his “Book of Ghosts” at Hong Kong Arts Festival 2009, B-Floor Theatre’s Ornanong Thaisriwong and 18 Monkeys Dance Theatre’s Jitti Chompee participated in his “One Table Two Chairs” platform.
Others may recall his exhibition “Tian Tian Xiang Shang: Arts Is Learning Learning Is Arts at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre three years ago on which Bangkok Post wrote, “Anyone with a voice can contribute to the BACC’s experimental 8th floor installation.”
If none of these rings any bells, here’s part of the Fukuoka Prize citation for the co-artistic director of Zuni Icosahedron: “As a stage director, dramatist and performance artist, Mr. Danny Yung (Rong Nianzeng) has created more than 100 experimental theatrical works, and also has dedicated himself to the areas of international exchange, cultural policies and art education.
He has contributed greatly to the development of Asian arts and culture through his diverse projects, which have created connections between people across time and space, between Asia and the rest of the world, and between traditional culture and modern art.”
Thanks to the support by Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) and the cooperation with World Performances @ Drama Chula program, Yung’s latest production “Interrupted Dream” is part of Bangkok Theatre Festival 2022.
For this work, he was inspired by the tenth scene of Tang Xianzu’s “Peony Pavilion”.
Yung wrote, “The scene provided us significant rooms for imagination and the vicissitudes of life presented in and outside the theatre. Among the variety of symbols and narratives, we went with the flow to look for individual and collective imaginative space. ‘Peony Pavilion’ was banned several times 450 years back.
Every time it was restaged, it turned into even more indulged and plaintively showy. Now, all of us, please look at this theatre, look at its confines and taboos, and attend to the way we see and be seen in ‘Interrupted Dream’”.
Two months ago, “Interrupted Dream” was the opening work for the InlanDimensions International Arts Festival in Poland. Rossella Ferrari, China studies professor at University of Vienna, wrote that the play is about “boundaries and transgressions—between wake and dream, passion and duty, innocence and guilt, the living and the dead, corporeal reality and ghostly appearances.”
Having studied Yung’s works for years, she noted, “Yung has never been afraid of boundaries—and of transgressing them” and that “this work is no exception.”
“Contemporary history, invoked with varying degrees of allusion in previous iterations of the series, takes centre stage in this most recent version. Yung’s newest production crosses what is, arguably, the ultimate boundary in current public discourse in Hong Kong, as it opens with footage of the 2019/20 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill protests and explicit visual references to technologies of surveillance.”
As Yung’s stage works are also known for their visual elements, Ferrari pointed out, “Emblematic of the production’s media design, a thin red line keeps appearing and disappearing on the back screen throughout the performance as if to signal a boundary to a forbidden zone, which the six performers onstage must negotiate with and push back constantly, almost ritually.
Likewise, fast-multiplying red squares moving rapidly across the screen frame the faces of the protesters in the opening video footage – in an obvious nod to the ubiquity of facial recognition systems and control mechanisms during the protests, as well as throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Bangkok audiences will soon—to be more precise, tonight (November 18) and tomorrow 7pm at Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts—find out how this is relevant to what happened here in the past few years.
Concurrently is an international conference “Toward a Human Resource Development Initiative for Cultural Exchange”, conducted entirely in English and with hybrid (on-site and online) mode, with Yung and Surapone Virulrak, president of the Royal Society and former vice president of Chulalongkorn University as keynote speakers.
Others who will share their experience and thoughts include National Artist Janaprakal Chandruang; Rachel Cooper, Asia Society’s director of global performing arts and special cultural initiatives; Yusaku Imamura, Tokyo University of the Arts’ vice president; and Hans-Georg Knopp, former secretary general of the Goethe Institut headquarters. It’s on Saturday and Sunday, November 19 and 20, 2 to 5pm at Maha Chulalongkorn building. There’s no registration fee.
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva from the Unified Silla period of Korea currently on exhibition at the National Museum Bangkok (NMK)
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva from the Srivijaya period of Thailand currently on display at the National Museum Bangkok (NMK)
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