Korakrit Arunanondchai: Songs for dying (2021), video still. HD film, 30'18". Co-commissioned by the 13th Gwangju Biennale, Han Nefkens Foundation and Kunsthall Trondheim. Courtesy Korakrit Arunanondchai, Bangkok CityCity Gallery, Bangkok, Carlos/Ishikawa, London, C L E A R I N G New York / Brussels
1 pm Trondheim (CET)
6 pm Bangkok (GMT+7)
8 pm Gwangju (GMT+9)
Join artist Korakrit Arunanondchai in conversation with Defne Ayas, Natasha Ginwala (Artistic Directors, 13th Gwangju Biennale), Michelangelo Corsaro (Associate Curator, 13th Gwangju Biennale), Stefanie Hessler (Director Kunsthall Trondheim), and Katrine Elise Pedersen (Curator and Producer Kunsthall Trondheim)!
In his new video Songs for dying, Korakrit Arunanondchai explores the ghost as a metaphor for suppressed and overlooked histories.
The work revolves around three events that unite the animistic with the personal, with politics, and with global narratives: The Jeju Massacre, also known as Jeju 4.3, the artist’s experience of the passing and burial of his grandfather, and the ongoing demonstrations in Bangkok. The video revisits these events while exploring ghosts, kin, mourning, and healing. The work is currently on view at Kunsthall Trondheim and at the 13th Gwangju Biennale, Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning.
On this occasion, the artist is joined in conversation by the curatorial teams of the Gwangju Biennale and Kunsthall Trondheim, who have collaborated closely on the development of the video. In Songs for dying as well as in previous works, the artist has explored spirit mediums both as an idea and as something that exists in objects and experiences. The conversation will discuss how spirits are channelled in Arunanondchai’s work to depict hidden realities and multi-layered beliefs, and offer audiences the opportunity to ask questions related to the making of the work.
Songs for dying was co-commissioned by the 13th Gwangju Biennale, Han Nefkens Foundation and Kunsthall Trondheim.
The 13th Gwangju Biennale, Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, is on view until 9 May in Gwangju, South Korea.
Korakrit Arunanondchai’s solo exhibition Songs for dying is on view at Kunsthall Trondheim, Norway until 18 April.