Apichatpong Weerasethakul
18 Apr - 17 Jun 2007
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Unknown Forces
April 18 - June 17, 2007
In his new four-channel video installation commissioned by REDCAT, Apichatpong Weerasethakul has invited two of his regular actors – Sakda Kaewbuadee from Tropical Malady, Syndromes and a Century, FAITH, and numerous shorts; and Jenjira Pongpas, from Blissfully Yours, Iron Pussy, and Syndromes and a Century – to travel on a pickup truck along a highway. According to Weerasethakul, “The act is a tribute to our land and our countrymen after the political maelstrom of 2006.”
He continues, “UNKNOWN FORCES is also for the hard workers and hard drinkers of the northeast, my home region, who are the root of Thailand’s booming real estate. These construction workers are hauled around by contractors from one construction site to another, roaming cities and villages. Thailand’s landscape is shaped by these nomadic souls on pickup trucks. Like many actors I know, the workers have resided in a hierarchic system for so long that they are voiceless and are assigned to be part of an apolitical species...On many occasions I feel I am part of this pickup truck syndrome, fueled by a strange cocktail of politics, monarchy, and religion.”
Internationally recognized for his work in experimental and narrative cinema including Mysterious Objects at Noon (2000), Blissfully Yours (2002), Tropical Malady (2004) and Syndromes and a Century (2006), Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films explore perception, impermanence, and the imaginary, cultivating fanciful potential within the mundane. Urban, rural, and galactic locations accentuate the aloneness of man in his environment and isolation from others. Abstract interchanges in Weerasethakul’s film and video installations interrogate conventions of the dramatic narrative while exploring desire, reality, and a kind of melancholy perhaps peculiar to our times.
Born in 1970, in Bangkok, Weerasethakul holds a degree in architecture from Khon Kaen University and an MFA in filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He began making film and video shorts in 1994 and completed his first feature in 2000. Since 1998, Weerasethakul has also mounted numerous video installations throughout the world. He has worked outside the Thai studio system for over a decade, and has actively promoted and distributed experimental and independent films through Kick the Machine, the company he founded in 1999. Weerasethakul has received numerous awards for his art and films including the Prix Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival, 2002; the Prix du Jury, Cannes Film Festival, 2004; Age d’or Prize, Cine’de’couvertes, 2004; Grand Prize, Tokyo Filmex, 2004; Best Film and Special Jury Prize, The xx International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Turin, 2005; and Special Jury Prize, Singapore International Film Festival, 2005. Recent exhibitions include The 2006 Liverpool Biennial; Waterfall, Solar Cinematic Art Gallery, Vila do Conde (2006); and La force de l'art, Grand Palais, Paris (2006); the 2005 Baltic Triennial; and The Pantagruel Syndrome, T1-Turin Triennial (2005). In 2005, Weerasethakul received the Silpatorn Award from Thailand’s Ministry of Culture, Office of Contemporary Arts.
Unknown Forces: Apichatpong Weerasethakul is funded in part by the Asian Cultural Council and R23.
Unknown Forces
April 18 - June 17, 2007
In his new four-channel video installation commissioned by REDCAT, Apichatpong Weerasethakul has invited two of his regular actors – Sakda Kaewbuadee from Tropical Malady, Syndromes and a Century, FAITH, and numerous shorts; and Jenjira Pongpas, from Blissfully Yours, Iron Pussy, and Syndromes and a Century – to travel on a pickup truck along a highway. According to Weerasethakul, “The act is a tribute to our land and our countrymen after the political maelstrom of 2006.”
He continues, “UNKNOWN FORCES is also for the hard workers and hard drinkers of the northeast, my home region, who are the root of Thailand’s booming real estate. These construction workers are hauled around by contractors from one construction site to another, roaming cities and villages. Thailand’s landscape is shaped by these nomadic souls on pickup trucks. Like many actors I know, the workers have resided in a hierarchic system for so long that they are voiceless and are assigned to be part of an apolitical species...On many occasions I feel I am part of this pickup truck syndrome, fueled by a strange cocktail of politics, monarchy, and religion.”
Internationally recognized for his work in experimental and narrative cinema including Mysterious Objects at Noon (2000), Blissfully Yours (2002), Tropical Malady (2004) and Syndromes and a Century (2006), Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films explore perception, impermanence, and the imaginary, cultivating fanciful potential within the mundane. Urban, rural, and galactic locations accentuate the aloneness of man in his environment and isolation from others. Abstract interchanges in Weerasethakul’s film and video installations interrogate conventions of the dramatic narrative while exploring desire, reality, and a kind of melancholy perhaps peculiar to our times.
Born in 1970, in Bangkok, Weerasethakul holds a degree in architecture from Khon Kaen University and an MFA in filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He began making film and video shorts in 1994 and completed his first feature in 2000. Since 1998, Weerasethakul has also mounted numerous video installations throughout the world. He has worked outside the Thai studio system for over a decade, and has actively promoted and distributed experimental and independent films through Kick the Machine, the company he founded in 1999. Weerasethakul has received numerous awards for his art and films including the Prix Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival, 2002; the Prix du Jury, Cannes Film Festival, 2004; Age d’or Prize, Cine’de’couvertes, 2004; Grand Prize, Tokyo Filmex, 2004; Best Film and Special Jury Prize, The xx International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Turin, 2005; and Special Jury Prize, Singapore International Film Festival, 2005. Recent exhibitions include The 2006 Liverpool Biennial; Waterfall, Solar Cinematic Art Gallery, Vila do Conde (2006); and La force de l'art, Grand Palais, Paris (2006); the 2005 Baltic Triennial; and The Pantagruel Syndrome, T1-Turin Triennial (2005). In 2005, Weerasethakul received the Silpatorn Award from Thailand’s Ministry of Culture, Office of Contemporary Arts.
Unknown Forces: Apichatpong Weerasethakul is funded in part by the Asian Cultural Council and R23.