October 12–November 13, 2022
Ghost is a video and performance art series that is set in Bangkok, Thailand.
Following Ghost:2561 (October 11–28, 2018) curated by Ghost co-founder Korakrit Arunanondchai, the second edition Ghost 2565: Live Without Dead Time curated by Christina Li runs from October 12 to November 13, 2022 at venues throughout Bangkok.
Live Without the Dead, Ghost 2565 Time draws attention to hitherto unreported tales of individuals and locations split apart by the conflicts and strains of modern life. Ghost 2565 is a response to the particular setting of Bangkok that brings together multivalent pasts, present, and futures in an effort to construct a phantasmagorical metropolis in opposition to uniform narratives. The subtitle refers to the collective state of comatose compliance in the face of capitalism at a time when society had transformed into a monstrous accumulation of spectacles and commodified experiences. The phrase “vivre sans temps mort” was spray-painted on a wall of the Sorbonne in Paris in May 1968. How do we counteract the factors that lull us into an empty existence when faced with the totalizing power of representation?
The contradictory views of an amorphous metropolis in transition and the glitch caused by desynchronized space and time are the focus of this second edition. Ghost 2565: Live Without Dead emerges from Bangkok’s fabric. Through the perspectives of both established and up-and-coming artists and practitioners from Thailand, the rest of the region, and beyond who are linked by common urgencies and conflicts across temporalities and geographies, Time creates a platform for mutual learning. A portion of the exhibition is held in the city’s historic center, where areas that were once uninhabited are now haunted by the hegemonic forces that brought about contemporary Thailand. The triennial series encourages viewers to build upon and live within current frameworks in order to produce new ways of living and alternative possible knowledge and futures. This multidisciplinary platform catalyzes a collective act to recover disinherited time and place in order to explore the subjectivities, untold experiences, and shared visions that might emerge by looking for alternative narratives that exist in the crevices.
Participating artists
Ghost 2565 features moving-image works by Meriem Bennani, Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen, Özgür Kar, Lap-See Lam, Li Shuang, Diane Severin Nguyen, James Richards, Shen Xin, Wu Tsang with Tosh Basco, Natasha Tontey, and Emily Wardill and two new film installations by Chantana Tiprachart and Tulapop Saenjaroen.
Over the course of the festival’s month-long run, numerous live activities take place. These include commissioned works that respond to Bangkok’s historical and urban framework, such as a series of audio walks by Orawan Arunrak, a musical architectural intervention by Pan Daijing, and a nighttime gathering centered around communal dreaming and eating created by Koki Tanaka. They also include a joint lecture performance by Rabih Mroué and Hito Steyerl.
Performance dates:
October 15, 20, 23: Orawan Arunrak, Rituals on Walking, 2022
October 29: Pan Daijing, Uncut (Working title), 2022
November 10, 11: Koki Tanaka, Eating an apple while lucid dreaming, 2022
November 13: Rabih Mroué and Hito Steyerl, Probable Title: Zero Probability, 2012
Public program
In addition, the House hosts ongoing activities that illuminate the ideas of Ghost 2565, such as screenings, artist discussions, and lectures. The website and social media will make announcements about the program. Visitors congregate at Ghost 2565: House over meals, beverages, casual conversations, DJ performances, workshops, and other open events. Wendy’s Wok World, an alter-ego, character-driven culinary project, is in resident at the House and is interacting with the local Chinese diasporic communities’ culinary traditions. The hosts will implement an alternative pedagogy that acknowledges underlying histories and adds additional layers to the stories on display during weekly public events.
Anthology
Another impetus to imagine other subjectivities and realities that evade us is the accompanying Thai and English fiction collection Anthology, edited by Christina Li and assistant curator Pongsakorn Yananissorn, with new writing by Orawan Arunrak, Ivan Cheng, Uthis Haemamool, Travis Jeppesen, Li Shuang, Phu Kradat, Sophia Al Maria, Duanwad Pimwana, Sathit Sattarasart, and Emily Wardill.