Korakrit Arunanondchai: Songs for dying / Diana Policarpo: Nets of Hyphae

Kunsthall Trondheim presents two new exhibitions by Korakrit Arunanondchai and Diana Policarpo, exploring the specters of suppressed histories as well as knowledge systems of plants, witches, and midwives. 

Korakrit Arunanondchai’s new exhibition Songs for dying explores the ghost as a metaphor for suppressed and overlooked histories. Arunanondchai’s newly produced film lending the exhibition its title, has its world premiere at Kunsthall Trondheim. The work examines the shamans’ ability to heal following the 1948 Jeju massacre in South Korea, personal narratives pivoting around the artist’s recently deceased grandfather, and pop cultural references from The Hunger Games film trilogy in the context of the current student protests in Thailand. The film was commissioned by Kunsthall Trondheim, Han Nefkens Foundation, and the 13th Gwangju Biennale, where it will be presented later this year. 

The exhibition further comprises a new mural with local flowers from the Trøndelag region that is centred on a tortoise, which serves as a symbol for the artist’s dying grandfather; floor made of dirt mixed with latex paint, resin, and dried seashells; a sculptural installation featuring a cast of boychild with Arunanonondchai’s grandfather’s hands; and a new painting on textile depicting a large yellow bird, referring to the mockingjay logo from The Hunger Games as a symbol of opposition to authoritarian rule. At a time marked by social and ecological urgencies, the exhibition offers audiences an exuberant and simultaneously delicate experience touching on deep human desires and fears.

On the occasion of the show, Arunanondchai has designed a wearable artwork in the form of a face mask. The washable mask, titled If we burn, you burn with us, consists of 3 layers plus insertable and exchangeable filters and meets the safety standards for covid-19 face covers. It can be purchased via this link.

Curator: Katrine Elise Pedersen, curator and producer at Kunsthall Trondheim

Diana Policarpo’s exhibition Nets of Hyphae explores the parasitic ergot mushroom as a traditional medicine for reproductive justice and examines its role in the witch trials in Portugal, Spain, and Norway. Co-produced by Kunsthall Trondheim and the Galeria Municipal do Porto, the visual artist and composer’s show includes digital 3d animation, drawings, a light intervention, an immersive soundscape, and a video interview with the transfeminist biohacker Paula Pin.

Nets of Hyphae considers the relationships between the fungus cycle and global supply chains, and the expertise of midwives and healers in precarity and resistance. The exhibition unearths traces of ergot from Hieronymus Bosch’s enigmatic Renaissance triptych The Temptation of St. Anthony (ca. 1501)—digitally animated by the artist—to accounts of the dancing plague that spread through Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries, and the witch trials in the 1600s. Policarpo connects these historical accounts to do-it-yourself transhackfeminist practices, considering them in parallel with alternative plant medicines known and used by women, shamans, and Indigenous people in various geographies. 

At a time when abortion rights are under threat in Poland and the US, the show connects health struggles dating back to the Renaissance with contemporary politics of women’s and LGBTQ+ sexual health. 

The exhibition is accompanied by a book produced by Galeria Municipal do Porto and Kunsthall Trondheim, published by Mousse Publishing with the support of the Arts Council Norway. The book will be available from late March 2021.

Curator: Stefanie Hessler, director of Kunsthall Trondheim

For more information and press images, please contact 
Katrine Elise Pedersen
Curator and producer
katrine [​at​] kunsthalltrondheim.no
T +4792893080

Kaja Waagen
Assistant curator and communications coordinator
kaja [​at​] kunsthalltrondheim.no
T +4748500100

About Kunsthall Trondheim
Kunsthall Trondheim is a leading art institution in South Sápmi/Norway. During the period of 2020–2025, the Kunsthall’s exhibitions and programs focus on knowledge production through transdisciplinary and artistic research, dialogue with science and technology, health, social justice, and ecology by contributing artistic perspectives to these areas. The Kunsthall was founded on initiative of Trondheim kommune and Trøndelag fylkeskommune, who, alongside the Ministry of Culture, are its main funders.