October 12–November 13, 2022
Ghost is a video and performance art series that takes place 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.
Ghost 2565: Live Without Dead Time highlights untold stories of figures and places caught in the chasms created by the incohesion and tensions of contemporary life. A response to the specific context of Bangkok, Ghost 2565 assembles multivalent presents, pasts, and futures that attempt to define a phantasmagorial city in resistance to homogenous narratives. The subtitle is translated from the line “vivre sans temps mort” spray-painted on a wall of the Sorbonne in Paris in May 1968, pointing to the collective state of comatose compliance in the face of capitalism when society had become a monstrous accumulation of spectacles and commodified experiences. Confronted with the totalizing power of representation, how might we disrupt the forces that lull us into empty existence?
This second edition occupies the glitch produced by desynchronized space and time and the conflicting visions of an amorphous city in flux. From within Bangkok's fabric, Ghost 2565: Live Without Dead Time forges a space of mutual learning by gathering perspectives from established and emerging artists and practitioners from Thailand, the wider region, and beyond connected through shared urgencies and struggles across temporalities and geographies. Parts of the exhibition take place in formerly deserted places in the city’s historical center, where hegemonic forces that ushered in modern Thailand continue to haunt present-day realities, and dormant futures. The triennial series inspires audiences to establish and inhabit existing frameworks toward other possible knowledge and futures and yield new forms of living. In searching for alternative narratives that reside in the crevices, this multidisciplinary platform catalyzes a collective act to reclaim disinherited time and space to explore the subjectivities, untold stories, and shared visions that might emerge.
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.
A variety of live events happen throughout the month-long festival. They include a joint lecture performance by Rabih Mroué and Hito Steyerl, and commissioned pieces that respond to Bangkok’s historical and urban framework, namely a series of audio walks by Orawan Arunrak, a musical architectural intervention by Pan Daijing, and a nighttime gathering around collective dreaming and eating devised by Koki Tanaka.
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, regular events take place ranging from lectures to artist talks to screenings at the House that shed light on Ghost 2565 themes. The program will be announced on the website and social media. At Ghost 2565: House, visitors gather over food, drinks, informal talks, DJ sessions, workshops, and other public programs. At the House, Wendy’s Wok World—an alter-ego, character-driven culinary project—is in residence engaging with the culinary heritage of Chinese diasporic communities in the neighborhood. During weekly public programs the hosts will be enacting an alternative pedagogy that acknowledges embedded histories and adds yet more layers to the tales on view.
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.
For inquiries please contact press [at] ghost2565.com
