Som Supaparinya: Mo num en ts

Museion presents the film MO NUM EN TS (2025) by Thai artist Som Supaparinya, a work that brings together historical research and fieldwork. The film was produced as part of the Han Nefkens Foundation—Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant 2024, dedicated to the memory of the artist Dinh Q. Lê, and realized in collaboration with Jim Thompson Art Center (Thailand), The Outpost Art Organisation (Vietnam), Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (Japan), Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Denmark), and Rockbund Art Museum (China). Following presentations at the partner institutions, the work will enter the collection of Museion.

For more than two decades, Supaparinya has examined the landscapes of Southeast Asia as sites where political ideology, ecological transformation, and historical memory intersect. In MO NUM EN TS, she focuses on the long-term impact of Cold War infrastructure across the Mekong region. Dams, roads, and electrical networks appear not only as symbols of modernization, but as enduring “monuments” that continue to shape territories, communities, and environments. 

The film unfolds as a contemplative single-channel projection, combining field recordings with archival material from Cold War media and propaganda. Through a fragmented visual structure, often employing split screens, Supaparinya brings together multiple temporalities and perspectives, resisting a singular narrative and revealing history as layered, partial, and contested.

With MO NUM EN TS, Supaparinya proposes a reading of landscape as a living archive. One in which political decisions, ecological transformations, and human experiences remain inscribed over time.

About Han Nefkens Foundation
The Han Nefkens Foundation supports artists through international production grants and long-term institutional collaborations, with a particular focus on video art and cross-cultural exchange. The Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant was established in close dialogue with artists and partners across the region.