Painting with history in a room filled with men with funny names 3 (2015-16) is a multimedia installation that explores what it means to be an artist searching for self-expression in a time when ancient and futuristic systems of belief collide. A crossover between a hip-hop music video and a new age evangelist ad, the filmic component of the work contemplates the fate of spirituality in 21st century Bangkok, a city where animistic energies and advanced technologies co-exist in everyday life. Signs of hybridity are everywhere: spirits intermingle with drones, solemn ritual meets rowdy dance party, all the while an English-speaking Korakrit converses with his French-speaking robotic muse Chantri. Complementing the video, the work’s physical installation centres on the sculptural form of the divine serpent creature Naga, which is here created out of electronic waste, discarded clothing, and artificial plants. What new mythologies and beliefs might materialize when human, machine, and spirit merge? Korakrit Arunanondchai (b. Bangkok, 1986) is a video and multimedia artist who engages with issues of spirituality, history, authenticity and self-representation through the lens of a cultural transplant. He received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2009 and a MFA from Columbia University in 2012, where he studied with Rirkrit Tiravanija. He has held solo exhibitions at Serralves (2020), Vienna Secession (2019), Jim Thompson Art Center (2016), Palais de Tokyo (2015), Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (2015), Museum of Modern Art Warsaw (2014), and MoMA PS1 (2014), among others, and recently participated in group shows including the Whitney Biennial (2019) and Venice Biennale (2019). His work has been collected by institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, Kiasma Helsinki, SMAK Ghent, Fondation Louis Vuitton, and K11 Foundation. In Singapore, he has exhibited as part of Cinerama: Art and Moving Image in Southeast Asia (2018) and the Singapore Biennale (2019), both organized by Singapore Art Museum. He is based between Bangkok and Brooklyn.
