“Spirit-forward in G Major” (2023)
Looking specifically at how funerary practices of Thai people travel and evolve with their migration to Germany, Spirit-forward in G Major is a multimedia installation that encapsulates the interplay of tradition, adaptation and preservation within an evolving cultural landscape. Charting their transformative journey, the work’s narrative unfolds in four parts, told through a metaphoric cycle of life, death and rebirth.
“New Beginnings” uses therapeutic dialogues to depict the initial migrant experience of stepping into a dreamy yet unknown world; evoking a feeling of optimism amidst uncertainty. Subsequently, “A Surreal Interlude” transports viewers into a realm of magic and mortality inspired by Grimms’ fairy tales. Based on interviews conducted with Thai monks and nuns in Berlin, it touches on the challenges and transformation that comes with cultural assimilation. The third segment focuses on a Thai music score Sai Samon, the oldest documented, played in G major on the violin in a Sala Thai (open pavilion) in Bad Homburg, Germany. Finally, “A Glimpse Beyond”, experienced via Virtual Reality, dives into a poetic meditation on death and the afterlife, told from the viewpoint of the deceased. Serving as a mirror reflecting the cycle of life and death, this poignant culmination is an exploration into a liminal reality between the familiar and the surreal. Alternating between the two, it echoes the fragmentation and reconstitution inherent in a migrant experience. Using photogrammetry techniques, images of real-world locations and architecture taken during the artist’s residency, such as Alter St. Matthäus-Kirchhof (Old St. Matthew’s Churchyard) and Märchenbrunnen (Fountain of Fairytales), are digitally reconstructed, distorted and fragmented to create an ethereal, otherworldly environment.
Adding to this experience are brass plate etchings comprising elements from the migrant journey: a flower mirroring the ones found around the Sala Thai in Bad Homburg; the Sai Samon music score; and Cinderella from Grimms’ Children and Household Tales (1833).
4k digital video and audio 4.1 channels and
VR glasses, PAR Light , Etching brass plates x 3
Video Duration : 19:34 min, VR Screen Duration : 10:00 min
Etching brass plates Dimensions : (1)15.4x15.4 cm, (2)16x24 cm, (3)16.2x17.2 cm
a programme developed by NTU CCA Singapore and funded by the European Union.
https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/519350/sea-air-studio-residencies-for-southeast-asian-artists/