Taking Peter Hutton’s early visionary work Images of Asian Music (A Diary from Life 1973-74) (projected in its original 16mm format) as both source of inspiration and point of departure, this program features work from contemporary Thai artists working in film and video respectively to offer countervailing portraits and perspectives from within their country of origin.  

Images of Asian Music (A Diary from Life 1973–74)

Peter Hutton

US / 1974 / 16mm / 29 mins

Peter Hutton's early film was shot while he was living in Thailand and working as a merchant seaman, bringing together material filmed over two years across South East Asia. Elegiac in tone, the beautifully composed silent black and white images are attentive to the rhythms of life across the region, [foregrounding passed over details and capturing the movement of people against the background of shifting political territories of the time, the film shifts from glimpses of pre-Pol Pot Phnom Penh to moments caught amongst fleeting encounters at sea. His work throughout his life would seek moments of intense observation, finding the right entry point or distance to look at places and their history. Reflecting on time he spent in central Europe in the 1980s he described himself as 'a spy stealing dead history with my Bolex.']

Confusion Is Next 

Pathompon Mont Tesprateep

Thailand /2018 / 16mm to video / 22 mins

A portrait of a nomadic musician Thom Assajan-Jakgawan, in which he appears as a fictionalized version of himself, living in a fragile state, in a collapsed country. He confines himself in an unoccupied room, continuing the meditative rhythms of his music.

Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook – Two Planets Series

In the tableaux of Thai video artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, reproductions of classic European paintings are subjected to rural environments, where Thai farmers and villagers gather to discuss their affective associations beyond the confines of gallery and museum.