Korakrit Arunanondchai review

  • Art, Contemporary art
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Copyright the artist, courtesy Carlos/Ishikawa
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Time Out says

5 out of 5 stars

A glowing rock garden throbs and pulsates with green light, shooting lasers across the room. Surrounding the rockery, three screens show images of a retirement home, those Thai boys rescued from that cave and a bunch of wackos engaging in some kind of laser rave séance as an androgynous nude cyborg shoots light out of its mouth.

It’s a little nuts, a little ridiculous, but very, very good. Young Thai artist Korakrit Arunanondchai drags you into a metaphorical cave filled with spectres that haunt you and spirits that possess you. There are narratives here about ancestral ghosts, mystical spirits, dancing as a way of communing, and the power of film and art to transform and rejuvenate you. Arunanondchai is digging through the past, through myths and dance culture, to create his own mysticism, and you’re a part of it just by witnessing the work.

Really, he’s asking us to believe in art as a spiritual force – as something that can possess us and elevate us, maybe even bring us closer to God. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the art playbook. The Ghent Altarpiece, the Sistine Chapel, ‘The Last Supper’ – art with the power and intention to bring us something like spiritual fulfilment. Brilliantly, it kind of works. I just didn’t realise spiritual fulfilment would look so much like the rave scene from ‘The Matrix Reloaded’.

@eddyfrankel

Eddy Frankel
Written by
Eddy Frankel

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