DOC TALK
5 Films by Chulayarnnon Siriphol
Vanishing Horizon of the Sea
(2014 / sound / black & white / experimental documentary / 24 min)
Vanishing Horizon of the Sea is the desire of the past happening in the digital world through the experiment in poem writing about a moving image created with an obsolete medium, VHS-video.
It describes the broken bodies and past memories that gradually fade away and eventually disappear under the sea.
Myth of Modernity
(2014 / Single-channel HD digital video / sound /color/16 min)
“Myth of Modernity” focuses on Thai Buddhism, specifically the simplification over time of ornate architectural structures of worship. These structures that pervade Buddhist culture, such as pagodas, palaces and spirit houses, were symbolically built to represent the ‘three worlds’ of Buddhist cosmology. The influence of modern architecture and the West have resulted in the popular reduction of these forms into the geometric pyramid.
Siriphol draws a parallel between this simplification of structures of worship and the state of current Thai politics. By viewing the political realm as being similar to the religious realm of worship, he implies an idealistic reverie in politics, politicians and the mass experiences that occur during party rallies and demonstrations. (text by Lauren Reid)
The Internationale
(2018 / Music Video / sound / color / 6 min)
“The Internationale” (“French: L’Internationale”) is a left-wing anthem. It has been a standard of the socialist movement since the late nineteenth century, when the Second International adopted it as its official anthem. The title arises from the “First International”, an alliance of workers which held a congress in 1864. The author of the anthem’s lyrics, anarchist Eugène Pottier, attended this congress. This anthem has been celebrated by communists, socialists, anarchists, democratic socialists, and social democrats and has been translated into many languages. “The Internationale” was adapted to rock music by Chinese band, Tang Dynasty, in 1992. Chulayarnnon Siriphol created this music video when he was an artist in residence at Organhaus Art Space, Chongqing, China in July 2018.
Birth of Golden Snail
(2018 / 16 mm. film and color painted on film / silent / black&white / 20 min)
Banned at the Thailand Biennale Krabi 2018, this film is based on the history of Khao Kha Nab Nam, Krabi. Filled with fantasy and historical facts, it treads the line between fiction and folklore.
ANG48
(2022 / video / sound / color / 25 min)
ANGSUMALIN 48 is a full name of ANG48 which stands for a fictional organization ‘Alliance of Nippon Girls 48’. The film is a synthesis of archival materials of Asian film history from different countries. The result is an intelligent operating system of 48 digits which was born into a half-human half-golden-snail figure. ANGSUMALIN 48 can dissolve and become invisible for human eyes in order to penetrate through the air as a secret cultural agent. The ANGSUMALIN 48 women have the role of building connections, spreading good relations and providing support for the alliance of Asian women in different countries to rise up and release their past pain since the WWII, the Cold War until today. The name of this operating system is chosen to commemorate and give honor to ANGSUMALIN, a Thai fictional character in Khu Kam, a novel by Thommayanti, who is an emblem of honesty, loyalty, and love to the homeland.
