Why Chiang Mai is the place to be this weekend
There’s a couple of reasons for you to be in Chiang Mai this weekend and next. First, the 13th International Conference on Thai Studies begins tomorrow at Chiang Mai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. This is a major academic event that will assemble top researchers and scholars on all subjects relating to Thailand, past and present, political and cultural, national and regional. While attendees are most likely be members of international academia, a few events are open for free to the public.
We recommend the film sessions “The Strange Facts Of An Estranged Land”, which will take place from tomorrow until July 18 in Seminar Room 12. It begins on Sunday with a programme of short films curated by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, featuring works by mostly young Thai directors with an experimental edge such as Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Pathompon Tesprateep, Taiki Sakpisit, Suihirat Supaparinya and more. Their works, from the mid-2000s to the present, also capture the political and social shifts that have characterised Thailand in the past decade. The screening at 1.30pm will be followed by Apichatpong’s talk.
On July 17, there will be a screening of two films that address the issue of the Oct 6, 1976, massacre: Anocha Suwichakornpong’s award-winning Dao Khanong ( By The Time It Gets Dark) and Pattaraphon Phoothong’s Duai Khwamnapture ( Respectfully Yours). The screening begins at 1.15pm, and is followed by a discussion, “The Forgotten: A Talk On The Public Memory Of The Oct 6 Event”.
On July 18, Nontawat Numbenjapol will screen his documentary Sainam Tid Chuea ( By The River), about the pollution of a river in Kanchanaburi, and join a roundtable discussion, “Towards A Civi Soceity: The Rise And The Roles Of Independent Cinema In Thai Public Sphere”.
Yet another reason to go to Chiang Mai next week rests at Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum. One year after it opened with fanfare, this spacious, handsome private museum looks set to have another hit with “Patani Semasa: An Exhibition On Contemporary Art And Culture From The Golden Peninsula.”
The show, which will open on July 19 and amass pieces by 27 southern artists, explores the historical, social and cultural landscapes of Thailand’s Deep South. The “Patani region” refers to the geographical area known in modern-day Thailand as the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and parts of Songkhla, where cultural identity is deeply rooted in the Malay ethnicity and Islam. In the past 13 years, the Deep South has become a scene of unrest, and the exhibition aims to probe how contemporary works of art and cultural representations of Patani reflect that. Another dimension of the show is that it is being held in opposing geography, the North playing host to the resentment of the South.
The 13th International Conference on Thai Studies begins tomorrow at Chiang Mai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. “Patani Semasa: An Exhibition On Contemporary Art And Culture From The Golden Peninsula” starts on July 19 at Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum.