Songs for Dying (2021)

Overview

Korakrit Arunanondchai’s new piece, Songs for Dying, composed of tropes and ideas from his “living archive,” combines the personal experience of accepting death and the perception of history with religious, technological, and political narratives. Footage of his grandfather’s funeral is followed by archival records of the popular uprising on South Korean Jeju Island, current student protests in Thailand, and references to pop culture. Using the metaphor of the ghost, central to this piece, the artist questions the linear perception of time and seeks to show how the past pulsates in the present. In his worldview, nature, people, and spirits are intertwined into a homogenous whole, forming a living and diverse reality.