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Para Site is honoured to present Apichatpong Weerasethakul: The Serenity of Madness, the artist’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong.
One of the most original filmmakers and artists of our time, Apichatpong Weerasethakul has developed a distinctive language which approaches fragments of life, from passing gestures to the great cycles, from the often occurring to the unseen, in arresting and compelling narratives. Deeply invested in the life, culture, spirituality, and struggles of the people excluded by the elite nationalist project of the Thai state — primarily the people of Isan, the region of his upbringing, many of Weerasethakul’s works hail from within these universes. They employ historical allusions, myths, codes and visual language, but most importantly references to the contemporary vernacular and political struggles of the marginalised strata of Thai society. Weerasethakul does not however document this world from the outside, he employs its intimate vocabularies, creating deeply original art works and films that can be seen as both part of a living contemporary of the lower classes in Thailand and pieces of universal relevancy in our contemporary world. Often read as surrealist, Weerasethakul’s works contain however deeply coherent and carefully constructed parameters, with narratives following a specific logic and references that are not devoid of humour or satiric intentions.
The Serenity of Madness includes a selected survey of rarely-seen experimental short films and video installations by Weerasethakul, alongside his sculpture, photography, drawings, sketches, and archival material.
