apichatpong weerasethakul
1970, Bangkok, Thailand
Working in the space between cinema and contemporary art, Apichatpong Weerasethakul creates installations, videos, short and feature films that are often non-linear and transmit a strong sense of dislocation and otherworldliness. Through the manipulation of time and light, Weerasethakul constructs tenuous bridges for the viewer to travel between the real and the mythical, the individual and the collective, the corporeal and the chimeric. Over the years, the majority of his projects have involved many of the same actors, which has allowed him to capture different phases in their lives and their experience of ageing. Frequently set in rural Thai villages and forests, his films traverse an extremely personal territory, inviting the viewer to enter the subjective world of memory, myth, and deep yearning. By using unconventional narrative structures, expanding and contracting the sensation of time, and playing with ideas of veracity and linearity: Weerasethakul’s work sits comfortably in a world of his own making.
In 1994, Weerasethakul earned his BA in architecture from Khon Kaen University in Thailand. In 1998, he received his MFA in Filmmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as an Honorary Doctorate from the same institution in 2011. In 1999, he co-founded Kick the Machine Films, a company that has produced many of his own films as well as other experimental Thai films and videos that could not find support under the established Thai film industry. The French Government named him Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres and Officier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres in 2008 and 2011, respectively. His art projects and feature films have won him widespread recognition and numerous festival prizes, including three from the Cannes Film Festival: A Certain Regard for Blissfully Yours in 2002, Prix du Jury for Tropical Malady in 2004, and Palme d'Or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives in 2010.
Apitchatpong Weerasethakul lives and works in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
the vapor of melancholy, 2014
lightjet print on duratrands, lightbox
31.5 x 47.24 in.
primates' memories, 2014
lightjet print on duratrands, lightbox
39.37 x 59.06 in.
the importance of telepathy, 2012
sculpture: pu foam, acrystal and semi matt lacquer, steel framing; 150 wind chimes: caked clay, synthetic fiber string; 30 army hammocks from thailand
installation view at documenta 13, kassel, 2012
the importance of telepathy, 2012
sculpture: pu foam, acrystal and semi matt lacquer, steel framing; 150 wind chimes: caked clay, synthetic fiber string; 30 army hammocks from thailand
installation view at documenta 13, kassel, 2012
dilbar, 2012
single-channel video installation, hd digital, b&w, 16:9, dolby 5.1
10:00 min (loop)
installation view at sharjah 11, sharjah united arab emirates, 2013
dilbar, 2012
single-channel video installation, hd digital, b&w, 16:9, dolby 5.1
10:00 min (loop)
power boy, 2011
from for tomorrow for tonight project
giclée prints with dibond backing
59.06 x 88.58 in.
for tomorrow for tonight, 2011
installation consisting of 4 single channel videos, 5 photographs, 2 powered speakers, ceramic tiles
blow up (from primitive project), 2009
archival print, mounted on di-bond
57.76 x 87.4 in.
phantoms of nabua, 2009
single channel installation, digital, 16:9, dolby 5.1, color
10:56 min looped
primitive, 2009
video installation consisting of 6 independent single channel videos and 2 syncronised channels
installation view at fact (foundation for art and creative technology), liverpool, united kingdoom 2009
primitive, 2009
video installation consisting of 6 independent single channel videos and 2 syncronised channels
installation view at musée d'art moderne de la ville de paris, 2009
primitive, 2009
video installation consisting of 6 independent single channel videos and 2 syncronised channels
installation view at the new museum, new york united states, 2009
primitive, 2009
video installation consisting of 6 independent single channel videos and 2 syncronised channels
petch (from the primitive project), 2009
giclée print
57.87 x 87.4 in.
unknown forces, thailand / united states 2007
4 screen installation, digital, 16:9, dolby 5.1, color
various lengths, loops
unknown forces, thailand / united states 2007
4 screen installation, digital, 16:9, dolby 5.1, color
various lengths, loops
emerald (morakot), thailand / japan 2007
cinema version and single screen installation, digital, 16:9, dolby 5.1, color
11:50 min (looped)
emerald (morakot), thailand / japan 2007
cinema version and single screen installation, digital, 16:9, dolby 5.1, color
11:50 min (looped)
mysterious object at noon / dogfahr nai meu marn, thailand, 2000
35mm (blown up from 16mm), 1,85:1, dolby surround, black and white
83:00 min
mysterious object at noon / dogfahr nai meu marn, thailand, 2000
35mm (blown up from 16mm), 1,85:1, dolby surround, black and white
83:00 min
blissfully yours / sud sanaeha, thailand / france, 2002
35mm, 1,66:1, dolby surround, color
126:00 min
blissfully yours / sud sanaeha, thailand / france, 2002
35mm, 1,66:1, dolby surround, color
126:00 min
blissfully yours / sud sanaeha, thailand / france, 2002
35mm, 1,66:1, dolby surround, color
126:00 min
tropical malady / sud pralad, thailand / france / germany / italy 2004
35mm, 1,85:1, dolby surround, color
118:00 min
tropical malady / sud pralad, thailand / france / germany / italy 2004
35mm, 1,85:1, dolby surround, color
118:00 min
syndromes and a century / sang sattawat, thailand / austria / france
35mm, 1:1.85, dolby surround, color
105:00 min (approx)
syndromes and a century / sang sattawat, thailand / austria / france
35mm, 1:1.85, dolby surround, color
105:00 min (approx)
uncle boonmee who can recall his past lives / lung boonmee raluek chat, united kingdom/ thailand / germany / france/ spain 2010
35mm (blown up from super 16mm), 1,85:1, dolby surround, color
113:00 min
uncle boonmee who can recall his past lives / lung boonmee raluek chat, united kingdom/ thailand / germany / france/ spain 2010
35mm (blown up from super 16mm), 1,85:1, dolby surround, color
113:00 min
uncle boonmee who can recall his past lives / lung boonmee raluek chat, united kingdom/ thailand / germany / france/ spain 2010
35mm (blown up from super 16mm), 1,85:1, dolby surround, color
113:00 min
Past exhibitions and screenings include: A Conversation with the Sun (VR), Theater der Welt/Theater of the World, Frankfurt and Offenbach, Germany (2023); The World of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Film at Lincoln Center, New York (2023); Roots are Tentacles, Stadtkino Basel, Switzerland (2022); Periphery of the Night, Institut d’Art Contemporain Villeurbanne/Rhône Alpes, France (2021); Apichatpong Weerasethakul: The Serenity of Madness, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan (2019), Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA), OK (2018), Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), Manila, Philippines (2017), School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL (2017), Para Site, Hong Kong, China (2016), MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand (2016); Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Luminous Shadows, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania (2018); Tate Film Pioneers: Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Mirages, Tate Modern, London (2016); Fireworks (Archives), SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo (2014); Photophobia, Stenersenmuseet, Oslo, Norway (2013); For Tomorrow For Tonight, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2012) and Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin (2011); Primitive, New Museum, New York (2011) and Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris (2009); Retrospektive Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Filmmuseum München, Munich, Germany (2009), among others.
Past group exhibitions include: Downbeat: Denniston Hill at Marian Goodman Gallery, Marian Goodman, New York (2023); TODOS JUNTOS (All Together), kurimanzutto, New York, NY (2022); Building Romance, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan (2018); SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2017); BODY/PLAY/POLITICS, Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan (2016); Today is the day – 70th Memorial of Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima, Watarium Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2015); A Journal of the Plague Year. Fear, Ghosts, Rebels. SARS, Leslie and the Hong Kong history, KADIST, San Francisco, CA (2015), Arko Art Center, Seoul (2014) and Para Site, Hong Kong, China (2013); Thai Transience, Singapore Art Museum (SAM) (2012); Transformation, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) (2010); The view from elsewhere, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF), Sydney, Australia (2009) and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, Australia (2009); among others.
Weerasethakul has participated in various international biennials, including: Aichi Triennale 2022, Japan; International Art Exhibition at the 58th Venice Biennial (2019); 12th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2018); 14e Biennale de Lyon, France (2017); 20th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2016); Sharjah Biennial 11, United Arab Emirates; dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012); 6th Seoul International Biennale of Media Art (SeMA) (2010); Singapore Biennale 2008; 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, China (2008); 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT5), Brisbane, Australia (2006); IX Baltic Triennial of International Art, Vilnius, Lithuania (2005); 2004 Taipei Biennial, Taiwan; 1st T.I.C.A.B – Tirana International Contemporary Art Biannual, Albania (2001) and 7th International Istanbul Biennial (2001).
read the full article about memoria the last film of apichatpong weerasethakul on art asia pacific
Read the full conversation of Apichatpong Weerasethakuls with Rémy Jarry on Ocula magazine.
Read the full article on "Memoria", Apichatpong Weerasethakul's film in AnOther Magazine.
Read full review on Memoria winning the "Jury Prize" at the Cannes Festival in ArtReview.
Read full review on "Memoria", Apichatpong Weerasethakul 's movie filmed in Colombia at El País.
“Periphery of the night”is Apichatpong Werseethakul's solo exhibition at the IAC Villeurbanne, France on view until november 28, 2021.
Join Apichatpong Weerasethakul in conversation with Alaina Claire Feldman for Critical Ecology on Film, an online film screening and conversation series organized by the Mishkin Gallery in New York.
Read the full review on Apichatpong Weerasethakul's new 2021 film "Memoria" in La Tempestad.
In this interview Apichatpong Weerasethakul talks about his film Cemetery of Splendour (2015), and the unique journey he has taken as a filmmaker.
Read full article on Apichatpong Weerasethakul on de Film Krant about his reflections on the movie industry after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Artes Mundi 8, the most ambitious contemporary visual art exhibition in Wales and the largest art prize in the UK.
kurimanzutto is pleased to announce that 2018 FIAF Award will be presented to the artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
The 12th Gwangju Biennale’s Imagined Borders is a guiding concept that responds to the current times of change and uncertainty by recognizing the limits of grand narratives, singular authorship and the necessity to return to the complexities of multiple voices and perspectives. Seven exhibitions, spread across the city at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall, the Asia Culture Center, and other historical sites, will present responses to the imagination of borders—as historical and real, experiential and abstract, imaginary and transgressive.
The Serenity of Madness is structured into distinct sections: one corresponding to the artist’s private world, peopled with friends, family and long-time collaborators; another takes up the public sphere but with a more abstract dimension of experience, utilizing light, memory and temporal, spatial, and spiritual displacement. The survey culminates with a selection of recent work addressing the social reality in his homeland.
A serene, immersive film environment where falling asleep is allowed: that’s one way to describe Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s SLEEPCINEMAHOTEL, a unique one-off project during IFFR 2018.
