COLLECTIONS

Siamese Futurism

Edition 2/3+2AP

Thai
Montika Kham-on

Siamese Futurism, 2021, 8:41 min, Edition 2/3+2AP
Siamese Futurism's video essay, 2021, video, 8:06 min, Edition 2/3+2AP
Prophecy wall text, 2021, video loop, 2.52 min, Edition 2/3+2AP

All images courtesy of the artist

The Great Boonchan (อาญาบุญจัน) rolls the gong, its bangs reverberating from the deepest abyss of the Sa-erg-guan whirlpool.
The Gong had disappeared, submerged, under the water, since the time Siamese troops marched up here to quell the Boon-bearing’s Revolts.

excerpt from the short story "NguaNgao" by Phu Kra-dat
Music Praka Prui by Rasmee Isan Soul

Siamese Futurism is a music video set in a future which imagines the Isan region regaining autonomy from the central administration of Thailand. A re-imagination of which draws from the historic Holy Man’s Rebellion (กบฏผีบุญ) of the region, an uprising which resists Siam’s attempt of nation building through forced assimilation and cultural genocide.

Siamese Futurism is an invitation to those who have no yet given up hope, biding time in slumber waiting for the reinvigoration of their spirits.
 

Artist biography

Montika Kham-on (1999, Samutprakarn, Thailand) Montika Kham-on is a filmmaker. She explores the potentials of moving images, and the possibilities of film technologies to examine the past and manifest multiple futures.
Kham-on is also interested in fields that work with the body, from theater to dance. She strives to incorporate said fields with moving images to grapple with what is beyond the boundaries of language. Currently, Kham-on is working on the project titled “Siamese Futurism,” a world-building project that investigates memories, storytelling, and tales hidden in the past in order to expand and recontextualize new stories for the future.

Editor: Aura Contemporary Art Foundation