Deforming Thai Politics

Abstract

This article contemplates four Thai contemporary art works as signs of deforming Thai politics. The author's readings of Porntaweesak Rimsakul's RGB's War (2006), Navin Rawanchaikul's Lost in the City (Long Krung, 2006), Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook's Manet's Luncheon on the Grass and Thai Villagers (2009), and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's ‘Primitive’ project (2009) relate these artworks to the ways in which artists portray the Thai socio-political situation and the rupture between urban and rural Thais. Thais have been divided into two political movements: the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the National Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). The two movements share an idea of democratisation but represent different practices as shown in Rasdjarmrearnsook's work, which poses questions of aesthetic distinction between Thais and the West. Rawanchaikul's Lost in the City brings out the complexity of political conflict in Bangkok. Weerasethakul's Primitive project draws on his experience in a rural area where the ghosts of Communists are still haunting democracy.