The Hunters

March 19

‘The Hunters’
A ‘Pollination’ project
Opening reception 19 March, 2021 MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai

Walkthrough with curators
19 March, 2021 | 6 PM

Featuring artists Maryanto (Yogyakarta) and Ruangsak Anuwatwimon (Bangkok)
Curated by ‘Pollination’ curators LIR (Yogyakarta) and Kittima Chareeprasit (Chiang Mai)
Organized by: The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City
Co-sponsored by SAM Art & Ecology Fund and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum with thanks to this edition’s curatorial advisors: Agung Hujatnikajennong, Vipash Puranichanayanont and Zoe Butt

‘The Hunters’ is an exhibition resulting from extensive collaborative research undertaken over the last 12 months beneath the volcanic activity of Mount Merapi, Yogyakarta; and along the increasingly dammed river routes of the lower Mekong, on the borders between Thailand and Laos. Prompted by the artistic languages and methods of chosen artists Maryanto and Ruangsak, Pollination curators LIR and Kittima have curated an exhibition where the practice of sustainable living provokes need of respect for the interdependent wisdom between the human and non-human worlds, evident in local forms of wisdom (or what the curators define as an ‘embodied’ knowledge).

Hosted by the MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, both artists are creating new bodies of work, inspired by local folk-lore which share the lives of particular mythical ‘hunter’, comparing the ethos of such stories to our contemporary moment. Maryanto’s tent-like installations, composed of paintings in charcoal and earth, share local knowledge of living with respect for Nature and its spirits, concerned by the impact of illegal, corporate and government hunting of water and sand, beneath Mount Merapi (Maryanto’s home turf). Ruangsak’s varied installations beg acknowledgement of the many animals whose lives are jeopardized along the heavy damming of the Mekong, creating various diorama from their bones as monument to their spirits that once guarded this crucial waterway. Such projects are but the beginning of what will be presented, ultimately throwing into question the assumptions and illusions of resource and their landscape, critical of social reliance on instruments of science and technology, deeply aware of how their manipulation leads to ignorance, misinformation and greed.

As Maryanto and Ruangsak are compelled by the realities faced by local peoples living with such exploitation, the curators thus also intend to showcase the artistic research of each artist (photographic and film documentation; sketches, sound recordings and more), alongside a dedicated video interview between the artists unpacking their relationship to the idea of the ‘hunter’ and how this unveils in their respective artistic practices.