OK Nakorn (Singular Diary)
2016
Songkhla Old Town, Thailand
On Saturday August 20, 2016, internationally acclaimed artist Navin Rawanchaikul returns to his home country with a new community-based project centered on the fast-changing city of Songkhla, in Thailand’s Deep South. Home to a busy trade port, Songkhla has a long history of foreign settlement stretching back to the 17th century, when Persian Muslim merchants founded the Sultanate of Singora. Later came the arrival of Westerners and an influx of Chinese migrants. Today, the Old Town’s charming mix of Chinese and European-style shophouses and modern buildings testify to this blend of cultures, although recent years have seen parts of it being destroyed in the name of progress. Having delved into the city’s past and present, and interviewed members of the local community over the past year, Rawanchaikul and his Navin Production team from StudiOK Chiang Mai will present new works exploring these themes at two formerly disused venues, an old cinema and shophouse, both in the city’s Old Town.
Located in the center of an historic Muslim community, the Saha Cinema (Saha Phapayon)is a stand-alone cinema built in 1930. It last screened a film almost 20 years ago. For this project’s duration, Rawanchaikul and his team will revive this decaying yet structurally-sound movie palace by presenting a new 15-meter-long billboard painting on its original hoarding – one that narrates the life of the community based on interviews and memories they have gathered. Elaborately hand-painted in the old movie billboard-style, OK Nakorn (OK City) will tell a story as only the artist’s vivid imagination knows how, drawing us into the lives of Songkhla’s residents through a high-colour blend of fact and fantasy.
Meanwhile, yet more site-specific works will be on display at Untitled Factory on Nakorn Nok Road, in the commercial heart of the Old Town. The About Art Foundation has preserved this old Chinese shophouse, which overlooks Songkhla’s famous lake and served as a mechanical workshop in a past life, with the intention of using it as an exhibition space. The centerpiece of the inaugural show here will be Rawanchaikul’s “Singora Diary,” a large community portrait painting comprised of more than 70 panels. Each one will portray a different story or community member that he encountered on recent research trips. Also on display will be video interviews with locals and Rawanchaikul’s latest music video, in which he performs new song “OK NAKORN” alongside Songkhla collaborators and the OK Band from his hometown, Chiang Mai.
