You Exist, I Exist

You Exist, I Exist

Curator｜ Peerapol Kijreunpiromsuk 、 Chia-Nuan Chen

Artists｜Anis Nagasevi、KORN、Kaensan Rattanasomrerk、Natpakhan Khemkhao、Rasiguet Sookkarn and Pakkawat Tanghom、Peerapol Kijreunpiromsuk、Sisu Satrawaha、Wen-Hsuan Chang、Jen-Pei Cheng、Kevin You Singgan、Chao-Ming Teng

Date｜2021.06.26 (Sat.) - 2021.08.15 (Sun.)

Opening｜2021.06.26 (Sat.) 15:00

Forum｜2021.08.15 (Sat.) 15:30

Guest｜Nien-Pu Ko 、Feng-Yi Chu

Online website

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【Statement by Soifa Saenkhamkon】

I’m interested in the stories of ordinary people, as I have discovered each simple story often carries one’s distinctive experiences. In addition to personal narratives, it could be a mixture of one’s social, political, and cultural backdrop which reflects the value, attitude, belief, and ideology of each individual.

Listening to various stories could lead to realization over diversity of beliefs occurred in the history and resulted in today’s religious, political, cultural connotation, norm, and beyond.

This exhibition contains the stories of people living ordinary lives, connected and inevitably affected by their past. Ordinary people tend to perpetually confront with unusual situations being normalized and manipulated by the superior, distorted historical stories, or even partially eliminated reality.

Such historical assaults have caused accumulative conflicts in Thai society, for a long time. The attempt to twist or blur the truth is obviously a rejection of reality which causes intolerance of differences and diversity, leading to the destruction of the dissenters to disappear.

In fact, this exhibition is intended to narrate simple stories for the audience to sense the very existence of one another.

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【About Soifa Saenkhamkon】

Soifa has worked for art projects both in Thailand and abroad continuingly, as an Assistant Curator, Curator, Project Manager. She has also worked as a casting crew for independent film productions since 2011.

Soifa currently works as a freelancer in both art management and independent film industry. She is also a Co-Founder of Rai.D Collective, a group of curators and cultural workers.

【Story carriers of co-senses―response statement by Chia-Nuan Chen】

If the so-called history known by many is only a singular linear narrative that is empty and homogeneous, or simply a form of “knowledge” with selected events that solely explains what happened on the surface, the rich and complex truth of the past will be far beyond reach. This is especially true for the parts of history which diverge from the mainstream narratives. They are often neglected, dismembered, and fragmented in the background of history, too hard to be recognized. Therefore, “story” becomes the way out, and the transformation of our daily routines and experiences. As our life and experiences are expressed through story, it also bestows meaning, and brings strength.

However, the presence of listeners is the prerequisite of storytelling. Can we lay down our bias, and be that prerequisite for a storyteller? Between listening and telling a story, territoriality and otherness naturally stand in the way. Breaking the frame and fence of our own world is the transformation process that melts down differences and enhances mutuality.

When facing the environment and ecosystem, we acknowledge the importance of diversity, why should it be otherwise when it comes to historical narrative? Life experiences of various cultures are the complex and diverse hereditary factors extended into our stories. These diverse cultural dimensions create various story “carriers.” Besides oral storytelling, these “carriers” can be images, poetries, songs, food, monuments, and so on and so forth. Every “carrier” presents one or more stories and embeds certain skills in our memory. When confronting the history of this island, which was formed under the ruling of different governments, memories and cultural essence are disrupted. Nonetheless, stories and memories have found their escape in different carriers, waiting to be unveiled and recognized. The diversity of these carriers expands our sensory experiences, and increases the possibility of co-senses. What was once only a story of another person is now heard through different means, and recorded in our organic sensory memory to last.

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【About Chia-Nuan Chen】

Chian-Nuan Chen, born in 1991. Her artworks and research focus on the construction of historical memories and emotions in the lives of common people, and their interaction with the environment and society. In the meantime, she‘s also interested in the relationships shared between gallery, art festivals, and art museums. She has curated such exhibitions as Dare you do this? FFFF it!, at Ganshang International Contemporary Art Exchange, in Kaohsiung 2019, and was nominated for the Taishin Art Prize.