Kawita Vatanajyankur's AI-Tinged Performances at Nova Contemporary
At Nova Contemporary in Bangkok, Kawita Vatanajyankur's solo exhibition 'Tracing' (6 June – 25 July) presents a thematic shift toward AI and its ramifications. The show juxtaposes earlier endurance works like 'The Carrying Pole' (2015) with new pieces such as 'The Machine Ghost in the Human Shell' (2024), where AI-powered electric muscle stimulation disrupts her drawing. In 'Echoes' (2025), she is violently rung as a bell clapper, while 'My Mother and (A)I' (2025) pairs footage of her being swept as a paintbrush by her mother with an AI voiceover trained on her late father's writings. The exhibition includes a lightbox still from 'Flight' (2025) and a speech written by AI, voiced by the artist in Thai, about a 'machine-only world'. Vatanajyankur's high-gloss, dayglo aesthetic remains, but the focus shifts from mimicking household objects to being operated by AI, exploring themes of control, grief, and memory.
Key facts
- Kawita Vatanajyankur's solo exhibition 'Tracing' is at Nova Contemporary, Bangkok, from 6 June to 25 July.
- The show includes older works like 'The Carrying Pole' (2015) and new pieces such as 'The Machine Ghost in the Human Shell' (2024).
- 'The Machine Ghost in the Human Shell' uses AI-powered electric muscle stimulation to disrupt the artist's drawing.
- 'Echoes' (2025) features Vatanajyankur as a bell clapper being violently rung.
- 'My Mother and (A)I' (2025) pairs footage of the artist as a paintbrush swept by her mother with an AI voiceover trained on her late father's writings.
- A speech written by AI, voiced by the artist in Thai, accompanies the crackle of electricity in 'The Machine Ghost in the Human Shell'.
- The exhibition includes a lightbox still from 'Flight' (2025) showing the artist as a loaded arrow.
- Vatanajyankur's work typically addresses societal oppression of female workers and objectification of women.
Entities
Artists
- Kawita Vatanajyankur
- Florentina Holzinger
Institutions
- Nova Contemporary
Locations
- Bangkok
- Thailand