Group Show at Jim Thompson Art Center Questions Nature and Spirituality

A group exhibition titled 'How Many Worlds Are We?' at Jim Thompson Art Center in Bangkok attempts to decenter geo-cultural perspectives on nature, spirituality, and humanity. Curated by Lisbon-based Alexandre Melo, the show features ten works from Brazil, Myanmar, Angola, Portugal, Cambodia, and Thailand. Highlights include Jonathas de Andrade's film 'O Peixe' (2016), which depicts fishermen cradling dying fish along Brazil's São Francisco River, revealing itself as a fictional ritual critiquing ethnographic exoticism. Wantanee Siripattananuntakul's three-channel installation 'Making the Unknown Known' (2020–22) uses an African grey parrot and a white elephant to address ecological imbalances and political sovereignty in Thailand, with oblique references to the monarchy. Vuth Lyno's 'Vibrating Park-Forest' (2023) features paper tiles that reveal drawings of monks protesting and children flying kites near Phnom Penh's Royal Palace, highlighting contested urban spaces in Cambodia. Other works include Vasco Araújo's video 'O Percurso' (2006) and sound sculpture 'Exoticism' (2014), Torlarp Larpjaroensook's 'Space Station' (2023), and Ayrson Heráclito's 'Ijó Mimó' (2019). The exhibition runs through 29 October.