Tulapop Saenjaroen's 'People on Sunday' reimagines 1930s silent film for Bangkok's workaholic culture

Thai artist Tulapop Saenjaroen presents 'People on Sunday,' a video work that reinterprets Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer's 1930 German silent film 'Menschen Am Sonntag' for contemporary Bangkok. The exhibition was on view at 100 Tonson Gallery in Bangkok from December 19 to April 26, with an online screening from June 6 to 28. Saenjaroen's work critiques modern workaholism and productivity obsession through mechanical performances by gig-economy workers who struggle with genuine leisure. Scenes show actors in a Thai national park repeating self-help mantras and discussing transactional relationships with their own time. One segment features a scopophobic cameraman describing his fear of being watched, while another shows a freelance graphic artist who creates meditation videos yet feels estranged from relaxation. The work contrasts sharply with the original film's portrayal of Berliners enjoying unselfconscious weekend leisure in the 1930s. Saenjaroen employs episodic structure, lurid visuals, jaunty Muzak, and warbling sound effects similar to his earlier award-winning work 'A Room with a Coconut View' (2018), which won the Thai Short Film and Video Festival. The video explores how contemporary workers have lost the ability to experience true downtime as described by German philosopher Josef Pieper, who defined leisure as 'letting go.' Despite lacking the dreamlike qualities typical of Thai video art, the work humorously examines extreme careerism's impact on free time.