Chulayarnnon Siriphol’s filmic works focus largely on the deeply rooted political division in Thai society triggered by the 2006 coup d’état and the ensuing political upheavals between the royalist and nationalist Yellow Shirts movement and the pro-government Red Shirts movement, which continue to the present day. In Myth of Modernity (2014), Siriphol documents Yellow Shirts protests in the name of anti-corruption, patriotism, morality, and the imagination of a happy past. Siriphol renders the documentation surreal by inserting a neon pyramid, a representation of the Buddhist ‘Tribhumi’ (three storeys) cosmology, into the frame. The pyramid symbol is a modern-day simplification of the Buddhist worldview, laying the foundation for the moral and administrative structure in contemporary Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist country. Contemplating the reductionist gesture that renders complex cosmology into a simple geometric shape and oppositions, Siriphol proposes a reflection on the clearly divided, dualist politics brought by modernity.

Works in the exhibition: Myth of Modernity (2014), 1-channel video, colour, sound, 16'; Myth of Modernity (2014), light sculpture, 145 × 145 × 100 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Bangkok CityCity Gallery