2016

1 Kanal-Video 1:26 min. als LOOP, Farbe/Ton, 2016

Gezeigt:
LISTE 16/ Kaskadenkondensator Basel Neues Kino Basel 2017
videocity.bs ∑-Summe Basel 2017
 
Das Video 'Rehearsal Thai Lakorn' zeigt die Probe zu einem thailändischen Tableau Vivant vor der Hintergrundmusik (Soundtrack) der allgegenwärtigen TV-Soaps (Thai Lakorns). Der Ton ist konstituierender Teil der Arbeit. Das Video verweist auf das Spannungsfeld zwischen Kunst und Kommerz.

Rehearsal Thai Lakorn (2016) is a video artwork by the Swiss artist Pascale Grau. It shows an excerpt of a rehearsal for a tableau vivant i.e. a living picture, which she developed in 2011. The tableau was the final product of a one-week workshop she held with students of the Media Art Department of Chiangmai University (Thailand) and it was shown publicly during Asiatopia 13 (2011), an international performance art festival in Chiang Mai. The filming of the rehearsal process, of which we see some footage here, reflects Grau’s practice of developing performances using a camera, which she learned during her studies with the internationally renowned performance artist Marina Abramović. The tableau was rehearsed in the shadows of a garage where a TV broadcasted a lakorn, one of the soap operas ubiquitous in contemporary Thai culture. ....However, the filming of a rehearsal in the context of a Thai soap opera may also let us wonder about potential socio-political critiques behind this very simple scene, where only female students are to be seen. For example, on the rehearsing of the hierarchical and prudish ‘traditional’ Thai etiquette which perpetuates strict social and gender roles. These are often exemplified in Thai soap operas with their ‘perfect’ love stories, star-crossed but just enough for people to be entertained. In this sense, the video might cast light on the rehearsing of the social façade of the ‘land of smiles’, almost as a fiction needing exercise, hold up notwithstanding fatigue and muscle pain.
Chiara Giardi 2020

Foto: Videostill aus Video
Kamera: Pascale Grau