‘The Hunters’ is part of ‘Pollination,’ a program initiated by The Factory in 2018, in view of building and encouraging an inclusive artistic landscape that provides artists and curators all throughout the South East Asian region more access to opportunities for collaborations and unique practices.

 

‘The Hunters,’ curated by ‘Pollination’ curators LIR and Kittima, is prompted by the artistic languages and methods of chosen artists Maryanto and Ruangsak, which situate the contemporary ‘hunters’ within the local embodied knowledge of the mythical ‘hunters.’ The project results from extensive collaborative research undertaken for over 12 months beneath the volcanic activity of Mount Merapi, Yogyakarta; and along the increasingly damned river routes of the lower Mekong, on the borders between Thailand and Laos. The two-person exhibition explores and critiques the assumptions and illusions of resources and their landscape, as well as the abuse of and overreliance on non-human entities by the ever rapacious human ‘hunters’ for self-interested causes.

The curators reflected on the long stretch of time during which the artists dived in and ‘gathered’ the extensive “knowledge from different bodies of lore by following natural trails of rivers and mountains, sinking islands and backyard cemeteries, to home-gardening and sites of deforestation across South East Asia, and other comparable environmental issues closer to home,” all culminating in installations that beg critical engagements and ruminations over our irreversible violations of the biospheres.

 

Read more about ‘The Hunters’ at dedicated website: ‘www.ofhuntersandgatherers.com,’ launched on 28 May, 2021 (with additional sponsorship from the Grey Center of Art and Enquiry, University of Chicago)

 

2020/2021 members:

Organizations: The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, SAM Fund for Art and Ecology, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum
Curatorial Advisors: Zoe Butt, Agung Hujatnikajennong and Vipash Purichanont
Participant curators: LIR – Mira Asriningtyas and Dito Yuwono; and Kittima Chareeprasit
Participant artists: Maryanto, Ruangsak Anuwatwimon