Zomia in the Cloud
(2023- ongoing project launched at Thailand Biennale, December 2023 to April 2024)
Production Zomia proposes a project to engage with the people and natural creatures that have lived in the region where Thailand/Laos/Myanmar border adjoins. Although they have formed a fluid and vibrant life through their ecosystem over a long period of time, their territory is being eroded recently by state power and global economic development. As a result, the number of ethnic minorities,
refugees, and others forced to leave their homes and move to other parts of the world has been increasing each year.
We believe that art can liberate, affirm, and empower individuals in solidarity, and that hoping to deliver it to the people in difficult circumstances.
We will therefore create a platform for exhibition activities at various locations run by NGOs and other organizations that support refugees, ethnic minorities, education, and welfare activities near the Chiang Rai. We will announce the project on our website, grant access to organizations that wish to participate, and allow them to freely select works (paintings, designs, photographs, videos, etc.) created by multiple artists to be exhibited at any location they deem necessary, free of charge. No gallery or dedicated exhibition facility is required. They can find appropriate spaces in schools, libraries, hospitals, assembly halls, etc., and have their works installed, screened, and placed there. In this way, the works should meet a different audience than the usual art lovers and tourists, people who are in oppressive and unequal situations and need liberation and solidarity. In other words, this is a practice for the de-centering of art.
This is also a tribute, 20 years later, to Utopia Station, which was launched in 2003 as a project to envision a different kind of society at the time of the rise of new imperialism after 9/11.
If you are a participating organization, please access here and log in with the password we sent you.
If your organization is interested in this project, please contact : contact@productionzomia.com