Ruangsak Anuwatwimon Presented in Spirit of Maritime Crossing 2026

As the nature of the Mekong River becomes increasingly impoverished and volatile, the livelihoods of those within its biosphere have been profoundly disrupted. Through his on-site research, Ruangsak Anuwatmimon, together with the ART WORMs Collective, presents the Mekong Fulcrum Project.

 

Anuwatwimon delves deep, recollecting the history of what was once an abundant river through the remnants of its dissipating cultural and environmental essence. In the face of modernization, man-made modifications have been imposed on the river. The already precarious ecosystem has collapsed rapidly in recent decades. The Mekong has been the source of sustenance to the community that depends on it. Today it is witnessing the loss of lives and traditions it has cultivated.

 

Since 2015, Anuwatwimon has undertaken ongoing on-site research, collecting soil samples, walking its shores, interviewing locals, consulting with experts and activists concerned with the activities and well-being of the river. These encounters inform an installation that reflects on vanishing cultures and ecologies and inherited knowledge shaped by the Mekong across generations.

 

Presented at Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfu, the project unfolds through spatial and sensory elements that evoke both the physical presence of the river and its gradual transformation. The Mekong Fulcrum: Excavated Gods serves as both an elegy for what is being lost and a call to attend more carefully to the fragile balance between human activity and natural systems.

 

Text courtesy of The Spirits of Maritime Crossing

 

 

Acknowledgements

 

Excavated Gods (2021) by Ruangsak Anuwatwimon

Technique: Mixed media; tissue paper, animal remnants, soil and sand from Mekong River, pigment from China and northeastern Thailand, Dimension Variable

This presentation is organized by the Bangkok Art Biennale and supported by Gallery VER.

 

Originally presented in 2021 as part of Of Hunters and Gatherers, curated by Kittima Chareeprasit for the Pollination program initiated by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, and co-sponsored by SAM Fund for Art & Ecology and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum.