BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1970 in Bangkok, Apichatpong Weerasethakul was trained in architecture and went on to study filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He started making films and videos in 1994, and has since produced seven features, namely, “Mysterious Object at Noon” (2000), “Blissfully Yours” (2002), “Tropical Malady” (2004), “Syndromes and a Century” (2006), and “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” (2010), in addition to his video and installation works exhibited in museums, biennales and galleries. Mostly set in the depth of forests and rural areas of Thailand, Weerasethakul’s works are known for his idiosyncratic narrative and visual language that are inspired by Thai folklore, TV soap operas and Western cinema. Subtle and mysterious, they create intersections where the immediate reality and the surreal (at times utopian) collide, and address the personal politics and social issues.
Both films and art projects by Weerasethakul have won him international recognition. “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” was awarded the Palme d’or at Cannes Film Festival 2010, and “Tropical Malady”(2004) Prix du Jury, “Blissfuly Yours” Prix Un Certain Regard (2002) at the Cannes. He was finalist of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s Hugo Boss Awards 2010 and received the Fine Prize from the 55th Carnegie International in 2010. In 2008, the French Minister of Culture and Communications bestowed on him the medal of Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des letter (Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature). His recent ambitious project “Primitive” has been exhibited in Haus der unst, Munich, the Foundation for Arts and Creative Technology (FACT), Liverpool, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris and New Museum, New York. Apichatpong Weerasethakul is featured in dOCUMENTA (13).
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SELECTED WORKS
APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL, "Faith", 2006, Two-screen installation, 11:05 minutes
Installation view. Photography: Justin Jin.
