Jim Thompson Art Center

Continuing her long-term research-based artistic practice into the entanglements between history, the environment, and political ideology, Som Supaparinya’s new body of work investigates how the destruction of nature is not merely a byproduct of “progress” but a direct consequence of ideological and discursive forces. These include propaganda disseminated by both the Free World and the Communist bloc, each seeking to legitimize large-scale development projects across the region.

In her newly commissioned video work, MO NUM EN TS (2025), Supaparinya examines the cultural dimensions of Cold War propaganda through media materials produced by the United States Information Service (USIS). Juxtaposing these archival images and sounds with contemporary landscapes in Thailand, the artist evokes what she calls a “post-propaganda era” inviting viewers to reflect on how Cold War ideologies persist within everyday life. Central to the work is the question of “symbols of progress” such as the Bhumibol and Pak Mun Dams—structures that, despite their environmental costs and inefficiency in power production, continue to stand as monuments to the ideology of development.

This new commission will be shown alongside a reworked version of her earlier installation, Paradise of the Blind (2016/2025), part of her ongoing Banned Book Project, which addresses censorship across Asia and Oceania. By presenting both banned and “non-banned” books together, Supaparinya exposes how mechanisms of control operate not only through prohibition but also through selective permission, revealing how power shapes knowledge and public understanding under the guise of freedom.

Together, these works create a space for audiences to reflect on the layers of power, knowledge, and invisibility within history, particularly the ways in which ideology, memory, and the landscape of nature intertwine and continue to echo in the present. 

Mo num en ts, 2025

Video Installation: 4-channel video synchronization, color, 5.1 audio system, and photographs.

Dimension variable

Production supported by Han Nefkens Foundation – Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant 2024, in collaboration with the Outpost Art Organisation, Vietnam; the Jim Thompson Art Center, Thailand; Museion, Italy; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark and Rockbund Art Museum, China

The work focuses on how American and Thai propaganda reshaped landscapes and natural resources, not only on the surface but deep within systems of land and people management. Development was promoted as a path toward modernization and well-being, aligning Thailand with the “Free World.” It was celebrated through global achievements and cultural symbols, from Miss Universe titles and rice export rankings to monumental dams such as Bhumibol, the global fame of Thai silk (Jim Thompson), and the hybridization of Northeastern Thai music (Molam) influenced by American pop culture.

One of the most advanced technologies imported during the Cold War was not only weaponry but also media – radio and television. The U.S. Information Service (USIS) produced an abundance of media materials in Thailand, including films, magazines, and books, to promote narratives of progress and the Free World’s vision of modernization. These materials portrayed infrastructure, education, and healthcare as signs of advancement, urging Thailand and its allies to emulate American ideals.

In Mo num en ts, Supaparinya juxtaposes these historical media artifacts with the current socio-political landscape of Thailand – what she calls the “post-propaganda era.” By doing so, she examines how the legacies of Cold War ideologies continue to inform governmental discourse and how symbols of “national pride” were, in fact, shaped by foreign influence and the logic of war-time diplomacy.

Her research led her to question why major dams such as Pak Mun and Bhumibol remain preserved despite minimal electricity production and severe ecological damage. While obsolete dams in the U.S. have been dismantled, in Thailand they endure as monuments of ideology, protected not for their utility but for their symbolic status as milestones of development and untouchable state narratives.

Paradise of the Blind, 2016/2025

Installation: 360 bullet shells size 5.56 x 45 mm, copper wires No. 38, Banned/restricted books and propaganda books and magazines produced by the United States Information Service (USIS), a paper shredder, Strip-cut photocopy paper shreds (Greenleaf and white papers), 

Dimension variable

Collection of MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand

The edition in 2016 was commissioned by The Reading Room, Bangkok, 2016. Supported by the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Southeast Asia.

The revision edition in 2025 was supported by James H.W. Thompson Foundation and the Jim Thompson Art Center

Named after the banned Vietnamese novel Paradise of the Blind, this part of the exhibition expands Supaparinya’s ongoing Banned Book Series. In this revised 2025 version, she presents both banned and unbanned books to reveal the ideological double standards of censorship.

In this new iteration, she includes banned books from Asia and Oceania alongside first editions and publications once prohibited in Thailand during the Cold War, when communist ideology was suppressed. She contrasts them with state-approved media, such as Seriphap (เสรีภาพ) magazine, which celebrated the Free World and the alliance with the United States.

Supaparinya notes that while her earlier works examined banned books, this is the first time she presents “unbanned” ones, to demonstrate that censorship operates not only through prohibition but also through selective permission. These unbanned materials, often seen as benign, played a crucial role in normalizing ideological narratives under the guise of freedom.

Han Nefkens Foundation – Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant

aims to be a tool for increasing contemporary artistic production in the video art field and is directed at artists living in Southeast Asia. The Grant involves the production of a video art work. Any type of film or documentary or performance documentation that does not belong to this artistic discipline is excluded. In order to consolidate the candidates’ career, the Grant appraises artists living in that region who have established a solid trajectory but have not been given a major opportunity to exhibit extensively worldwide. The initial selection of artists formally presented to the jury was put together by ten internationally recognised art critics, curators and artists who were in turn nominated by the partner institutions of the grant. The scouting process itself expands the selected artist’s network of contacts and discovers lesser-known video art works and thus, in itself, also promotes this discipline.

Han Nefkens Foundation

The Han Nefkens Foundation is a private, non-profit organization set up in Barcelona in 2009 by Dutch writer and patron, Han Nefkens. It focuses on the production of video art, with the aim of connecting people through art across the world, collaborating with renowned international art institutions. The Foundation's founding values have defined it from the beginning as an innovative and forward-thinking model: a production hub that oversees and promotes contemporary creation from the very first moments until the final presentation. Positioned as a platform for video artists to advance their careers, its main activity is to commission new works through its awards and grants on an international level. The unique way in which the foundation operates allows for artists not only to produce new work but also to have that work shown at numerous art institutions world-wide.