Hai Song
2025
in collaboration with
Parichat Tanapiwattanakul
The Vanished Gods: from Maeklong to Hantangang
organized by 808 Factory
Banwol Art HallPocheon,
South Korea
The installation features various sizes of earthen and ceramic jars, traditionally used in Thai and Korean cultures for fermenting food and drink. Here, they contain Sato (Thai rice wine) infused with honey sourced from unseen labourers forming part of Scent of Invisible Factory by Parichat Tanapiwattanakul.These jars are transformed into ritual objects, vessels of spirit and ancestral memory. Humble in origin, they are also reimagined as Hai Song (ไหซอง), a folk instrument from northeastern Thailand, where hai means jar and song refers to their paired nature. Often played in communal, celebratory settings, Hai Song embodies a resourceful spirit, turning everyday objects into instruments.
A rubber band stretches across the exhibition space, connecting the jars physically and symbolically. This element replicates Rubber Band Game: Under the Holy Tree (2024), a workshop by Heejung Song during her residency at Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture in Nongpho, Thailand. Small bells are tied along its length, inviting visitors to activate the space by plucking jars, shaking, or jumping over the band. Vibrations travel between vessels, affected by what’s held within, a fermentation, where inner contents could be altered by this ritual. This embodied interaction becomes a gesture of play and offering. The jars sound out connections across generations, traditions, and geographies, engaging themes of cultural entanglement and material spirituality. Through scent, sound, and movement, the installation becomes a living, ritual space that is open to participation.