วัน (ไม่) สำคัญ(‘the (not) important days’)

วัน (ไม่) สำคัญ, at Hope Space in Bangkok, is a series of activities commemorating significant political events that took place over the years in the month of October. The title, which translates as ‘the (not) important days’, is deeply ironic, as some of the most notorious dates in modern Thai history — not least, 14th October 1973 and 6th October 1976 — are related to October.

วัน (ไม่) สำคัญ runs from 16th to 31st October. Tomorrow, there will be screenings of two documentaries — Patporn Phoothong and Teerawat Rujenatham’s The Two Brothers (สองพี่น้อง), and Vichart Somkaew’s When My Father Was a Communist (เมื่อพ่อผมเป็นคอมมิวนิสต์) — followed by a Q&A with Vichart titled ความทรงจำสีแดง (‘red memories’).

The short film The Two Brothers features interviews with relatives of two young men who were hanged by police for campaigning against the return of former dictator Thanom Kittikachorn from exile. It has previously been screened at Thammasat University in 2025, 2020, and 2017. It was last shown at Hope Space on 2nd October 2024.

For When My Father Was a Communist, Vichart interviewed his father and other former members of the Communist Party of Thailand. The film has been screened around the country, including at Phimailongweek (พิมายฬองวีค) in Korat, and at the Chard Festival (ฉาด เฟสติวัล) in Phatthalung. It was last shown at Hope Space on 16th August.

Breaking the Cycle

Aekaphong Saransate and Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn’s documentary Breaking the Cycle (อำนาจ ศรัทธา อนาคต) will be shown at the Chiangrai Contemporary Art Museum on 25th October, at an event in Chiang Rai titled ตุลา ในความ “จองจำ” (‘in the “jail” of October’). Before the screening, Thanakrit will give a presentation titled นั่งคุยตุลา ใน อำนาจ ศรัทธา อนาคต (‘October and Breaking the Cycle’). Uruphong Raksasad will also give a presentation, titled บันทึกข้างถนนที่ถูกจองจำ (‘roadside records of imprisonment’), discussing his documentaries about the student street-protest movement.

Breaking the Cycle is a fly-on-the-wall account of the Future Forward party, which was dissolved by the Constitutional Court in 2020. (Future Forward was founded as a progressive alternative to military dictatorship. The party came third in the 2019 election, after a wave of support for its charismatic leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, though he was disqualified as an MP by the Constitutional Court.)

The film begins in 2014 with Thanathorn’s determination to end the vicious cycle of military coups that has characterised Thailand’s modern political history. This mission gives the film its title, and Future Forward co-founder Piyabutr Saengkanokkul asks: “Why is Thailand stuck in this cycle of coups?” The documentary benefits from its extensive access to every senior figure within Future Forward. The directors were even able to film Thanathorn as he reacted to the guilty verdicts being delivered by the Constitutional Court.

The documentary ends with the caption “THE CYCLE CONTINUES”, which is sadly accurate: Future Forward’s successor, Move Forward, was dissolved by the Constitutional Court last year despite winning the 2023 election. The movement’s third incarnation, the People’s Party, endorsed Anutin Charnvirakul as Prime Minister, on the condition that he agreed to call a new election within four months.

Breaking the Cycle went on general release last year. It was later shown at the Thai Film Archive, as part of the Lost and Longing (แด่วันคืนที่สูญหาย) season. It was also screened at A.E.Y. Space in Songkla, and at the Bangsaen Film Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์บางแสน) at Burapha University. It was part of the Hits Me Movies... One More Time programme at House Samyan in Bangkok, and earlier this year it was screened at Thammasat University and Chulalongkorn University. It was also shown in Bangkok last month.

Ghost:2568Wish We Were Here

Capital Complex, a tent set up outside the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, could be mistaken for a tourist information booth, featuring a map of Bangkok. But in fact it’s an art installation by Tanat Teeradakorn, and the map shows sites that certainly aren’t promoted by the tourist board: the locations of violent clashes that took place during the crackdown on red-shirt protesters in 2010. It also features the text “TRUTH TODAY”, which was the English-language title of the TV discussion show ความจริงวันนี้, presented by several of the protest leaders at the time.

Capital Complex is similar to Pisitakun Kuantalaeng’s 10 Year project, which also featured maps documenting the violence of 2010. It’s part of the city-wide Ghost:2568 exhibition, whose slogan this year is Wish We Were Here (หากเราได้อยู่ด้วยกัน).

Ghost:2568 runs from 15th October to 16th November. (2568 in the Buddhist Era calendar is the equivalent of 2025.) This year is the final Ghost event; the first, Ghost:2561, took place in 2018.

Paper Monument

This month at VS Gallery in Bangkok, Apiwat Apimukmongkon is staging a completely new exhibition every day, with each one lasting just a single day. The project is titled Everyday I Solo, and today’s incarnation is Paper Monument, marking the anniversary of the 14th October 1973 protest that led to the collapse of a military government.

For Paper Monument, Apitwat wrote the names of seventy protesters who died in 1973, each on a different sheet of paper. He then scrunched up each sheet, and placed it on the gallery floor. The medium of paper is a deliberate contrast to more traditional stone momuments, as the fragility of paper highlights the precarious nature of Thai democracy and society’s fading memory of the victims.

The daily exhibition for 18th October will be Thainism (ไทยนิยม), inspired by Mauricio Cattelan’s infamous work Comedian. (Cattelan taped a real banana to a gallery wall, provoking a debate about the limits of conceptual art.) Apitwat modifies Cattelan’s work to comment on the corrosive effects of nationalism.

Thainism is one of a handful of new ‘isms’ created by Thai artists. Pan Pan Narkprasert’s 2011 Gagasmicism exhibition was inspired by Lady Gaga. Noshpash Chaturongkagul’s exhibition Roboticlism From Unconscious Mind was held in 2016. Three young artists showed their work at the Neo Thaiism group exhibition in 2020. Earlier this year, Kant Kantawat held an exhibition showcasing his Cu(te)bism paintings.

Media Arts and Design Festival 2025

The Media Arts and Design Festival 2025 (บึงเบ๊ง) opened at Chiang Mai University Art Center on 10th October. An impressive multimedia exhibition, the MADs degree show runs until today.

The exhibition includes Eternal Wounds (เงา-อำนาจ-บาดแผล), an installation by Jiraphon Jomthonglang commenting on state violence. The installation features a drawing on a rock inspired by the famous Neal Ulevich photograph of the 1976 Thammasat University massacre. The description on the gallery label refers to the work’s English-language title: “Soldiers still stand above the people, their power inherited as a wound without end.”

Buariyate Eamkamol’s short film A Fire 9 Kilometers Away (previously shown at Wildtype 2025) is also part of the exhibition. The film is a blend of documentary and fiction, and features a poem dedicated to Samaphan Srithep, one of the youngest victims of the crackdown on protesters in Bangkok in 2010. Projected as a diptych, the film makes ironic juxtapositions, showing military snipers on 10th April 2010 alongside footage of revellers firing water pistols during the April Songkran festival.

(Buriyate’s forthcoming short film Red Is the Orangest Color marks the fifteenth anniversary of the 2010 crackdown. The film’s title refers to red-shirt former Pheu Thai voters who now support the progressive ‘orange movement’ represented by the People’s Party. This trend is hardly surprising, as Pheu Thai broke their repeated pledges not to join forces with the pro-military Palang Pracharath.)

Mob 2020–2021

Supong Jitmuang’s documentary Mob 2020–2021 will be shown at Kinjai Contemporary in Bangkok today, as part of the Once Upon a Time 63 (กาลครั้งหนึ่งของฉันในปี 63) exhibition. (The film received its first public screening at the same venue in 2022.)

Mob 2020–2021 covers the first twelve months of the recent anti-government protest movement. Supong and his camera were at Thammasat University on 19th September 2020, for the overnight rally that later occupied Sanam Luang. On 14th October 2020, he filmed the march to Government House, after which a state of emergency was declared. On 17th November 2020, he was on the front line when protesters used inflatable ducks to protect themselves from water cannon fired by riot police. (Sorayos Prapapan’s short film Yellow Duck Against Dictatorship documents the same event.)

The protests were at their most intense in the summer of 2021, and Mob 2020–2021 shows the rally at Democracy Monument on 18th July 2021 marking the first anniversary of the campaign. That August, there were almost daily confrontations between riot police and protesters, but rather than filming each event, Supong summarises them in a general written caption noting the “multiple continuous clashes that lasted many weeks”.

Mob 2020–2021 was the first feature-length documentary covering the student protest movement. It’s an invaluable record of a profound social and political change in Thailand. Supong’s film also includes a written timeline of the protests, and its matter-of-fact neutrality is maintained throughout, except for a single reference to the “parasitic” government.

The film was first shown online, in the Short Film Marathon (หนังสั้นมาราธอน), as part of the 25th Thai Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้น ครั้งที่ 25). It has also been screened at the Hom Theatre in Uttaradit, at the 2nd Anniversary of We Volunteer (งานครบรอบ 2 ปีกลุ่ม We Volunteer) exhibition, and at the third Moving Images Screening Night (คืนฉายภาพเคลื่อนไหว).

Once Upon a Time 63, organised by the Museum of Popular History, runs from today until 25th October. Mob 2020–2021 will be screened continuously throughout the exhibition. Veerapong Soontornchattrawat’s short documentary Then and Now, profiling three people charged with lèse-majesté, will be shown as part of the exhibition on 18th October.

The exhibition features the personal belongings of protesters who joined the student demonstrations in 2020. There are also items from the Museum of Popular History’s collection, including rubber bullets, tear gas canisters, and the t-shirt worn by Payu Boonsophon when he was hit in the eye by a rubber bullet in 2022. Some of these exhibits were also on display at ความรุนแรง (ต้อง) ไม่ลอยนวล — ‘violence (must not be) unpunished’ — earlier this year.

A similar exhibition, also showcasing objects related to the student protest movement, is currently being held at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Whereas Once Upon a Time 63 features the objects themselves, the BACC exhibition The Persistence consists of photographs of protest props by Napin Mandhachitara and Pichak Tanunchaibutra.

Coincidentally, both exhibition posters feature yellow rubber ducks, which became symbols of the protest movement. The Persistence opened on 8th October, and runs until 2nd November.

When My Father Was a Communist

Vichart Somkaew’s documentary When My Father Was a Communist (เมื่อพ่อผมเป็นคอมมิวนิสต์) will be shown at the Tenessarim monument at Yang Nam Klat Nuea in Phetchaburi on 29th November. The screening is part of an event marking the eighty-third anniversary of the Communist Party of Thailand.

For When My Father Was a Communist, Vichart interviewed his father, Sawang, and other former members of the CPT. The film is a valuable social history, as the veterans explain their decisions to join the party, and describe their experiences in the forests of Phatthalung.

When My Father Was a Communist is also a record of the state’s violent suppression of communist insurgents, hundreds (potentially thousands) of whom were burned in oil drums in 1972. These so-called ‘red barrel’ deaths were most prevalent in Phatthalung, and have never been officially investigated. (The names of the victims are listed before the film’s end credits.) There have been other documentaries about the red barrels, but When My Father Was a Communist stands out for Vichart’s close connections to the subject: this is a deeply personal project, as he was born in Phatthalung, and he is documenting the memories of his elderly father.

The film notes that the repressive atmosphere of the 1970s has not disappeared. One speaker says that the political system has barely changed since the military dictatorship after the 1976 coup. Another makes a direct comparison between the suppression of political opponents then and now: “dissolving political parties, slapping people with Article 112 charges... It’s like arresting them and throwing them in red barrels, but they do it in a different way now.”

When My Father Was a Communist was first shown at the Us coffee shop in Phatthalung on 10th July. It was screened at Phimailongweek (พิมายฬองวีค) in Korat, and at the Chard Festival (ฉาด เฟสติวัล) in Phatthalung. It had four screenings on 10th August — at the Chinese Martyrs Memorial Museum in Chiang Rai, Suan Anya in Chiang Mai, Sakon Nakhon Rajabhat University, and Samakichumnum in Nakhon Phanom — as part of the nationwide ความฝันประชาชน (‘people’s dream’) arts event. Other screenings have included: Vongchavalitkul University in Korat on 23rd July, A.E.Y. Space in Songkla on 26th July, Lorem Ipsum in Hat Yai on 27th July, Phattalung’s red barrel memorial building on 7th August, Hope Space in Bangkok on 16th August, Walailak University in Nakhon Si Thammarat on 27th August, and Bookhemian in Phuket on 19th September.

49 ปี 6 ตุลา(‘49 years since 6th Oct.’)

The forty-ninth anniversary of the 6th October 1976 massacre was commemorated at Thammasat University today. Two short plays were staged at the Sri Burapha Auditorium, and the Museum of Popular History held an exhibition, ความหวังยังพริ้งพราย เก่าตายมีใหม่เสริม (‘hope still shines brightly: the old dies, and is replaced by the new’), which compared student activism in the 1970s to the student protest movement that began in 2020. The exhibition itself didn’t include the notorious Dao Siam (ดาวสยาม) newspaper front page that sparked the massacre, though a small reproduction of it was part of a display outside the entrance.

In 6 ตุลา x ราโชมอน (‘6 Oct. x Rashomon’), by Natthapat Mardech, a young man returns to Thammasat four years later to learn the truth about the massacre, though everyone he speaks to gives a different account of what happened, in the same way that Rashomon (羅生門) also recounts a violent event from multiple perspectives. The play’s props include a folding chair and a reproduction of the Dao Siam front page, both of which are closely associated with the massacre.

It will be performed again on 15th and 16th November, at TK Park in Bangkok’s CentralWorld mall, as part of the Bangkok Theatre Festival 2025 (เทศกาลละครกรุงเทพ 2025). The festival runs from 8th to 23rd November.

The title of the other play, Ultramarine: Threat (by ShiVa Vitthaya), hints at a symbolic meaning of the colour blue, and the production featured forty-five extras playing the massacre victims. It also included a projected backdrop of images from the 1976 massacre. (Its next performance will be in Chiang Mai.) Both productions were photographed by the artist known as Khai Maew.

The first event marking the forty-ninth anniversary took place last month. ห้วงแห่งความเงียบงัน: ภาวะลืมไม่ได้จำไม่ลง หลัง 6 ตุลา 2519, a Thai translation of Thongchai Winichakul’s book Moments of Silence, featuring illustrations by Tawan Wattuya, has been published to coincide with the aniversary. A similar commemoration was held on the forty-eighth anniversary last year.

6th October 1976

On 6th October 1976, forty-six people, most of whom were students, were killed in a military massacre at Thammasat University in Bangkok. The bodies of the victims were desecrated by baying mobs, and the incident remains one of the most shocking moments in Thailand’s modern history.

The Thammasat students had been protesting against the return from exile of Thanom Kittikachorn, the coup leader who had fled into exile in 1973. The circumstances surrounding Thanom’s arrival back in Thailand in September 1976 remain unclear: was his return orchestrated by the military to provoke a demonstration and justify another coup? (Thanom had previously returned in December 1974, against the wishes of the prime minister. On that occasion, 10,000 Thammasat students protested against him, and he left the country again two days later.)

On 25th September 1976, two anti-Thanom activists (Choomporn Thummai and Vichai Kasripongsa) were hanged by the police, and on 4th October 1976 a group of Thammasat students staged a reenactment of the hanging. One of the students who posed as a victim, Apinan Buahapakdee, coincidentally bore a passing resemblance to Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn (who is now King Rama X).

On its front page on 6th October 1976, the nationalist Dao Siam (ดาวสยาม) newspaper printed Apinan’s photograph and accused the students of hanging the Prince in effigy. Again, the circumstances are unclear, and there are rumours that the photo was retouched to accentuate the royal resemblance.

Militia groups (the Village Scouts, Nawaphon, and Red Gaurs) joined the police and army in storming the Thammasat campus, and a coup took place later that day. I have collected various items related to 6th October, including cassettes, records, CDs, DVDs, videotapes, books, magazines, and newspapers.

14th October 1973

The events of 14th October 1973 led to the collapse of a dictatorship, followed by three years of democratic government in Thailand. The roots of the revolution can be traced back six months earlier, when a helicopter crashed in the Thung Yai wildlife sanctuary. The crash caused a national scandal, as the helicopter was part of an illegal poaching expedition organised by senior military figures.

Students from Ramkhanhaeng University published a dossier about the controversy, บันทึกลับจากทุ่งใหญ่ (‘secret notes on Thung Yai’). They were suspended from their courses, triggering protests at Democracy Monument calling for their reinstatement. Student activism increased, developing into a wider campaign against the military government led by Thanom Kittikachorn.

By 11th October 1973, around 50,000 protesters demonstrated at Thammasat University. Two days later, they marched to Democracy Monument, and the number of demonstrators swelled to 500,000. On 14th October 1973, the military opened fire on the students — killing seventy-seven people — and there were rumours that Thanom’s son Narong shot protesters from a military helicopter.

To appease the protesters, the government agreed to begin drafting a new constitution, and protest leader Seksan Prasertkul sought assurances from King Rama IX that this promise would be kept. Just as in May 1992, Bhumibol’s actions resolved the conflict: Thanom, Narong, and Praphas Charusathien (known as the three tyrants) fled in to exile, and a civilian prime minister was appointed. (Three years later, Thanom returned, and a violent coup took place on 6th October 1976.)

I have collected various items related to 14th October, including cassettes, records, CDs, videotapes, VCDs, books, magazines, and newspapers. (The event is known in Thai as วันมหาวิปโยค, or ‘the day of great sorrow’.)

‘Black May’ 1992

Army commander Suchinda Kraprayoon led a coup in 1991, and his junta installed Anand Panyarachun as a civilian prime minister. But after an election in 1992, Suchinda replaced Anand as PM, leading to anti-military demonstrations in Bangkok.

Chamlong Srimuang led a crowd of more than 200,000 protesters at Sanam Luang on 17th May 1992. The following morning, the army fired live rounds into the crowd, and Chamlong was arrested. The protest spread to Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, and the nearby Royal Hotel became a field hospital for the injured.

After two more days of clashes — and fifty-two deaths — King Rama IX held a televised meeting with Chamlong and Suchinda, after which Suchinda resigned as prime minister. This was Bhumibol’s most direct public intervention in politics, and footage of the two men kneeling in front of him created the impression that royal authority superseded political leadership.

I have collected various items related to the events of ‘Black May’, including cassettes, videotapes, books, magazines, and newspapers published during the protest. (Black May is known in Thai as พฤษภาทมิฬ, or ‘savage May’.)