Spirit house hauntings in contemporary art of the Asian diaspora Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander ; with contributions from Kathryn Cua, Pao Houa Her, Tuan Andrew Nguyen and Tai Thy, Catalina Ouyang, Maia Cruz Palileo, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Published on the occasion of an exhibition curated by Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander and presented at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, September 4, 2024-January 19, 2025
"Asian American Art Initiative"--Colophon
Contents:
Director's Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Spirit House / Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander -- Living Ghosts / Apichatpong Weerasethakul -- Catalogue -- Ghost Stories -- Epilogue / Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander -- List of Works -- Selected Bibliography -- Contributors
Summary:
"Co-published with The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, this book accompanies Spirit House, a significant exhibition related to the museum's Asian American Art Initiative (AAAI). Spirit House takes as its conceptual launch point the omnipresent san phra phum, or spirit houses, of Thailand. Spirit houses are small devotional structures found throughout Thailand rooted in Buddhism, Brahmanism, and animist beliefs. They serve various purposes, including providing space for the spirits of the land's original occupants and honoring one's ancestors. Importantly, spirit houses provide shelter to spirits and produce them, imbuing these vernacular sites of everyday ritual with forces that collapse the distance between the past and present. The exhibition uses the spirit house as an interpretive framework to understand how contemporary artists of the Asian diaspora are grappling with issues related to ancestral presence, animism, haunted histories, and speculative futures. How might works of art function as material representations of prayers, wishes, and invocations? How do they serve as structures to hold, exorcise, produce, and honor personal and historical ghosts?"-- Provided by publisher
