Art over Lunch: Songs for Dying / Songs for Living

In Songs for dying / Songs for living, Korakrit Arunanondchai focuses on existential experiences: The artist explores fundamental questions of life along the lines of meaning and community in his artistic work. Arunanondchai brings together video works, sculptures, and paintings in installations that occupy and transform spaces with narratives between reality and fiction. The artist interweaves events in his personal environment with the social and political, with stories and speculation. Various contexts can be at play in this process: from Thailand’s reality between military rule, monarchy, and pro-democracy protests to technologization, non-human ways of life, and spirituality.

Join us for this upcoming Art over Lunch and experience Arunanondchai’s artistic work for the first time in Switzerland. Leading us through the exhibition will be Viktor Hömpler.

We have a very limited number of tickets. In order to avoid no-shows, a CHF 50 no-show fee will be charged if you do not cancel your registration until 24 hours before the event at the latest.

About the Artist

Korakrit Arunanondchai is an internationally celebrated multimedia artist who lives and works in New York and Bangkok. Arunanondchai’s work has been presented at numerous biennials and festivals, with recent presentations at the Gwangju Biennial (2021), Yokohama Triennial (2020), the Venice Biennale (2019) and the Whitney Biennial (2019). Furthermore, he has been recognized with the Ammodo Tiger Short Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2018.

The exhibition Songs for dying / Songs for living is realized in co-production with the Kunstverein in Hamburg and is accompanied by the most comprehensive publication to date on Korakrit Arunanondchai’s practice, jointly produced by the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, the Kunstverein in Hamburg, and the Museo Serralves in Porto on the occasion of three solo exhibitions at the institutions between 2020 and 2022.

About Our Guide

Viktor Hömpler is an art historian and curator. At Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, he has been assisting Director Heike Munder with the exhibition Songs for dying / Songs for living by Korakrit Arunanondchai. Prior to his move to Zurich, he has run, and participated in, project spaces and curatorial projects in Berlin.

About Art over Lunch 

Art over Lunch is a monthly event series for members of Asia Society Switzerland. Each time, we visit an exhibition or a special part of a collection with artists, curators, and experts for 45 minutes. The tours are designed to give members a different view on the vast troves at the museums and galleries in the city of Zurich and provide an opportunity to mingle and discuss. 

Art over Lunch is made possible with the support of the private bank Bergos.