Pleased to share Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s participation in the 9th Asian Art Biennial. This year’s curatorial team, convened by Taiwanese independent curator Fang Yen Hsiang, includes four international curators: Armenian-born, Paris-based curator Anne Davidian; Filipino artist and researcher Merv Espina; Singapore-based South Korean curator Haeju Kim; and Istanbul- and Paris-based curator and writer Asli Seven.

The title of the 2024 Asian Art Biennial, How to Hold Your Breath, evokes the tension of pausing a vital act and holding onto hope in the face of uncertainty. It flips the familiar phrase “don’t hold your breath,” suggesting that change, though slow, is possible. Taking a deep breath and holding it anchors us in the present moment, navigating the disarray of late capitalism and displacement. It is a movement of transformation, a space to listen to what is rendered inaudible and to reconnect with the somatic and circadian rhythms.

Interrogating the possibilities of an existence without his personal memories, A Conversation with the Sun draws on selected self-documented footage over several years – the means in which the artist has chosen to record his life since he embarked on filmmaking.  

A Conversation with the Sun is a project that offers up the auteur’s own introspections, as opposed to his prior reflections of the socio-cultural milieu. Akin to the Sun’s position as a life-sustaining force of nature, the light from the projector is recognized by Weerasethakul as the filmmaker’s Sun. And just as how the light from the Sun illuminates, the light from the projector casts those memories that have been captured.

— Courtesy of the Asian Art Biennial.