Juggle & Hide
(Seven Whatchamacallits in Search of a Director)
Wichaya Artamat,
For What Theatre
SYNOPSIS
Caught between freedom of speech in international spaces and non-freedom in his own home
country, Wichaya explores his use of subtle metaphors, recognizing it as a form of self-censorship born from state suppression. This exploration forms the basis of his new work.
In Juggle & Hide (Seven Whatchamacallits in Search of a Director), Wichaya collaborates with scriptwriter Pathipon (Miss Oat) and the technical wizard team of DuckUnit to create a non-human performance that deconstructs and rebuilds narratives raising questions about power, perception, and agency, in theater as well as in society.
This co-production with Kyoto Experiment has already been performed in Kyoto (2023) and Taiwan (2024), and now returns to Bangkok—the very place where the meanings hidden within these "things" originated—as the opening performance of BIPAM2025.
Wichaya Artamat
is a co-founding member of For What Theatre. He has long been captivated by performances since when he was still studying Film. He started working in theater as a project coordinator for Bangkok Theatre Festival 2008. He joined the New Theatre Society in 2009, during which he grew to become a director recognized for various experimental forms and unconventional theatrical approaches. Hailed as ‘one of the most promising contemporary theater creators of Southeast Asia,’ Wichaya is especially interested in exploring how society remembers and unremembers its history through certain calendar days. He co-founded For What Theatre in 2014 and is also a member of Sudvisai Club and Collective Thai Scripts. Since the European premiere of his most prominent work This Song Father Used to Sing (Three Days in May) at Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2019, Wichaya has been extensively touring and creating in Europe, Asia, and beyond.
For What Theatre
Founded in 2014 by Wichaya Artamat, Sasapin Siriwanji, and Ben Busarakamwong, who were already active members of other theater troupes, For What Theatre is a playground for experimenting with performance-making. Their work has taken multiple forms: spoken theater, documentary theater, puppet theater, performance art, photography, video, and installation. Besides dealing with the problematic and complex nature of Thai society and politics in diverse ways, For What Theatre also strives to question the concept of theater itself—a term which in Thailand’s context seems to have fixed, unaffectable values.
Production Credits:
Wichaya Artamat: Concept and Direction Pathipon (Miss Oat), Wichaya Artamat: Text Pornpan Arayaveerasid, Rueangrith Suntisuk: Art and Technical Direction Yuya Tsukahara: Dramaturg Araki Masamitsu: Sound Design and Operation Laphonphat Duongploy: Mechanics Creation Piti Boonsom, Monthira Jamsri: Technical Operation Surat Kaewseekarm: Object Operation and Stage Management Toru Koda: Sound Engineer Thongchai Pimapunsri: Project Management Sasapin Siriwanij: Producer Carina Chotirawi, soi squad: English Translation Residency support: KYOTO ART CENTER, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) Co-produced by Kyoto Experiment, The Japan Foundation and For What Theatre Supported by The Saison Foundation (International Project Support Program / Kyoto Experiment × For What Theatre Juggle & Hide [Seven Whatchamacallits in Search of a Director])
Catch the artist at BIPAM2025
- EXPERIMENTAL SOUND CREATION IN PERFORMING ARTS WORKSHOP
- EXPERIMENTAL SOUND CREATION SHOWCASE
Ridden
Leu Wijee & Mio Ishida
13-15 March 2025
19.30
Sodsai Pantomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
800 THB
Non-verbal
60 mins.
SYNOPSIS
Ridden presents moments of “recovery and discovery” in the face of natural disasters. In 2018, a massive tsunami struck Sulawesi, the home of Leu Wijee. When everything seemed to stand still, Leu found an intimate dialogue with himself amidst those fragile moments. He channeled these emotions into creating a collaborative piece with Mio Ishida, an artist from another country within the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The artists explored how people respond to loss after a disaster. Through a process they define as “Between Disaster and Dance,” they gathered traces from both the bodies and physical landscapes and developed simple yet relentless choreography. Five performers, who act as dancers and musicians, bring a sense of hypnotic and ritualistic-like moments—familiar, yet strange imagery.
Leu Wijee
a self-taught Indonesian artist, choreographer, and dancer based between Palu and Jakarta, explores the concept of "between disaster and dance." His work uses personal and collective traces to create performances, focusing on destruction and emergence. While choreography is his primary medium, he considers anything moving relevant to his practice, experimenting with senses, spaces, and sounds. He has participated in numerous international festivals, including the Indonesian Dance Festival, Asia Discovers Asia, and Taitung Fringe Festival, and collaborated with artists like Eun Me Ahn and Jecko Siompo.
Mio Ishida
a Tokyo and Chigasaki-based actor and dancer with a theater and dance degree from JF Oberlin University, focuses on contemporary colloquial theater. She has performed with Spacenotblank, Hirotaka Fukui, and Marebito Theater Company, and appeared in Meirou Koizumi's video, Spell of Freedom. Ishida's recent work explores the relationship between the human body and objects. Selected for Arts Council Tokyo's "Program for Future Dancers," she developed Ridden with Indonesian choreographer Leu Wijee, showcasing it at the Indonesian Dance Festival, ADAM Kitchen, and the Taitung Fringe Festival.
Production Credits:
Performers: Bade Arrasyid, Dani Budiman, Leu Wijee, Mio Ishida, Rheza Oktavia Choreography, Concept, Directed: Leu Wijee Co-research, Movement developer: Mio Ishida Scenography: Leu Wijee and Mio Ishida Produced by wijeesworks Co-produced by Indonesian Dance Festival and Japan Foundation Jakarta *The development of artistic research for this performance has been supported by Jakarta Arts Council, Jakpro, Jakarta International Contemporary Dance Festival, Japan Foundation Jakarta, Kobalt Works, Toko Seniman and Indonesian Dance Festival as part Evening Performance (2024) and Kampana (2022) of Indonesian Dance Festival, Toko Seniman as part of Dalam Seniman artist in residence (2024), the Taipei Performing Arts Center as part of the Kitchen of ADAM - Asia Discovers Asia Meeting for Contemporary Performance (2023), Taitung government as part of the Taitung Fringe Festival (2023), Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of Indonesia as part of Ngetest (2023), Asia Performing Arts Farm as part of sharing activity in Farm-Lab Exhibition Tokyo Festival (2021), Salihara Arts Center as part of Helatari (2021), and Jakarta Arts Council as part of Upcoming Choreographer VS Koreografi Tari (2020). Acknowledgement: Alice Hui-Sheng Chang, Baden Hitchcock, Chun Lao and Family, Dennis Lin, Dino Kaleb, Helly Minarti, Iksam Djorimi, Jecko Siompo, Joned Suryatmoko, Josh Marcy, Kevin Julianto, Kifkifu, Osamu Shikichi, Pasifik, Sikola Mombine, Syanindita Prameswari, Viktor Schramek and WeiLing Hung.
Catch the artist at BIPAM2025
Thổ Địa เทพลืมเมือง
ToLo Puppet Theatre
14-15 March 2025 18.30
16 March 2025 17.00
TK Park, 8th Fl., centralwOrld
800 THB
Vietnamese with Thai and English subtitles
60 mins.
SYNOPSIS
ToLo Puppet Theatre's debut, Thổ địa, blends puppetry, lecture, and storytelling to explore Hanoi's past and present. A Boy with a Monster on his back wanders the Grey City, searching for something he has forgotten. They meet an Old Man seeking his childhood Wishing Tree and the trio journey together. Their identities become uncertain as they travel and the city's past is revealed. In collaboration with Hanoi-based cultural worker Nguyen Vu Hai, this work blends personal stories and urban research about his changing village.
ToLo Puppet Theatre
TồLô Puppet Theatre Company is an independent theatre company based in Hanoi, Vietnam. Founded by Linh Valerie Pham and Tran Kim Ngoc in 2023, TồLô’s practice centers around all the magical, unexpected and/or grotesque possibilities that puppetry arts and object theatre can offer. Their works have been showcased at Treasure Hill Artist Village, Puppetry Art Center of Taipei, Lize Puppet Arts Colony (Taiwan), Pesta Boneka International Puppetry Festival (Indonesia), Hanoi Children’s Palace (Vietnam), amongst others.
Production Credits:
Linh Valerie Pham: Co-creator/ Puppet Builder/ Performer Tran Kim Ngoc: Co-creator/ Puppet Builder/ Performer Nguyen Khanh Linh: Performer/ Puppet Builder Nguyen Vu Hai: Co-creator/ Performer La Thanh Ha: Co-creator Dao Tung Musician/ Composer Tran Thao Mien: Scenographer/ Costume Designer Pham Minh Anh: Co-creator
Catch the artist at BIPAM2025
Photo by Tshiotio, Le Xuan Phong, Evantus Tin le
MANUAL คู่มือ
Adam Kinner & Christopher Willes
Date: 12-16, 22-23 March 2025
Time: 11.00 - 18.00
Venue: TK Park, 8th Fl., centralwOrld
Ticket: 800 THB
Language: Thai and English
Duration: 45 Min.
*The performance is a 45-minute one-on-one performance. The first performance in each slot will start at the starting time of the slot and the next one will start right after 15 minutes. Please choose your preferred slot and our production team will contact you to confirm your exact performance showtime. Some shows will be performed in English only.
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SYNOPSIS
MANUAL is a one-on-one performance that turns a public library into a space of sensory encounter and heightened awareness. Staged covertly in the library during open hours, viewers arrive on site with instructions to meet a performer who leads them silently through a series of tiny actions together, following written notes and immersive audio in headphones. They walk through the space and listen together. They look at books and read to each other. Fragments of photographs, texts, and sound recordings blur into one another.
As the piece progresses the materials they encounter come to form a manual for slowing down. Intermingling with the daily life of the library, MANUAL reflects on the intimacy of shared reading and the art of listening. Through a carefully guided participatory experience, the piece invites viewers to engage with the library as a site of deep sensory awareness, and to reflect how we focus and engage with others in today’s fast-paced, digital world.
This will be the first time that the Montreal-based duo brings the piece to a non-English and non-French-speaking context, working with Thai performers who will offer their localized interpretations of the performance.
Adam Kinner
is an artist living and working in Tiohtiá:ke - Mooniyang - Montréal. Having trained in music, he now makes work on the thresholds of performance, sound and visual arts, collaborating with artists from dance and music. Recent projects include an exhibition at Artexte that wove together national and personal performance histories, sound works, and readings; a performance with 8 saxophonists for the Musée d’art contemporain des Laurentides; and a research-performance project for OFFTA in Montreal. He has presented work at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery, SBC Gallery, Galerie d’UQAM, Musée McCord as well as Usine C, Tangente, Studio 303 and Innovations en Concert. His work has been shown abroad in the UK, USA, France and Belgium. In the summer of 2017, Kinner was a fellow at Vila Sul in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. He holds degrees from McGill University and Concordia University and received an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Christopher Willes
is a multidisciplinary artist and dramaturge based in Tkaronto - Toronto and Tiohtiá:ke - Mooniyang - Montréal. His projects focus on the subject and practice of listening, and are often generated through long term collaborative processes that blur the lines between art making, learning, performance, publication, curation, and research. Christopher has also worked as a sound-designer and dramaturg in dance and theatre for over a decade. And since 2014 he has been an Associate Artist and Producer with Public Recordings. His work and collaborations have been presented by the Music Gallery, MOCA Toronto, Fierce Festival (UK), OFFTA, Take Me Somewhere (UK), Festival TransAmériques, Sound Live Tokyo, and elsewhere. He studied Music at the University of Toronto, and received a Masters of Fine Arts from Bard College (USA). Christopher often facilitates and organizes community arts projects and workshops, and he is currently studying Conflict Mediation at the University of Waterloo.
Production Credits:
Creation: Christopher Willes and Adam Kinner Dramaturgy: Hanna Sybille Müller Performers: Adam Kinner, Christopher Willes Guest artists/performers: Sarut Komalittipong, Jaturachai Srichanwanpen, Pattareeya Puapongsakorn, Napim Singtoroj Sound contributions from: Michael Davidson, Colin Fisher, Thomas Gill, Terri Hron, Philippe Lauzier, Germaine Liu, Philippe Melanson. Karen Ng, and Felicity Williams. Production assistance: Camille Lacelle-Wilsey, Mulu Tesfu, Jessica Han. Created with the support of: Festival TransAmériques (Les Respirations), Conseil des arts du Canada, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Ontario Arts Council, and LA SERRE – arts vivants. Creation residencies: Take Me Somewhere (UK), LA SERRE – arts vivants (Montréal). Production Supports for BIPAM2025: Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec. In collaboration with Vacilando Bookshop
Catch the artist at BIPAM2025
กวน-ເຕັ້ນ
Choreographic Intrusion
Ole Khamchanla ,Compagnie KHAM
In collaboration with Thrixept and Taratawan Krue-On
In collaboration with One Bangkok
SYNOPSIS
Surprise or dream, this unexpected dance interlude, on hip hop, butoh and contemporary dance rhythms, occurs where we do not expect it. Awakening gazes and curiosity, the Choreographic Intrusion is an invitation for discovery and encounter. This is a piece performed in-situ, outdoor or indoor, where the dancers adapt to their environment, interact with the audience and create a new dimension in multiple living spaces.
Having been performed in various French settings, including schools, community centers, and festivals, this in-situ work has expanded to Asia since 2023. The BIPAM2025 presentation features a collaboration with Thrixept, an enthusiastic collective of hip-hop-based dancers, and special sound design by Taratawan Krue-On.
Olé Khamchanla
Originally from Laos, Olé Khamchanla grew up in France and trained in hip hop, contemporary and then traditional dances of Laos and Thailand. He was a dancer and co-choreographer at the A’CORPS company from 1997 to 2010, and then began to travel in Southeast Asia through projects and artistic encounters, especially in Laos. There he created the first international dance festival in Laos, FANG MAE KHONG / FMK. In 2011, Olé Khamchanla created his own company, in 2011 Kham, with which he continues to create contemporary works in France and to explore international cooperations with Asian artists.
Thrixept
Taratawan Krue-On
Production Credits:
Artistic direction and choreography : Olé Khamchanla Music : Mathieu Vallet Sound Design for BIPAM2025: Taratawan Krue-On Production: Compagnie KHAM Supports : Communauté de Communes de Porte DrômArdèche, Drac et Région Auvergne Rhône Alpes, Département de la Drôme, Pôle Pik à Bron, Lux SN Valence, Baron de Bayanne __ In collaboration with One Bangkok
Catch the artist at BIPAM2025
- [TALKS] Dance Forum: from Urgency to Agency
When Floods High as Skies, Fish Feast on the Stars
Reverberation Area
13, 15 March 2025
15.00
William Warren Library, Jim Thompson Art Center
450 THB
Thai with English subtitle.
90 mins.
Book Tickets
SYNOPSIS
This lecture performance takes the exhibition of the same name to a new dimension. Through the language of the body, sound, and visual imagery, audiences will encounter diverse perspectives from a local villager, artist, academic, and activist, sparking a conversation about the connections between power, politics, the management of natural resources, and the lives sustained by the Mekong River.
Through an artistic dialogue, the performance and exhibition share real stories, research, and studies, exploring the power structures behind major development projects in Thailand, like dam construction. The performance invites a contemplation on the future we are collectively creating.
Reverberation Area
A collective of individuals passionate about visual arts, sound, and experimental art connects social, political, and environmental issues with the role of public communication, both culturally and socially. Challenging existing landscapes through thinking, production, and experimentation, they aim to reflect on the realities of issues related to the lived experiences of both living and non-living entities, ultimately shifting shared perceptions. The group expands its experimentation and builds collaborations through diverse methods to explore, study, learn, and develop ideas about the relationship between sound and the perception of living beings, creating an open space for anyone interested.
Production Credits:
Reverberation Area: Producer/Curator Puvamin Indee: Artist (Installation) Wasu wanrayangkoon: Director Pavida Wachirapanyaporn: Performer Decharut Sukkumnoed: Lecturer Chanang Umparak: Lecturer Sompong Wiangchan: Lecturer
Catch the artist at BIPAM2025
- [EXHIBITIONS] When Floods High as Skies, Fish Feast on the Stars
