Being in Thailand

During March and April 2000, I travelled around the south of Thailand.

I spent many hours trying to record the Being of my tranquil surroundings.

As with most of my recordings, I would lock the camera on a tripod, and then record between two and five minutes of whatever happens in front of the lens and microphone.

I somehow naturally ended up using this Actuality Film approach to recording, because it satisfies a lot of my aesthetic and philosophical interests.¹

Of course, audio would also be recorded – and plays an enormous role in the overall gestalt.

Almost a quarter century later, I reviewed this part of my large video archive. I could appreciate these recordings like old postcards – both to, and from myself – except, they were without any commentary.

I selected and edited these twelve shots – originally shot on mini-DV. I love what the machine-learning, upscaling software does to the images when de-interlacing and upscaling to UltraHD – the painterly artefacts and invented detail – almost a new world to explore.

Certain viewers might recognise the reference to Ten Ox-herding Pictures.

1: These interests include exploring the ontological differences and similarities between photography, painting and video; as well as the gigantic importance of sound. Generally, I love using video to explore the music of Being amongst the Ten Thousand Things.