LIMBO Festival, a joint art and culture project by Myanmar and Thai artists, will be celebrated in Thailand’s largest northern city of Chiang Mai between Sept. 11 and 29, according to the organizers.
Chiang Mai’s Some Space Gallery, The Goodcery and Sapphic Riot will play host to a range of cultural events and activities expressing creative solidarity between the two sides and raising awareness of the situation of Myanmar refugees in Chiang Mai.
LIMBO is a creative collective of Thai and Myanmar citizens who continue to be affected by the military coup in Myanmar in 2021 that led to the displacement of millions of people within and across borders, particularly in Thailand, the organizers said.
The festival “is the result of a year-long dialogue between Thai and Myanmar activists and artists … who share their stories of how their futures, hopes and dreams have been taken from them, and how they learned to transform their anger and desperation into hope through a democratic, caring and safe community where all voices are heard,” they added.
They aim to deal with conflict and work out ways to support each other “through food, art, culture and humor.”
Seven Thai and seven Myanmar artists were given the task of imagining the society they dream of living in and produce 15 artworks for the exhibition and performances. The opening includes performances as well as a talk, in English, by project director Somrak Sila and curators about stories of solidarity and the LIMBO Collective.
The idea was born in 2022, when Somrak’s former gallery in Bangkok hosted an exhibition by A New Burma marking the first anniversary of the coup in Myanmar, which brought together many creative Myanmar exiles, the director told The Irrawaddy.
The artworks at the LIMBO festival take various forms, including painting, photography, VDO art, multimedia installation, short film, internet art, art toys, interactive art and performance.
A panel discussion and performance are also part of the program, as is food cooked by Burmese food initiative Bamama and cutting-edge Chiang Mai restaurant Maadae Slow Fish.
The panel discussion will focus on what the festival’s overarching theme of “fire” means for the Thai and Myanmar people and how it relates to their lives.
“In Chiang Mai, fire is associated with the annual swidden-burning season, when agricultural waste and stubble across the region are set alight to fill the air with toxic smog for months on end. In Myanmar, it evokes images of burnt-down villages and consequently of the importance of preserving culture and heritage outside one’s homeland. Both lead to urgent questions of sustainability and waste management,” the organizers explain.
The panelists are from Food Not Bomb & SOS, Bamboo Nest, Zay Collective and Slow Foods.
The food event is a dinner buffet cooked by Maadae Slow Fish, a Thai restaurant focused on using sustainable ingredients, and chef Trish’s Bamama, a food initiative that uses Burmese food as a medium for social change, storytelling, cultural integration and community building.
All profit will go to liberate Myanmar and a Karenni women’s organization, according to chef Trish.
At an event dubbed “Burma NightLife”, a short documentary film (“Public Bullet”) will be screened, followed by a traditional Burmese satirical performance about current affairs in the context of the Myanmar diaspora in Thailand. This will be followed by a karaoke evening open to all comers with food to transport the audience into a Myanmar home.
Another small evening event named “Suffer Surfer” will include a poetry reading and acoustic musical performance.
Admission to all events except the food evening is free.
Some artworks exhibited at the festival will be sold, with the proceeds going to their creators. Any money earned from fundraising activities like the “Burma NightLife” performance will be donated to political prisoners who are still behind bars and fund prison visits, Ma Hnin, one of the organizers, told the Irrawaddy.
“We are aiming to support political prisoners and their families,” Ma Hnin added.
The LIMBO Festival is supported by the German Embassy Bangkok and the Goethe-Institut Thailand, the Austrian Embassy Bangkok and the Embassy of Luxembourg in Bangkok.
