POSSESSION

Kanich Khajohnsri

The Palm House

Thai artist Kanich Khajohnsri has created a new installation including sound, photography and sculpture at the Palm House in Botanic Gardens. The work, titled POSSESSION, explores customs and rituals in both Thailand and Northern Ireland around burial, death, spirituality and how these practices connect us to the land. Included in the exhibition are images taken by Kanich in Thailand and Northern Ireland that explore a history of land ownership and attempt to reconnect with ancient and non-Western ideas of spiritual agency and relationships with the land. POSSESSION is set in amongst the lush, exotic vegetation of the Palm House, a structure built in 1840 to represent Victorian Belfast’s growing industrial might as part of the British Empire.

Over the course of three nights, Kanich will animate the Palm House through a number of interventions; theremins (musical instruments that are played without touch) nestle amongst the plants, shrines are set into the architecture, and the artist invites the viewer to experience the space as a moment of contemplation.  

POSSESSION is part of the Belfast 2024 celebrations and is generously supported by Belfast City Council, and British Council. With special thanks to the Belfast City Council Botanic Parks team.

Opening times:

Friday 1 November 5-10pm

Saturday 2 November 5-10pm

Sunday 3 November 5-10pm

Address:

Palm House, Botanic Gardens, 3 College Gardens, Belfast BT7 1NN

Please dress warmly as this is an unheated space. Please note that there is limited access to this building and that no toilet facilities are available on site. Please note this work takes place after normal park opening hours and can only be accessed through the Botanic Avenue gate at College Gardens.

Free tickets for a 15 minute slot can be booked here via Eventbrite.

 

About the artist

Bangkok-based artist Kanich Khajohnsri (b.1993), is always interested in space, demarcations, and overlaps between spaces. Through observations in Bangkok, he noticed the ambiguity resulting from the overlaps between private space ownership that took over public spaces. Kanich had initially developed this idea about ambiguous space and how the spaces are configured, and perceived in response to their context.