{"id":85407,"date":"2025-03-14T19:21:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T12:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bacc.or.th\/?post_type=event&p=85407"},"modified":"2025-08-12T17:48:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T10:48:55","slug":"international-symposium-phantom-of-cold-war-traces-aesthetics-and-the-reinterpretations-of-contemporary-politics-public-program-for-the-shattered-world-exhibiti","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/www.bacc.or.th\/en\/events\/85407","title":{"rendered":"International Symposium \u201cPhantom of Cold War: Traces, Aesthetics, and the Reinterpretations of Contemporary Politics\u201d, Public Program For \u201cThe Shattered World\u201d Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Organised by Education Department, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
In collaboration with Jim Thompson Art Center, and MA in Curatorial Practice programme at Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University.
Time: 10.15 – 17.00 hrs. (Registration begins at 10.00 hrs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Phantom of Cold War: Traces, Aesthetics, and the Reinterpretations of Contemporary Politics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cold War has long existed in the ambiguity and uncertainty of Thai society. Unlike its neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, Thailand was not directly engulfed in the war or subjected to the geopolitical tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as a strategic \u201cbase\u201d for the U.S. and a battleground for guerrilla warfare waged by the Communist Party in its forests, Thailand became a site of ideological struggle in multiple dimensions\u2014diplomacy, politics, policy, and cultural thought. Propaganda, rich with ideological messaging from both the free world and Communism, infiltrated everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consciousness of being Thai\u2014shaped through tastes, values, and modern sensibilities\u2014was deeply intertwined with Cold War narratives. Music, food, art, and aesthetics became vehicles for shaping ideological values. In this sense, the \u201ccoldness\u201d of the war in Thailand did not manifest as a conventional proxy war between two opposing camps, but rather as a complex, integrated force that seeped into daily life, embedding itself in the social mores and political landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cold War, then, is like a phantom\u2014silently haunting Thai society, shaping perspectives, and influencing choices about values, freedom, and political decisions. It has left an undeniable legacy, a deeply ingrained influence that continues to guide the collective consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, the Jim Thompson Art Center, and the Master of Arts Program in Curatorial Practice (International Program), Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University are organizing an international symposium, Phantom of Cold War: Traces, Aesthetics, and the Reinterpretations of Contemporary Politics<\/strong>. As part of the exhibition \u201cThe Shattered World\u201d, this symposium seeks to uncover the lingering traces of the Cold War\u2019s phantom\u2014how its aesthetics, it manifestations in daily life, and political interpretations continue to shape Thai society and its self-perception in an increasingly shattered world.
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