PRIMITIVE creates various fictional scenarios in order to implant a memory into a place. As in his other work, Weerasethakul shifts between fiction and documentary. Always dreaming of making a movie with a spaceship, Nabua was a perfect place for this vehicle to land and introduce the idea of a journey. The work reverberates with echoes of the current political turmoil in Thailand.

The PRIMITIVE installation is part of the multi-platform PRIMITIVE PROJECT. The other elements are two short films and Cujo, an artist’s book. A related feature film UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES will follow in 2010.

PHANTOMS OF NABUA, a 10 minute work commissioned for the website of Animate Projects as part of PRIMITIVE can be viewed at www.animateprojects.org