SLEEPOVER #1- PARADISE OF THE BLIND

SLEEPOVER BY THE READING ROOM INVITES PEOPLE FROM THE ART AND CULTURAL COMMUNITY TO CURATE ACTIVITIES OF THEIR WISHES WITHIN THE SPACE.

Sutthirat Supaparinya debuted the project with Paradise of the Blind, an exhibition featuring approximately 50 books that have been banned in different countries and asking spectators to destroy them using a paper shredder. The strips of paper were then placed together in piles on the library’s floor as an installation piece complemented by the presence of bullets hung from the ceiling. The bullet metaphor and the significance of the opening night being held on the 50^th anniversary of Jitr Bhumisak’s death gained enough attention that the exhibition opening earned a visit from government officials. The presentation of the book banning culture depicts certain common grounds as well as differences between each country’s sensitive issues, be they Singapore’s control over the public’s attitude towards gender, which resulted in the banning of a children’s book, ‘And Tango Makes Three’ due to its content, which is allegedly claimed to possibly have impact on the youth’s sexual orientation (it’s a story about orphan penguins whose new parents are both male penguins), or the Chinese Government’s ban on ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ because the characters in the book can talk to animals. One obvious common situation is the states’ reaction in the form of its civil and military officers’ ‘intolerance to others’ differences,’ including their attempt to fabricate their own means of rationalization (which they find justifiable for the sake of preservation of morality) to limit or lessen people’s rights to exercise their own judgments.