RE-EXAMINE ‘PAST KARMA’ IN THE SAME OLD KARMA EXHIBITION, WHICH PROVIDES A SPACE FOR VIEWERS TO REFLECT ON THEIR PAST ACTIONS THROUGH THE ARTWORK AND PRESENTATION OF ARAYA RASDJARMREARNSOOK
TEXT: SARUNKORN ARTHAN
PHOTO: PREECHA PATTARAUMPORNCHAI, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND 100 TONSON FOUNDATION
(For Thai, press here)
Buppakamma, sometimes referred to as ‘the same old karma,’ denotes actions undertaken in the distant past. The term often alludes to a previous life or a former existence whose consequences continue to reverberate into the present moment, as time flows onward and slips away with every passing second, whether one remembers those actions or not.
This notion of past actions lends its name to The Same Old Karma, an exhibition that brings together the unfolding of life and the lineage of artistic production from what might be called a former life, presented in the manner of a retrospective. The exhibition surveys the practice of Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, an art educator and artist whose work spans from the canvas to modes of artistic inquiry that have left a lasting imprint on contemporary art in Thailand and beyond.
Rather than offering a vision of Araya’s past through any form of clairvoyance or supernatural insight, the exhibition approaches ‘karma,’ or action itself, by tracing the artist’s distant past through an archive assembled across a wide range of media.
The exhibition unfolds through multiple layers of presentation: interactive screens tracing Araya’s life timeline from birth, illness, and growth through to the present moment, as she approaches her seventh decade; large-scale screens presenting video works from 1997 to the present; and selected artworks from different periods of her life installed throughout the gallery space. These are accompanied by fresh flowers and fruits, which are replaced as they wither.
One of the most compelling aspects of the exhibition is the video screening area, which occupies more than half of the gallery. At the far end of the room, a large screen receives projected images, while the open floor becomes a viewing area within a space that is markedly cold and hushed. Sound emerges solely from the speakers; vision is drawn entirely to the images on screen. The works are organized into three distinct programs, which change over the course of the exhibition. Together, they articulate the temporal arc of Araya’s practice and her evolving reflections on the world, on art, and on narrative with striking intensity.
Sitting down to watch, the senses are gradually awakened. Eyes, ears, and mind are stirred by image, sound, and emotional resonance alike. What emerges is an experience of ‘karma’ that extends beyond Araya’s own past actions, reaching instead toward the karma of the body’s own bearer, the one who is watching. Tears may surface, echoes may linger in the ear, the mind may drift toward a person or a memory. Moments of ease may arise, or moments of unease, shaped by the particular karmic traces each viewer carries and perceives through their own sensory encounter.
In the end, within the white box articulated by sea-green partitions and wall texts rendered in crisp white and vivid pink, what is on display may not be merely the familiar works that Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook has produced within the realm of contemporary art. Might it be possible that the exhibition also invites viewers to turn inward, to revisit their own ‘same old karma’ as well, as a means of cultivating awareness and attentiveness toward the self and one’s own patterns of thought?
Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook: The Same Old Karma is on view at 100 Tonson Foundation from October 16, 2025 to February 15, 2026.