One of the darkest chapters in Thailand’s history will be revisited next week through augmented reality experiences, politically charged rap, and its survivors themselves.
Tuesday marks the 44th anniversary of the Oct. 6, 1976, massacre at Thammasat University, when disinformation and propaganda stoked the flames of nationalism, provoking security forces and right-wing paramilitaries to murder student pro-democracy campaigners by the dozens.
A black stain on the national psyche that is little taught or discussed, the event is recognized each year by those keeping the memory alive, including its aging survivors.
At an event held on the campus where it happened, technology helps close the gap of time by giving a glimpse of the sights and sounds from that day through augmented reality. Designed by computer engineering professor Priyakorn Pusawiro and her team, the installations will have QR codes attendees can scan.
Mime troupe Babymime will perform as well as rap collective Rap Against Dictatorship. Some student activists who survived the massacre, most now in their 60s, will join a panel discussion on Oct. 4.
Talks, music performances, poetry readings and more will take place on Oct. 6.
Artifacts on display include from the time including newspaper scraps, photographs, blood-stained jeans, a bullet-ridden megaphone and the infamous “Red Gate” where two electricians were lynched after protesting against the dictatorship of the time.
It was a mock hanging staged in response on the campus that led to ultranationalist extremists storming the campus and murdering dozens of students and activists after the media played up accounts an effigy of then-Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, who is now king, had been hanged.
The 44th anniversary exhibition runs through Oct. 11 at Thammasat University, Tha Prachan campus. It is organized by CCPC Thai, a group pressing for constitutional reforms based on public consensus, and the October 6 Museum Project.
FIND IT:
44th anniversary of Oct. 6 exhibition
now until Oct. 11
Thammasat University (Tha Prachan campus)
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