TEAM

PISITAKUN KUANTALAENG (Project Director / MIDDLESOUND / CURATOR )

Growing up in Thailand’s art scenes during one of the country’s most politically unstable periods, Pisitakun Kuantalaeng kicked off his practice as a visual artist in 2009, essentially focused on political speculations and frustrations. Thailand’s 2010 Red Shirt protests and the government crackdown solidified his approach as a permanent critical thinker and artist. One of the works that first brought him into the spotlight,

 “The Unfinished History” initiated in 2012, queries the truth hidden behind political power and conflicted histories by asking who is allowed to write history. The project proposes a re-writing of histories in the form of drawings and comic strips, and includes blank spaces where the public can also add their own interpretations. The work continues to travel and evolve, exploring multiple dimensions of histories by allowing different groups of people to collaboratively create an alternative library of world histories.

Pisitakun’s interest in music started to increase. He began to experiment with how sonic expressions take shape under different media environments. The multimedia work “Black Country” (2017) was born out of forced confrontation in a country where things go beyond rationality. In the show, which combined noise and techno sonics with black metal aesthetics and performance, a set of made-up beliefs and rituals of a fictitious country were played out to humourous scrutiny.

Music has subsequently turned out to be an important part of Pisitakun’s career. He joined Chinabot – a platform and collective created to change the dialogue surrounding Asian music – through which he released multiple albums. SOSLEEP (2018) was created shortly after the death of his father from cancer, and combined traditional mourning instruments with harsh noise and techno beats, wrapping them around intimate recordings of the hospital machinery that kept his father alive during his final days. Absolute C.O.U.P. (2020) questioned democracy and freedom of expression in Thailand, which seem like a far-off dream. Thailand has undergone 13 military coups d’états following the Siamese Revolution in 1932, more than any other country in modern history. Kongkraphan (2022) presents the forgotten voices of Thai protesters, and the sounds of wrath towards an unjust situation. The title literally means invulnerable or immortal, and also signifies a type of Thai talisman that grants invincibility. In this album, it stands for the ideology and fighting spirit of the protesters, which have never faded. Pisitakun’s practice represents a decisive break from many of his Thai peers: he questions fundamental and increasingly global values without merely decrying the fact of corruption or offering neat palliatives. Pisitakun Kuantalaeng (b.1986) graduated with a BFA in Sculpture, School of Architecture, Art, and Design – King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand. His artworks have been shown at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), Kuandu Biennale 2014 (Taipei), Jogja Biennale 2019 (Yogyakarta), Rua Do Sol and A Leste (Porto, 2021-2022). His music was performed at CTM Festival (Berlin), Asian Meeting Festival (Tokyo), MEIA (Aveiro), Spaziomusica Festival (Cagliari),  and Cafe OTO (London,). He is supported by the European SHAPE+ platform in 2022/23. He currently lives and works in Europe

PENWADEE NOPHAKET MANONT (Co-Producer)

Born in 1973, California, USA. Live and Work in Thailand, Penwadee is currently an Independent Curator and Researcher, a Cultural Worker, the Founder of Rai.D Collective and Co-Founder of Project-PRY.   

Altered-in-Between, underthe Migration Narratives in East and Southeast Asia, a research and contemporary art exhibition project in Germany, Mongolia, South Korea, Thailand (2018-2020);

 Do we live in the same PLAYGROUND? at Biennale Jogja XV Equator#5, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2019); BERSAMA Minority Voicing Festival, an alternative art festival based on a collaborative platform of art and cultural practitioners from different regions invited to create and foster the vibration of various marginalized people’s voicing out together (2019-present).

From 2016 onwards, Penwadee has founded Rai.D Collective, a group of Curators & Cultural Workers, to carry out arts and culture projects along with social-historical research; started [R]Ejecting Mantra, a research & archive-based exhibition series aiming to create artworks through collaboration between artists and specialists in various fields, to reflect over consequences of Nationalism ideology, myth and discourse currently impact Thailand. Since the beginning of 2020, she has co-founded Project-PRY, a Curatorial-Movement Initiative initiated to touch upon socio-political issues and work under locality-based practices. Her first practice concerned the ISAN (Northeastern) grassroots’ poverty issue in Thailand, resulted in Project-PRY#01: Sacrifice by Adisak Phupa, an Isan Artist whose focus is of those who live from hand to mouth where dream and reality fatally meet (2020-2021). For Project-PRY#02 x RasaDrums ―a combination of the words Rasadorn meaning the people and drums― was featured with the aim to investigate and illustrate the history and ideology of the activist artists performing side-by-side with the political demonstrators; how and if they might have played an important role and be able to pass on their sonic vibration and rhythmic diversity among social, cultural, economic and political reckoning of the past two years (2021-2022). 

Ariane Sutthavong (INDEX SOUND /CURATOR)

Ariane Sutthavong works across curatorial, editorial and discursive formats, moving through collective processes and the uneasy intersection of art and politics. Her practice often emerges from sites of friction—between languages, temporalities or social imaginaries—and seeks to hold space for forms of knowledge that don’t readily translate. 

She has delivered exhibitions, programmes and talks for Frédéric de Goldschmidt Collection; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo; Gallery VER; Cartel Artspace; Asian Art Biennial 2024; documenta fifteen; Bangkok Biennial 2020; MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum and more. 

Her upcoming project “Downtime Parlour” at JWD Artspace (Bangkok) continues her research into protest memory and the slow labour of building solidarities. She co-founded (2020-2025) the inappropriate BOOK CLUB, an ongoing initiative centred around the collective reading and writing of texts supporting a third view of contemporary art in Thailand, beyond both the confines of the state and the interests of capitalism.

Nischal Khadka (RING SOUND /CURATOR)

Nischal Khadka is a sound artist, independent curator, cultural organizer, and DJ from eastern Nepal currently based in Berlin.. In 2022, he founded the Trans Himalaya Foundation for Transdisciplinary Creativity (TFTC) to make new art accessible in the Himalayan region. Nischal served as the Head of Multimedia and Technology for Kathmandu Triennale 2077 and has curated The Transhimalayan Network, a radio series for SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin. In 2024, he curated A Song of Woes: We Offer Steeps for the SPOR Festival in Aarhus and the Ultima Contemporary Music Festival in Oslo. Recently, he was appointed curator for the upcoming STATE OF DISAPPOINTMENT exhibition at nGbK in Berlin. Nischal is currently pursuing an MA in Spatial Strategies at Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin under the guidance of Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and Pauline Doutreluinge.

Kim Diana Vu (PRODUCTION Management / 
 RINGSOUND , MARKETSOUND )

Kim Vu is a Viet-Polish musician based in Berlin, whose journey through music spans multiple genres and subcultures. Trained in classical music and guitar, they moved from a euro-centric music education into hardcore punk, metal, and experimental music - exploring new sonic territories and challenging industry norms. Kim has worked with a range of artists and producers, contributing as a session musician across various projects. Currently, Kim is an active member of the band Hugging. Beyond performing, she co-founded the Decolonoize Collective, a platform focused on uplifting marginalized voices and reshaping the music industry. Kim is also involved in organizing, curating, and producing events such as Soy&Synth, Black Communion, and the Decolonoize Event Series, creating space for diverse voices in music and performance.

Ghaliz Filkhair Haris (PRODUCTION Management / 
 INDEXSOUND , MIDDLESOUND )

Ghaliz Filkhair Haris (Indonesia) is a berlin based Indonesian artist, who mainly works with sound. He is one of the producers of CTM Music Festival since 2019 and also curates events and festivals in Germany and Indonesia. In addition to his artistic work, Ghaliz also excels as a technical director and coordinator. Ghaliz has been working together with a berlin based indonesian collective Soydivision since 2018. He is also involved with co organizing events from several POC berlin based collectives, such as AN(8)X, Decolonoize and Kretekklang. Ghaliz mainly performed live improvisational show, where he played either with other musicians or artist with different medium. Beside his solo project Ghaliz is also currently active with his band hugging.

Jan Thedja (Administration )

Jan Thedja has been involved in the culture scene in different capacities since moving to Berlin in 2015. His involvements in projects by Berlin’s south-east Asian diaspora include curatorial, administrative and organizational roles.

Rae (Mee-Jin) Tilly (PUBLIC RELATION )

Rae (Mee-Jin) Tilly is a Berlin-based multi-hyphenate making political and social change through media and community work. In addition to working as a photographer and creative director, Rae is also the founder of YEOJA Mag (@yeoja_mag), an intersectional feminist platform and event series. They are also part of other independent community activations and work as an event producer and nightlife photographer. The bulk of their personal activist work centers on their identity as a transracially adopted Korean American Jewish person through guest speaking, panel discussions, and writing.

Zoé Febvre--Utrilla (GRAPHIC DESIGNER)

Zoé Febvre--Utrilla is an experimental music artist. With a degree in Art from ENSAD - Nancy in 2020, she has developed her work around a range of media, from video to sound, visual and plastic installations. By appropriating the codes of pop and underground cultures, she questions the emotional and identity-based relationship we have with them. In her musical project, Dolores, she subverts the use of effects — both analog (pedals) and digital — turning them into instruments that shape her compositions and live performances. Her soundscapes are also built from a rich array of samples, reflecting her ongoing exploration of cultural appropriation and transformation. At its core, her work is driven by a deep, almost obsessive love for fan culture — because what is music, if not an elaborate form of stan behavior?

Born in Portugal in 1983, José currently lives and works in Lisbon. He developed an interest in software programming at a young age, creating small games and computer programs in Pascal and Java. This interest led him to pursue a Computer Engineering course at the Instituto Superior Técnico, where he studied and earned a master's degree in Computing Distributed Systems and Artificial Intelligence.

As a freelancer, José is currently engaged with FORUM (www.forumeducation.nyc), a tutoring agency based in New York, where he maintains and develops software solutions. Simultaneously, he offers his services to small businesses, providing software development consulting and creating custom software systems to meet their needs.

In addition to his work with businesses, José also has an interest in socially relevant and artistic projects. He has worked with the CADA group (www.cada1.net) on several projects, including the A MOEDA project and TYRO (tyro.cada1.net).

José is also currently focused on research and independent software development. He is interested in artificial intelligence, specifically conversational systems. His research aims to create frameworks that enable developers to build complex conversational agent products, while also ensuring these tools are simple to use. A significant part of his work involves incorporating social responsibility into the development of these conversational agents. In addition to this, José is also researching and developing in the field of low-code frameworks for backend systems. His work involves the use of microservice and event-driven software architectures, and the creation of domain-specific languages for software composition. This research aims to simplify the development process while still allowing for the creation of robust and efficient systems.