The Mo[ram]lam Fashion Show, directed by Jitti Chompee, is made possible by the generous support of The James H. W. Thompson Foundation and the Jim Thompson Art Center (JTAC)— two organizations with a history of conserving, uplifting and disseminating Thai folk art traditions— and the partnership of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Khon Kaen University, and the College of Music, Mahasarakham University.

Part of the Unfolding Kafka Festival 2024, which marks the centennial anniversary of Franz Kafka’s death and the festival’s tenth anniversary, The Mo[ram]lam Fashion Show reimagines the catwalk as the setting for a dynamic encounter between Molam, a Thai Northeastern folk tradition, performance art and timeless fashion design. Set to a minimalist score performed by Mahasarakham University’s Molam ensemble, Jitti Chompee’s choreography, showcasing movements that range from hypnotic to explosive, brings new life to vintage designer pieces from the Jim Thompson archive. Made from rare textiles coveted by renowned designers and fashion houses, the garments are historical artifacts that enshrine artisanal Thai weaving traditions and Jim Thompson’s legacy of innovating Thai silk.

Sombat Simla, the kaen master

By researching Molam’s roots and working directly with custodians of the tradition, Jitti hopes to chart yet unexplored directions for the evolution of Molam. Embedded in the social and cultural fabric of Northeastern Thailand (Isaan) for centuries, Molam is a multivalent folk music tradition with a propensity for assimilating external cultural and musical influences. Sidestepping the recent emergence of commodified, popular forms of Molam, Jitti chooses to investigate possibilities for decoding the two oldest recorded forms of Molam. Lam pifah, a shamanistic healing ritual that can induce trance states in participants, and Lam puen, music that portrays stories from traditional Buddhist literature by mimicry of animal noises and Buddhist sermons, both resonate with Jitti’s research into animalistic physicalities, trance-like repetition of movement and object theater. In this piece, Jitti digs into Molam’s idiosyncratic sound design and draws inspiration from musical themes in Molam repertoire such as Pleng Malaeng Pu Tom Dok (song of the tropical carpenter bee)— playfully matched to Jim Thompon’s insect and floral print textiles— and Pleng Lai Wua Khuen Pu (song of chasing cows up the mountain) foregrounding techniques for the reproduction of natural sounds on the khaen (bamboo mouth organ) and the tradition of improvised performance.

Date and Time: 01 Nov at 19:00
Venue: Jim Thompson Art CenterTickets: only festival pass & invitation