**https://www.elekhlekha.xyz/**
elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ is a collaborative research-based group consisting of Bangkok-born, Brooklyn-based artists, Kengchakaj Kengkarnka–เก่งฉกาจ (https://kengchakaj.info/) and Nitcha Tothong(fame)–ณิชชา(เฟม) (https://nitcha.info/) that examines, decoded, explore, and define decolonized possibilities by creating, using code, algorithm, multimedia, and technology. They are interested in subversive storytelling using non-dominance sound and visual archives, historical research–decoding and unlearning biases, performing documents, multimedia, and technology to experiment, explore and define decolonized possibilities.
elekhlekha has performed in small communities, larger institutional spaces, and music festivals, including Barbican Centre(UK); Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden(US); Wonderfruit Festival (Thailand); Int-Act Festival 2022(Thailand); Wonderville NYC(as a part of LiveCode.NYC); Flux Factory(NY); Jamaica Center for the Arts & Learning(NY); The Jazz Gallery(NY); COMMON Festival(currents.fm); Homeward Bound(The Weekly Weekly, NY); CultureHub(Re-fest, NY).
Nitcha Tothong(fame) is an interdisciplinary artist and designer using narrative and humanizing storytelling, sensory experience, and emotional expression through art and technology.
Kengchakaj is an award-winning pianist, improviser, composer, and electronics experimentalist. By juxtaposing different materials and concepts such as Thai tuning, the Blues, layered rhythms, electronics, soundscapes, textures, and emotions, Kengchakaj composes and improvises sounds that unify seemingly opposite ideas and make room for new directions.
In 2022, they were awarded The Lumen Prize Gold Award—the first Gold Award winner to come out of the Global Majority category. In addition, the artists have received grants and development funds from a City Artist Corps Grant, Queens Council on the Arts, and Babycastles for their debut project Jitr จิตร. They’re currently based in Occupied Lenapehoking(Brooklyn, NYC), the unceded lands of the Lenni-Lenape and home for many Indigenous peoples past, present, and future.
Photos from The 11th Award Ceremony of the LUMEN Prize at Barbican Centre, London, UK, by Shangyou Shi. Courtesy of Lumen Art Projects.
Photos from Cyberpunk Sundaze with Livecode NYC at Wonderville, Brooklyn, US, by S4y.