Kengchakaj: The Unforgetting

Kengchakaj - piano, electronics, DIY gongs
Melissa Almaguer - taps
MAYSUN - percussion, electronics
Nitcha Fame Tothong - visual

THE UNFORGETTING

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Kengchakaj is developing a set of new music and concepts for an ongoing, large-scale immersive live performance project that is still in development. This set of new ideas is inspired by Southeast Asian gong ensembles, featuring piano, percussion, and electronics improvisation, live spatial sound, and homemade DIY gongs.

“Unforgetting” is a concept introduced by Thongchai Winichakul, a survivor of the October 6, 1976, Thammasart University massacre, to describe the liminal space between remembering and forgetting — a state of suspended memory that characterizes the enduring silence surrounding this tragic event. This silence is not mere forgetfulness; rather, it represents the profound inability to either fully remember or completely forget, to articulate traumatic memories in ways that are comprehensible and meaningful, or to move beyond the past entirely.

This set of music confronts the systematic silencing of activists and radical thinkers across Southeast Asia, with particular focus on Thailand, while drawing urgent parallels to the resurgence of fascism worldwide. Through this music, Kengchakaj hopes to unfold this condition of “unforgetting” — using sound to hold space for difficult truths as we move together toward healing and justice.

Kengchakaj is a Bangkok-born, Lenapehoking (Brooklyn)-based Thai diaspora sound practitioner and improviser. He makes sound rooted in his lineage as a site of repair, reconciliation, and transformation — holding space for unlearning and relearning. These sounds arrive charged with political complexity and contested memory that permeate both personal and collective experience. His practice spans electro-acoustic piano, Southeast Asian tuned analog synthesizer, spatial audio, gong making, and live coding, harnessing technology to produce multisensory live performances.

Kengchakaj holds a graduate degree from the Manhattan School of Music and is a Fulbright Scholar and Gold Award Lumen Prize winner. He is currently a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow (2025–2028). Previous fellowships include Lincoln Center Collider Fellow (2024–2025), Eyebeam Democracy Machine Fellow (2024), Processing Foundation Fellow (2025), and membership in NEW INC Years 10 and 11. His projects have been presented at Barbican Centre (UK), Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum (US), National Communication Museum–NCM (AU), The Jazz Gallery (US), SOUND TYPE Festival at Asian Arts Initiative (US), AAPI Jazz Festival (US), DEMO Festival (US), Wonderfruit Festival (TH), CultureHub (US), Harvestworks (US), Flux Factory (US), Int-Act Festival 2022 (TH), and many more. He is one half of elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ, a collaborative duo with interdisciplinary media artist Nitcha Tothong.