Between Worlds: Living with Spirits in Laos

ການຢູ່ຮ່ວມກັນ: ວິຖີຊີວິດ ແລະ ຄວາມເຊື່ອຖື ໃນປະເທດລາວ

ON DISPLAY NOW 

Between Worlds is the culmination of more than six years of research and documentation by the TAEC team, bringing together objects from the museum’s collection with newly commissioned works by contemporary artisans. Featuring material from Akha, Hmong, Iu Mien, Kmhmu, Oma, Trieng, Tai Daeng, Tai Meuy, Tai Phuan, Yao Mun, and Tai Lao communities. Through evocative objects, newly commissioned works, photography, immersive design, and multimedia, the exhibition explores the many ways people in Laos relate to spirits as part of everyday life.

Across rural and urban Laos, spirits are acknowledged through everyday gestures as well as elaborate ceremonies. They are asked for protection, offered respect, and consulted during times of uncertainty. Rather than existing apart from daily life, relationships with the unseen continue to shape how many people experience health, family, place, and wellbeing. Visitors move through immersive spaces exploring how people acknowledge, appease, and negotiate with spirits in Laos, encouraging reflection on these practices not as folklore or superstition, but as living ways of understanding and engaging with the world.

As Laos has undergone rapid social, economic, and cultural change, relationships with the spirit world have adapted rather than disappeared. Today, these practices continue to provide many people with protection, identity, continuity, and connection. By documenting them now, Between Worlds captures living traditions that remain both deeply rooted and constantly evolving.