The Rusted Giant’s Garden (2024)

‘The Rusted Giant’s Garden’ by artist Thanatpong Pongwattanaagsorn is a unique surrealist work that explores the end of civilization, the resilience of nature, and new life. Against a lush background of green trees and grass, a colossal, rusted Gundam-shaped robot stands immobilized. This giant is covered in moss and vines, having become an integral part of nature where time seems to have stopped. Smaller mechanical entities stand beneath it, and the entire scene is watched over or guarded by small figures wearing bunny masks. These bunnies scale the giant’s body, acting as caretakers of this new ecosystem. The artwork shows how a monumental machine, once the pinnacle of human technology, is abandoned, and how nature embraces and recreates it after the passage of time. The bunny-masked figures symbolize a new civilization or pure life force, delivering a message that is both positive and dreamlike: life continues even after destruction.