For the exhibition ‘The Making of Golden Teardrop’ by Arin Rungjang, Thailand’s national desserts, Thong Yod are depicted as victims of a non-mainstream history. Their conventional images are dissected, as the artist eliminates the traditional notion that was once presented at the Biennale, pointing out their ‘non-fictional’ quality in history. The essence here, therefore, no longer concerns the accuracy of Rungjang’s proposed history, or the notion of being overly appalled by the belief that these desserts are genuine in their Thai origin (since this is not exactly a new discovery), but is rather a manifestation of ‘the making of Thong Yod’ as a reflection on ‘the making of history’ as we know it.

In this particular series, the role and physical presence of the video art seem to upstage those of the Installation for ‘The making of’ demonstration. The Golden Teardrop (2013), with its length of over 30 minutes, presents a binary opposition between individual history and grand narrative as the two stories are told in parallel. The difference between the background of the life of a Japanese housewife and the history of Thong Yod is accentuated by the use of two kinds of ‘voice’ and ‘illustration.’ In the letter to David Teh, the ‘mainstream’ history of Thong Yod is told in a reading tone that, along with its use of illustrations from historical documentation, pushes the story away from the storyteller enough to give a sense of ‘fact.’ Reversely, the family’s story is depicted hand in hand with a video demonstrating the making of Thong Yod (with the housewife acting as the demonstrator). Seamlessly edited, from the beginning to end, one sequence moves on to another in a grand narrative. The stories continue to the point where they become more difficult to discern from one another, a convergence taking place as the metaphorical depiction of history is materialized in the form of Thong Yod.