Here and Now (2019) is a spatial work where gallery space is defined by walls of light that can be seen but cannot bar ones from going through.  The relationship between observer and space frames the artist’s perception of reality. Throughout Sornrapat Patharakorn’s career, the interest in the relationship is a noticeable recurring motif; that is contributed from years of architectural studies.  Here and Now (2019) is originally counterpart to Now, Here and Elsewhere (2019, see reference). It is made to inspect the typology and metaphysical aspects of gallery spaces and their development from, and relationship to, the prehistoric and historic spaces we consider ‘art’ spaces.

The work is intended to incite inspection on U-Topos, the placelessness and timelessness in spaces from palaeolithic caves where mankind found their first art, to Plato’s cave allegory, to white cube space described by Brian O’Doherty; and also inspection on how each of us perceive the space itself that surrounds us, by stripping surrounding aspects to the perceptual essence of the white walls that frame our perception; like how the box frames the beetle in Wittgenstein’s analogy. Since that it links the worldly rule in all situations where we ‘read’ and ‘write’ different realities as we live our lives in our shared space.

Here and Now

Text by TRANSFORMALE:

The front façade of the Long Stable still bears witness to the more than 160-metre-long building, which was destroyed in 1945. A dark triangle shows the cubature of the former stable, a small, arch-shaped gate opening reminds of the original passage to the head building and thus creates a spatial connection to the façade.

Sornrapat Patharakorn emphasises this connection by erecting a mirror construction on the former building site of the stable, the light of which travels over the façade and once a day, at exactly 12 o’clock, illuminates the gate of the former stable architecture.

Patharakorn visualises in his light projection the connection between the architectural history of Potsdam and current urban planning and discursive processes that are evident in this place. He uses passive solar energy to create a space that is transformed by the movement of the sun, both within a day and throughout the entire exhibition period.

Breitestraße, Langer Stall, Offenes Tor

Locus Obscurus is a project which transformed a space with the most simple articulation by only one sources of light. The space is divided into the lit and the dark portions with the functional inversion of solid and opening typologies of walls and doors. The lighter and darker spaces are defined be contrast between presence and absence of light. The ‘door’ in this installation is clad with mirrorlike fabric, giving the appearance of another space behind its threshold while defining the form of the room of light.

This room of the dark or room of light is gently isolated from the space next to them. This project is what reflected on the artist’s mind during the recent time where physical isolation has become the norms, the time when reclusions are not regarded as a deliberate special practice. And though we have come up with means to stay connected, the connectivity comes with a certain privilege that some may disregard, and solitude is, at times, irrefutable.

Although the solitude is irrefutable and many are in lockdowns; Matters of Place, the Genius Loci, have become seemingly a lot less out of touch, while paradoxically matter to us a lot more.

Locus Obscurus accentuates the unique form of Ost-Passage-Theater vault-shaped space and create a new spatial experience for visitors, as well as being a situation for a literature hearing and performances.

Locus Obscurus

The East German state security service, Staatssicherheit, “Stasi,” was the force organized not to serve the citizens, but to penetrate their closed windows and spy on them in the name of the stability of the state. Their infamous operations ran so deep into society that it caused an atmosphere of suspicion among colleagues, neighbours, families, and friends. The building from which these operations emanated still stands on Matthäikirchhof – the site of the former St. Matthew’s Churchyard – in the inner city of Leipzig.

In 1989, citizens of Leipzig came together to march and look right into the eyes that were prying on them; they called for change and freedom, before succeeding in what is remembered as the Peaceful Revolution that led to the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Matthäikirchhofaugen (the Eyes at St. Matthew Churchyard) is a site-specific installation at the former Stasi building. It consists of a text composed on the slits in the red paint on the window glass. It can be read in the usual way from the outside, and as a projection of sunlight cast into the interior space that dyes the space scarlet.

Matthäikirchhofaugen

Now, Here and Elsewhere is a site-specific and time-specific project, original counterpart to Here and Now (2019) , to transform the space in BUG Auditorium into an artwork. The spatial installation utilises the existing conditions such as the orientation of the building, the sun shading elements of the room, and natural light, in order to create geometrical/architectural forms, redefining the ways we define spaces. 

The walls of sunlight in this project are created from analysis of building orientation and surroundings. In late afternoon in Bangkok, the sunlight direction aligned perfectly to the complex’s grid during the exhibition period.

In this exploration, it can be said that Now, Here and Elsewhere is a performative project where the architecture (which usually frames the art), the surrounding layout of Bangkok University, the celestial bodies, and the audience act together as performers.

Now, Here and Elsewhere

In collaboration with Tian Titirat Skultantimayta

The triangular space under the lowest flight of stair is sometimes called spandrel, but the whole space, including that under the first landing does not have a specific term to itself, nor does it have a specific function.

The space usually stores things those are borderline between valuable and forgotten items, most of them are not of apparent present use, they might be relics from the old times in waiting for the case that they are prospectively useful again. So the space and what remains in store are associated more to the past and the future, kept away from the sight of present day.

They might eventually be brought back to light, used as they are intended, or disposed after a period of time has proven that their purpose in the household is certainly dead. Some of things in this space might have already slipped out of our cognition, until we are reminded of those we failed to remember we had or known. They are, in a way, the materialisation of resurfaced memories we thought we had forgotten. The stairs appeared varying the sharpness and brightness, from dark and blurry to bright and clear, similar to memories from our minds’ eyes which can be seen but not touched.

Behind Time was a site-specific mixed media installation by Titirat Skultantimayta and Sornrapat Patharakorn. It comprised of both tangible and intangible materials, namely light, wood, air, and the space itself. It was installed at Project Room, Gallery VER, Bangkok; the former lumber retail which Rirkrit Tiravanija turned into complex of art spaces. The exact room used to be lumber storage and it is now adjacent to gallery VER art storage.

The sculptural piece was made from off-cuts from suspended lumber retail business of Titirat’s retired grandfather who no longer runs business actively, and neither yet to terminate it.

Photos courtesy of Preecha Pattara

Behind Time

Praisaneeyakan served as the postal museum until it was closed to the public a few years later. It is a life-size extraction of Thailand’s first postal Office once stood on the site, including only the façade of the original building, educing the depth from 53.5 metres to only 3.5 metres from front to back. There has been a proposed plan to demolish and rebuild the replica with more functional space. There is yet to be a certain public announcement about its future. 

The presence of the current Praisaneeyakan is now serving as a monument, a reminiscence to the similar-looking building in the past and its history. The building is bound to face a change in the near future. 

Golden Hour is an installation facilitating Praisaneeyakan’s ability to convey a glimpse into the future. It consists of a 4 meter tall mirror placed in front of one of the windows of the façade of the building. The mirror lays on a scaffold with an inclination on 68 degrees, allowing the sunlight to project a light image of the window that it faces that reflects on the opposite side of the hollow building. The light rays in the shape of a window that is yet to be built appears as a mark of the magic moment, the indication of temporal flow, and the beginning of the end of day that leads further towards another beginning. The future window appears in the afternoon and it climbs up as the Sun goes down until being in its prospective placement approximately at 5 pm everyday during the exhibition period. 

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