12-20 June 2021
THE INTRUDER The Inhabitants Set Design and Fabrication Portfolio
Supawut Teerawatanachai
intrusive space
CHAPTER 00 : PROPOSAL
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TALAD NOI
Talad Noi is a porous and incredibly immersive community. The area has been predominantly resided by Thai-Chinese traders and merchants who have climbed up the social ladder from their working-class migrant predecessors. With its inherited nature of being a trading node of goods and industrial parts, the area is generally occupied by mixedused commercial and residential buildings, with shops, workshops, and small factories positioned on the ground floor. Progressing towards the river, the neighborhood starts to become more residential and inclusive. The undefinable boundaries between the public and private spaces in Talad Noi bestow the feeling of intrusion upon its visitors - outsiders trespassing the neighborhood.
CHAPTER 01
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THE EXHIBITION
TALAD NOI : THE WORKING CLASS
Talad Noi is a porous and incredibly immersive community. The area has been predominantly resided by Thai-Chinese traders and merchants who have climbed up the social ladder from their working-class migrant predecessors. With its inherited nature of being a trading node of goods and industrial parts, the area is generally occupied by mixed-used commercial and residential buildings, with shops, workshops, and small factories positioned on the ground floor. Progressing towards the river, the neighborhood starts to become more residential and inclusive. The undefinable boundaries between the public and private spaces in Talad Noi bestow the feeling of intrusion upon its visitors - outsiders trespassing the neighborhood.
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
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CHAPTER 01
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THE EXHIBITION
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
Life Under the Shadow Although Talad Noi is an expansion of Sam Pheng, one of the largest merchandise districts in Bangkok’s Chinatown, the area can still distinctively display its unique remnants from the past, the constant transformation of its identities. Hiding in the shadow, the community of Talad Noi has been strongly anchored by religious institutions, such as Jo Sue Kong Shrine and Holy Rosary Church, seamlessly integrating within the forest of lifeless flats and factories.
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CHAPTER 01
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THE EXHIBITION
Walking as an Intruder in Talad Noi
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
Looking Through Opening Entrances Intrusive spaces in Talad Noi are created from the blurring boundaries between public and private spaces.
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an immersive exhibition
CHAPTER 01 : THE EXHIBITION
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THE INTRUDER
The Intruder is a collaborative exhibition by a group of interdisciplinary artists and designers, working under the name ‘3.24 Studio’.Together, as a response to the main theme of the BKK Design Week festival asking, ‘what do you want to see in public spaces?’, we propose an immersive exhibition that challenges the politics behind the formation of public spaces through the concept of intrusion.
CHAPTER 01
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THE EXHIBITION
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
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CHAPTER 01
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THE EXHIBITION
306, Vanich Alley Taladnoi, Bangkok Thailand, 10100
The exhibition was held in the 200-year-old house located in one of Talad Noi’s most intimate neighborhoods. The master bedroom, where the Inhabitant Performance took place, was the only space in the house that offers a connection threshold to the crowded public street of Vanich 2.
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
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CHAPTER 01
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THE EXHIBITION
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
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CHAPTER 01
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THE EXHIBITION
“These synthetic flower sculptures embody the hybrid identity of individuals in Talad Noi. Historically, Settlers bring in new cultures which hybridize with existing norms. One is both the intruder and the intruded by the blending in of different ideas that creates a newfound approach of interfused customs and beliefs. The petals have varied patterns; each one is different as each one intrudes and is intruded differently. The sculptures themselves are spread out in various crannies of the exhibition. They combine to create a body of beautifully diversified, yet somewhat similar, individuals of hybrids.”
Work : Artist :
Synthetic Blossoms Tisha Aramkul
“By positioning organic materials against man-made subjects, this room creates an iconology that portrays the tension of belonging and intrusion. At first glance the flowers are seen as the natural elements set in a man-made structure. However, flowers, being of nature, are actually the first inhabitants of any space. While the house and its domestic objects, rightfully belong in the home. The ambiguous belonging of both objects is meant to reflect the ambiguity of Talad Noi’s identity, of being at first migrants to an inhabited land to now being the cultural owners of a contemporary space due to their legacy. Just as both the flowers and the domestic objects can be seen as intruders to each other, both can also be read as the first inhabitants of this very space.”
Work : Artist :
Flower in a Domestic Punapa Punnotok/Ranida Wornchanyawat/ Napassorn Panich-pat
“The mechanical flower is at first jarring to the basement space. It is huge and synthetic, almost like an alien species inhabiting the body of some other species. However, the more you look at it, a sense of normalcy is created. Just as walking through Talad Noi’s countless eclectic alleyways can be a hybrid experience of Bangkok-life and Talad Noi’s eccentric flair, one gets accustomed to the chaotic, unapologetic yet mysterious spirit of Talad Noi, the further one explores. The sculpture and its mysterious air invite the audience to observe this alien flower adaptation to flourish among challenging environments just as Talad Noi’s own stories invite you to seek it out in the nooks and crannies of the neighborhood. Look, what do you see? Listen, what do you find?”
Work : Artist :
Buppha Ratri Pumipat Usapratumbarn
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
“The CCTV room showcases live recordings taken from the performance room where two performers are tasked with curating a sense of home in 9 days in an alien space. The CCTV intrudes upon the performers’ privacy without their characters’ consent.“
Work : Artist :
The CCTV Room Supawut Teerawatanachai/Pumipat Usapratumban
“Talad Noi’s distinct personality is created from the repeated rituals of home, an eclectic aesthetic created from the personal sprawl of everyday life. In this room, two performers are asked to engage with the set and each other with a new anchor word each day, one that ties to their definition of home. The set is designed to be a blank slate without any prehabitate culture, embodying a canvas for the two individuals to curate their sense of home in 9 days throughout the exhibition. Each day, this set will transform into a home of two humans and the room will become a microcosmic experiment that studies the negotiation of personal space - looking into how a collective culture is created through personal expressions as well as the cooperations, conflicts, and changes that ultimately shape it.”
Work Artist Performer
: : :
The Inhabitants Supawut Teerawatanachai/Tharadol Sangmitr Bhumibhat Thavornsiri/Natanin Rachapradit
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CHAPTER 01
THE EXHIBITION
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The drawing illustrates the layout of the sett on site. Once the audience enters the room, they are allowed to navigate within a restricted area behind a territory line. The initial designs aim to challenge the notion of inclusivity by fabricating an extremely intimate living space for two individuals while also introducing strangers, minimising the physical boundaries placed between the inhabitants and the audience.
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Audience Territory E01
01 Dressing Table 02 Bed 03 TV 04 Closet 05 Bathrotom 06 Altar E01 E02 E03 E04 E05
Instrusion of Perception Close(s)t A Half-Naked Space White Teeth Celebration An Intimate Bubble
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
Building a Microcosm : A Room within a Room A minimal living space for two humans was built inside the master bedroom. Featuring only one entrance and two windows, the room has already exhibited spatial characteristics of privacy, the establishment of physical separators, dividers, and controlled thresholds.
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CHAPTER 01
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THE EXHIBITION
P01
The Five Instrusive Elevations Each elevation of the set has been carefully designed to portray distinct intrusive moments.
P02
E01
Intrusion of Perception
E02
Close(s)t
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
E02
Clo
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m roo h t a dB
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White Teeth Celebtration/An Intimate Bubble
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White Teeth Celebration
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TAILORING
CHAPTER 02 : DESIGN PRODUCTION
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FABRICATING
The design and manufacturing process of the set ultimately challenges the achievability of prefabrication. With the intention to maintain the highest level of feasibility and craftsmanship of production, the design team had simultaneously developed the design alongside the carefully planned transportation strategies. Every part of the set was crafted by hands with limited tools and machinery. With the extensive possibilities offered by the implementation of digital modeling and the use of 3D-printed connections, embracing the simplicity and modularity of standard industrial steel the pragmatically designed framing structure successfully overcomes the set of restrictions and limitations presented by the site.
CHAPTER 02
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Design Production
Fabricating / Tailoring
The Digital Twin With the challenge of site accessibility, the logistic and assembling strategies were planned ahead using an as-built digital model to ensure a seamless transition between off-site prefabrication and on-site installation.
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CHAPTER 02
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Design Production
Fabricating / Tailoring
The transportation and on-site installation all together were completed in approximately 5 days.
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CHAPTER 02
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Design Production
J01
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J05
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Fabricating / Tailoring
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J11
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CHAPTER 02
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Design Production
J17
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J12
J A1
J02
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Fabricating / Tailoring
J09 J10
J18
J11
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J17 J15 J07
J03 J14
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Joining Together the Pre-Fab
The set was designed to utilise a system of prefabricated steel frame structures for its ease of transport and assembly, working around the prohibition of welding, drilling, and cutting metal on-site due to health and safety concerns. As a celebration of its prefabricated nature and to distinguish the constructed from the existing environment, the design of each joint was tailored using 3D printed and customised metal parts.
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Defining ‘Home’
CHAPTER 03 : THE PERFORMANCE SET
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DWELL
The set is the designers’ own interpretation of minimal living space. During the 9-day period of Bangkok Design Week, the space had provided two strangers, Aim and Blue, a house with an empty established culture - a blank canvas. Without any pre-written script or stage directions, both strangers inhabit the room every evening and live together, curating their very own definition of home. The space was designed to not adopt any existing living culture or architectural languages, performing as a blank slate of cultural canvas. The space slowly transforms into a home, progressing with the relationship between two strangers and their trace of rituals. Different personal objects were brought into the space, while some were modified and destroyed. Each day, this room served as a microcosmic experiment studying the negotiation of personal space - looking at how collective cultures are created through personal expressions - in both cooperations and conflicts.
CHAPTER 03
A
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The Performance Set
A Cloeset : A Space that Reflects
B
A Bathroom : A Pseudo Private Space
Front and Back
The notation ‘A’ and ‘B’ on this page indicates two main sectors of the set, the front and the rear. The front section features large sheets of acrylic mirrors, designed to be a space for exposure and self-reflection. The rear section is a space for cleaning and purification, designed to be a pseudo-private space covered with frosted translucent PVC sheets on one end while being completely exposed on the other.
Dwell : Defining Home
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A1 B1 B2
A2
B3 A3
B4 B5
A4
B6 A5 B7 A6
B8
A7
B9
A1 Cloth Hanger A2 Acrylic Mirror Roof A3 Mirror A4 PVC Partition A5 Shelf A6 Stair A7 Elevated Floor
B1 Altar B2 Lamp 1 B3 Paper Partition B4 Bathroom Mirror B5 Lamp 2 B6 Water Tap/Supply B7 Basin B8 Waste Water Storage B9 Wooden Floor
C L O S E [S] T
B9
B9
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Looking Closer to Reality The closet is the central space in the front section of the set. It served as a space for reflection and contemplation, operating as the only spot in the room where Blue and Aim can see a full reflection of themselves.
B9
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B9
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Dwell : Defining Home
An inverse steel frame is installed to a large acrylic sheet from the top, maximising the reflective area of the mirror.
T
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T H E I N C E P T I O N
H1 H2
H1
3-2-1 Action !
H2
The changing of clothes is a symbolic act that suggests the transition between the outside world and the room, signifying the beginning of the performance. Each joint and hanger was crafted exquisitely, a physical celebration of this paramount moment.
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W H I T E T E E T H C E L E B R A T I O N
The Space Where God Lives The space for worship is designed to render sacredness. It is left empty waiting for an object or symbol to bestow.
Half Naked Space Being concealed by the frosted partition from the front while entirely exposed from the back, the space of sanitation investigates the spectrum of privacy of the two inhabiting strangers. The back elevation and bathroom mirror were intentionally placed cleared of obstruction to the audience vistas, aligning their perspective to accentuate the feeling of infringement.
CHAPTER 03
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The Performance Set
Dwell : Defining Home
An elevated bathroom flooring - semi-isolated and hygienic in nature.
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CHAPTER 03
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The Performance Set
Dwell : Defining Home
The Space Where God Lives This space for worship adopts the Thai ritual of placing sacred objects, such as a portrait of the King or the figure of the Buddha, above the level of the head. This space challenges that norm by pointing the lamp to an empty shelf questioning whether ownership and individual cultures can begin to be established without such imperative criteria.
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The Performance Set
The Basin The basin is composed of different bathroom sanitary and essential hygiene instruments. The clean-water tank and the blackwater tank were designed to aid the monitoring of daily water usage.
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W h i t e Te e t h C e l e b r a t i o n Fragment
DETAILS
1.5 L. Clean Water
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Wood Basin
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Towel Hanger
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Bathroom Lamp
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Basin Storage
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1.5 L. Blackwater Tank
Dwell : Defining Home
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An initial sketch showing the composition of each fragment working together in harmony, designed to be suspended from the basin.
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The detail shows the connection between a 3D-printed joint and the steel pipe. The pink color powder was unintentionally marked by Blue when she attempted to clean her hands.
Dwell : Defining Home
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The sink is slightly sloped to help the disposal of used water.
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An organizer shelf was seamlessly integrated into the basin. The toothbrush holder was 3D-printed to resist the stain from the steel components, expected to that age beautifully with patina.
Dwell : Defining Home
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The blackwater container is designed as a monitoring instrument implemented through the routine of measuring wastewater, accentuating the violation of personal activity with the act of being surveilled. The container is attached to the frame of the cleaning space below the basin. The detachable joint was designed to optimise the weight distribution of the cantilever arms, introducing foreign sculptural language.
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D E F O C U S
CHAPTER 03
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The Performance Set
View taken from the front elevation, proclaiming the shifts in the translucency of the partitions, introducing varying degrees of privacy within the cleaning space.
Dwell : Defining Home
The first layer of the partition was made out of 2 large PVC sheets. Turnbuckles were hooked to rings punctured along both edges of the sheets, evenly stretching the partition.
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The Performance Set
Paper was used as the other layer of the steel frame partition, offering an increase in opacity alongside privacy.
Dwell : Defining Home
A self-portrait that Aim drew was placed at the back of the paper partition, burnt on the last day, marking the transition towards the end of the performance.
After the portrait was burnt, the trace of its destruction was gracefully transferred onto the fabric of their established home.
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The Performance Set
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Dwell : Defining Home
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I N T R U S I O N O F P E R C E P T I O N
Intrusion of Perception The make-up table function extends beyond the performer’s territories - bleeding into the circulation of the audience as the mirror is shifted from its conventional placement. This inevitably leads to viewing obstruction caused by the locomoting audience, placing them within the space as active intruders - trespassing and infringing on personal rituals.
CHAPTER 03
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The Performance Set
The drawers where all personal belongings are usually stored were designed to have an opening top, flaunting and displaying its internal contents to anyone (and everyone) within its vicinity, precluding Aim and Blue to any privacy.
As more personal objects enter the set, the limited storage capacity exceeds, overflowing to the space below the table, shifting its spatial paradigm into a new alternative make-shift storage. This limitation has forced both inhabitants to re-evaluate each object and its associated degree of privacy, selecting which to conceal and which to exhibit to the intruding public.
Dwell : Defining Home
Re-Staging the Undesired Because there was no bin provided in the room, the make-up table was repurposed as a domestic landfill, a place where food, waste, and used cigarettes were gathered. With every new addition of the undesired, objects were rearranged, restaged and carefully positioned in an attempt to adapt to their limited living conditions.
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Dwell : Defining Home
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A N I N T I M A T E B U B B L E
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The Performance Set
Dwell : Defining Home
A paltry space meant for two, a realm of personal expressions, affections, and private conversations - a bubble of intimacy. The bed, often reserved for pillow talk and skinship, was designed to be easily breached by the (un)invited visitors. Lower than its conventional height, the bed offers the audience a unique birds-eye perspective in spectating these exclusive rituals. The area really did become an intimate bubble - fragile and easily popped by the dullest needle.
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CHAPTER 03
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The Performance Set
A : Do you like being choked ? B : I don’t know. I haven’t been choked before. B : ... B : Choke me. Parts of the conversation Aim and Blue were having on the bed while being surrounded by awkwardly looking audiences.
Dwell : Defining Home
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Dwell : Defining Home
A Space of Memory The construction of the exposed bedroom was informed by its adjacent room - requested by the owner of the property to restrict any entry and to keep it private. The owner’s memories embodied the living room, leaving traces of evocations in forms of pictures, objects, and marks. The bed, expected to offer the same conditions, was instead designed to provide a counter-narrative.
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CHAPTER 03
H O M E R A N G E
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The Performance Set
Dwell : Defining Home
This chapter is an empirical observation of the physical and metaphorical territory of ‘home’. It interprets the interplaying between the role of objects from the outside world that had been introduced into the living space - a relative transformation of the set along with the implemented language of performance that had been accounted to define the range of home.
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CHAPTER 03
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The Performance Set
Home = Body Paint was brought into the living space on the second day of the performance for Blue’s painting. On the same day, Aim and Blue started to paint their own bodies, an attempt to (re)learn about each other and themselves through a physical medium.
Dwell : Defining Home
Home = Passion Blue always enjoys painting, but she has never painted outside her house. Bringing in her unfinished painting on the second day and introducing this passion to Aim was the beginning of the ice-breaking process between them.
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Home = The Place to Eat with Hands Food has been continuously brought in or ordered into the living space. The act of eating had been observed as a reflection of their changing level of formality. As the audience’s presence became less prominent to them - their new normal -, the way they eat appeared to become more unrestrained revealing their primitive nature as humans.
Dwell : Defining Home
Home = A Place to Keep Clean Although there was no bin provided in the space, cigarettes, beer cans, and a half-rotten passionfruit were still carefully placed on the table. The discipline of keeping the space tidy, to the best of their abilities, suggests the sense of ownership from the two inhabitants.
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The Performance Set
Home = A Disconnection to the World Outside Without any signal, this tv can only show a fuzzy screen with a channel number. During the experiment, the TV was the only communication medium that offered the possibility of connecting this room to the external. On the first day, both inhabitants were given choices on whether they wanted to fix it or not. In the end, the TV was never connected.
Dwell : Defining Home
Home = The Place Where Your Own Music is Played The room where the performance took place was flanked by two ultimate drinking communities, covering both the front and the rear. Each group has its own unique style of music playing in the background. After an external speaker was brought into the living space by Blue on the second day, music was introduced within the space, creating an invisible threshold that reconstructed the atmosphere within the room, insulated by concrete enclosures.
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The Performance Set
Home = Us and Neighbours The room has 2 windows overlooking the street outside. In the first few days, Blue and Aim had completely neglected the presence of these channels, a physical portal that can get them connected to the outside world. However, as they became more attentive to their surrounding communities, they had slowly allowed themselves to absorb and resonate with the actuality of the neighborhood, embracing their presence within their sociocultural region.
Dwell : Defining Home
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Dwell : Defining Home
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THE INHABITANTS : SET DESIGN AND FABRICATION PORTFOLIO
Exhibition Organiser/Collaborators 3.24 Studio Supawut Teerawatanachai Tharadol Sangmitr Pumipat Usapratumban Punnapa Punnotok Napasorn Panich-pat Ranida Wornchayawat Natanin Rachapradit Tisha Aramkul House Owner Ms. Rungchan Chalermviriya
Collaborating Performers Natanin Rachapradit (Blue) Bhumibhat Thavornsiri (Aim)
Set Design and Manufacture Supawut Teerawatanachai Tharadol Sangmitr
Costume Design Napasorn Panich-pat Ranida Wornchayawat
CI, Poster and Graphic Design Punnapa Punnotok
Photography Pumipat Usapratumban Supawut Teerawatanachai Tharadol Sangmitr Stefano @swrbesco
William Rebesco
Ranida @filmderanu
Wornchayawat
@jrknnnnnn
Special Thanks Bangkok Design Week www.bangkokdesignweek.com Parin Nawachartkosit
CHAPTER 01
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THE EXHIBITION
THE INTRUDER : AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION
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