Bangkok Design Week

February 4-12, 2023


สำหรับเวอร์ชั่นภาษาไทยดูที่นี่


Why is the River Laughing?

“Why is the River Laughing?” is a dive into urban histories, communities, and ecologies, to explore the importance of local waterways in the Bangkok old town area. The project has Exhibition, Workshop, and Performance programs, with local and international artists, researchers, students, community members, and public participants.

The project is based at the historic So Heng Tai Mansion, a 240-year-old Chinese Mansion in the heart of Talat Noi. The mansion becomes a strange klong (canal), with its swimming pool in the center courtyard, an old wooden boat for cooking noodle soup, performers with mobile sculpture, sound and video art, workshops, and participatory street actions in the surrounding neighborhood.

Envisioned as a research residency or creative development lab, artists and researchers from Lost Klong Collective develop a live studio environment that changes and evolves over BKKDW.

Kindly supported by The Center for Philosophical Technologies at Arizona State University, University of New South Wales, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, the School of Global Studies and the Faculty of Fine & Applied Arts at Thammasat University. Thanks also to Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting, So Heng Tai, and community collaborators in Talat Noi and Nang Loeng.

Links

Project Facebook page: facebook.com/100088814213691

BKKDW website Exhibition page – here
BKKDW website Music & Performing page – here
BKKDW website Workshop page – here

Program details below… MUSIC & PERFORMING, WORKSHOP, and EXHIBITION

See Biographies here for details on the Artists & Workshop Facilitators

 

MUSIC & PERFORMING

The Performance program unfolds over 2 weekends of experimentation – 4 nights, 4 hours each night, 7+ artists. The performance is ‘durational’ – open for the audience to visit at any point in the evening (6pm-10pm), stay for a while, and return another time to see how it evolves over a longer period. Long performance actions are collective, site=specific, and participatory, with dance, performance art, and live sound/music. Feeling the passage of time like a slow river with different streams… and how the house expresses itself, from the pool to the continuous balcony above and a ruin out the back.

Performance pricing: 50 THB entry
Tickets available on the door only, no online booking

* Café/bar open for refreshments, and noodle soup from the boat (limited times)

Artists –
Michael Hornblow, Stephen Loo, Sineenadh Keitprapai, Annmanee Singhanart, Marnie Badham, Ploy Kasama Yamtree, Teerawat Mulvilai, Jean-David Caillouët, Gabriel Camelin, Dey'n Ray, Al Caudullo

Schedule –

  • Saturday 04 Feb : 18:00 - 22:00

  • Sunday 05 Feb : 18:00 - 22:00

  • Saturday 11 Feb : 18:00 - 22:00

  • Sunday 12 Feb : 18:00 - 22:00

 

WORKSHOP

4 workshop sessions explore creative techniques for social transformation in complex urban settings. Participants may join one or more of the 4-hour sessions. Each workshop focusses on different activities, with common themes developed across the series.

All workshops will be given in English
(Thai translation is available for Nang Loeng. Contact us if you need support at So Heng Tai).


Pricing –
Cost per workshop – @ So Heng Tai

  • 1400 – visitors / waged

  • 800 – students / unwaged

(Package for all 3 workshops together – 3600 THB / 2200 THB)

Bookings –
Places are limited so bookings are essential
Contact: whyistheriverlaughing@gmail.com 


Schedule & Content –

  • Saturday Feb 4, 9:30am-1:30pm, @ So Heng Tai

    Focusing on ‘place’ through culture and history… local historian Somchai Kwangtongpanich shares his research on mapping lost khlongs (canals) in Sampeng and Talat Noi, followed by a house tour of the mansion with So Heng Tai family owner Poosak Posayachinda. BKKDW artists from Lost Klong Collective discuss the creative project, with workshop participants interacting with art works and contributing to their development. The workshop concludes with a participatory street performance action in the local area, following the trace of a lost klong to the river.

    Facilitators: Somchai Kwangtongpanich, Poosak Posayachinda, Dr Michael Hornblow, Prof Stephen Loo, Assoc Prof Marnie Badham, Assoc Prof Adam Nocek

  • Sunday Feb 5, 9:30am-1:30pm, @ So Heng Tai

    Digging deeper into the creative process… BKKDW artists and researchers work with participants to develop design fictions and games using local recipes and historical maps to transform our experience of the present. Starting at So Heng Tai, we rework the material using a range of mediums, then go out into the surrounding area to remap Talat Noi in new ways, interacting with local people and BKKDW festivalgoers. Art works in the exhibition are reactivated, including traces of the previous evening’s performance. We conclude with a food art ‘sonic lunch’ at the noodle boat in the swimming pool.

    Facilitators: Dr Michael Hornblow, Prof Stephen Loo, Assoc Prof Marnie Badham, Assoc Prof Adam Nocek, Ploy Kasama Yamtree

  • Tuesday Feb 7, 4pm-7pm, @ Nang Loeng

    Free for local community members and students. By donation for visitors

    A community event in Nang Loeng, with local activists, residents, and visitors. Meeting at Thewakam Rangrak Bridge, we collect water samples from Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem, to enact a symbolic ritual of ‘rolling the river along’ by following the route of a lost khlong. We pass through Nang Loeng’s famous market, past the historic wooden cinema, Sala Chaloem, and across Paniang Rd to the temple, Wat Sunthorn Thammathan. We share stories and hear local knowledge about Nang Leong, to reflect on the deep waters we carry inside and between us, as we embody streams of memory and hopes for the future.

Facilitators: Dr Michael Hornblow, Dang Suen Welployngam, Nammon Welployngam, Tari Palm, Prof Stephen Loo, Assoc Prof Marnie Badham, Assoc Prof Adam Nocek, Ploy Kasama Yamtree

Meeting point: Thewakam Rangrak Bridge – link to map here

  • Saturday Feb 11, 9:30am-1:30pm, @ So Heng Tai

    A focus on movement… the final workshop session gathers all the materials and traces from across the whole project, to transform them using our own bodies. Participants learn techniques from dance and performance art, to explore So Heng Tai Mansion as a site for creative expression.

Facilitators: Dr Michael Hornblow, Sineenadh Keitprapai, Prof Stephen Loo, Assoc Prof Marnie Badham, Assoc Prof Adam Nocek

 

EXHIBITION

The Exhibition includes the traces of other programs – running in parallel with Workshops and Performances, and as a creative HQ for various street actions and open discussions.

Admission: 50 THB entry (incl. 1 drink)
* Café/bar open for further refreshments

Artists –
Michael Hornblow, Stephen Loo, Marnie Badham, Ploy Kasama Yamtree, Jean-David Caillouët, Gabriel Camelin, Dey'n Ray, Al Caudullo

Schedule –

  • Saturday 04 Feb : 09:00 - 17:00

  • Sunday 05 Feb : 09:00 - 17:00

  • Monday 06 Feb : 09:00 - 22:00

  • Tuesday 07 Feb : 09:00 - 22:00

  • Wednesday 08 Feb : 09:00 - 22:00

  • Thursday 09 Feb : 09:00 - 22:00

  • Friday 10 Feb : 09:00 - 22:00

  • Saturday 11 Feb : 09:00 - 17:00

  • Sunday 12 Feb : 09:00 - 17:00