The Sixth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

162 Wit Pimkanchanapong In-between spaces Most of my work focuses around the ideas of mapping, distortion, unfolding, hypertext, and the space in-between. I intend to practice, work and live in Bangkok, and circumstantially, most recent works of mine are aware of ‘accessibility’ for local public audiences, and how this works together with the global art context. This has been done through multidisciplinary practices including time-based media, digital media, diagrams and graphics, and architecture. 1 Interactivity is inherent to the development of Wit Pimkanchanapong’s works. He continually explores innovative multimedia technology for new ways to connect people with their contexts. Google Earth, for example, was the inspiration for Singapore 2008, an immense floor- based digital image of the city printed on vinyl, produced for the 2008 Singapore Biennale. Visitors were invited to walk over the image, and to place notes and comments highlighting places of significance. By combining his experiences of shared technology with intelligent considerations of architectural spaces, Pimkanchanapong extends his work beyond the usual and everyday and into the spectacular and interactive. Cloud 2009 — the artist’s commission for APT6 installed in the Gallery of Modern Art foyer — is based on a ceiling installation first designed in 2005 for a Bangkok concert by Pru, a progressive Thai rock band. It has since morphed beyond the initial, practical necessity to baffle the venue’s roof, to enhance the acoustics of the concert, into various site-specific installations and animations. 2 In APT6, Cloud appears as a heaven of billowing forms made from thousands of sheets of standard A3 white printing paper, wire and bulldog clips. The arcs of paper create a repeating motif across the Gallery ceiling. 3 Paper is a prominent material in Pimkanchanapong’s work — economical, versatile and dynamic. Soaring high above visitors as they enter the Gallery, Cloud partially obscures the interior architecture, focusing our attention instead on the often unnoticed beauty of this ordinary material. The work also enhances the features of the building by accentuating the long lines of the grand interior space. That Cloud can be viewed from multiple levels within the Gallery is crucial to the experience of the work. Looking up from the entry, the work is all-encompassing in its scale and breadth. As visitors ascend the building’s stairs and escalators, there is a sense of soaring through clouds, re-orientating visitors already familiar with the building. In addition to his art practice, Pimkanchanapong is a founding member of the collectives Soi Music and Soi Project, established in 2002 with Japanese architect Jiro Endo. Soi initiates collaborations between artists, musicians, designers and architects, melding art forms in temporary projects including concerts, events and exhibitions. One of Soi Project’s key works is Fruits , first presented in the 2007 Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates, and also featured in APT6, where visitors can make three-dimensional fruits from printed templates. Pimkanchanapong’s Fruits features photographic reproductions of fruit skins, including bananas, apples and pears, mangosteens and star fruit. Through computer modelling, the fruits are deconstructed and represented as a kind of map, offering an unexpected perspective. To make the fruits, participants join small tabs depicting the names of the fruits in different languages. As these tabs join, the words literally meet, and a linguistic exchange takes place between the visitor and artist, and between people from different cultures. The simulation of the real object through technology highlights Pimkanchanapong’s broader considerations of the ‘in-between’, such as the processes of exchange, commodification and communication. These affect us daily in ‘virtual’ and ‘actual’ contexts and can differ dramatically between cultures. Wit Pimkanchanapong’s works involve astonishing physical and visual transformations of materials, objects or places. The artist exposes the mechanics and artifice of technology and, in doing so, brings his viewers closer to the reality of their surroundings, creating new spaces and means for shared interaction. Donna McColm Endnotes 1 Wit Pimkanchanapong, <http://web.mac.com/witpim >, viewed September 2009. 2 Pimkanchanapong’s 21-second animation Test sequence formed part of his installation of Cloud for the exhibition ‘Animated Painting’, referencing the 8000 sheets of paper used to create the installation. ‘Animated Painting’, San Diego Museum of Art, 13 October 2007 – 13 January 2008. 3 There are over 6500 sheets of paper in Cloud in APT6, with the installation taking approximately one week, reinforcing the importance of the handmade in Pimkanchanapong’s work.