Flashing lights and a burst of clouds bring the slumbering, abandoned building to life after years of lying dormant. Its multiple stories light up in sequences while columns of light streak down from the roof and glowing fog tumbles from its sides like a rocket launching from its pad. This is the centerpiece of the recent Collective by Cloud 11 event bringing tech and light artists together for a weekend of unlimited potential. The installation is called “Cloud Falling” and was created by Kobored, a local new-media artist specializing in projection mapping and installations.
Entering the building, viewers are greeted with a large LED screen at the top of a flight of stairs, flickering with animated 3D art. Inside, there are three stories full of interactive installations, projection mapping, light art, LED sculptures, talks and classes, and electronic music. It’s all brought together with the goal of creating a community around these different elements, raising awareness among the public, and exploring the ways that technology can enhance the arts. Nontawat Charoenchasri of the DUCTSTORE multidisciplinary design firm curated and organized this all-Thai lineup of over 50 creatives.
In one room, lasers fall from the ceiling in looping circles onto a mirrored surveillance bubble mounted to the floor. In another, red LED lights are curled into the shape of a flaming circle. Another features a table with projections on it that react to viewers’ touch next to a few pepper’s ghost holograms. There’s a room full of bean bags with a wall of projection art, and another with a drum machine that controls generative visuals. They also have a day rave room with some of the most well-respected electronic DJs throwing down sets. There’s even a space dedicated to more traditional forms of visual art like painting and printing.
“This seems to be a new focal point in the future of creator festivals,” says Charoenchasri, pointing out how the event is less commercially driven than other similar ones in the past that were plastered with corporate logos. “The dynamics of the event will undoubtedly bring about new things in the future.” (The recent Diage Festival and Unformat events seem to prove him correct.) He put the event together with the help of his DSTGRTHEOTHERSEVT team, which combines companies he founded like DUCTSTORE, The Others architectural firm, and the iameverything.co media outlet.
Charoenchasri is particularly excited about working with this underutilized but significant building. “We don’t have to keep using the same types of venues,” he says. “This architectural landmark holds historical value in Thailand’s contemporary architectural history.” Called the Phihalab building, it was a pharmaceutical factory with modernist architecture designed by Ruangsak Kantabutra. Part of the goal of the event was to shine a light on the South Sukhumvit area itself and was the introduction of Cloud 11 in a way, which aims to be a hub for the tech art community there. They operate under the umbrella of MQDC real estate developers, who likely recognize the creative scene’s ability to make a neighborhood attractive to new residents.
Kobored wanted his installation to reference the Phihalab building’s history as well, and the fog tumbling off its sides is meant to resemble a chemical lab. To create the clouds, he uses dry ice—a practical effects trick that old school movies used for every mad scientist’s laboratory. The lights are LED pars and strokes set up along the outer walkway that wraps around the building but are off limits to guests. He controls the show live on the first day and plays a recording of it on the second night. Although it took him weeks to put together, he finds it fitting that it’s temporary. “Clouds falling is a natural phenomenon that only happens for a couple of hours and then it’s gone. What’s left is just the beautiful memories.”
