Chanida Voraphitak wants to transport you to another reality; quite literally. At the center of the Thai multimedia artist’s new show, you climb up into a seat resembling a drop-tower roller coaster ride and strap into VR gear, sealing your eyes and ears behind a veil of technology. The world you enter is straight-up dystopian. You float through destroyed buildings, over junked cars, and wade through oily floods lit only by lonely street lamps, random fires, or a flashlight. This is PASSCODE , THE DARK DAY, her solo show that opened at BANGKOK CITYCITY GALLERY last week. The goal is not to distract you with fantasy, however. It’s to expose you to a possible future of ecological destruction. The physical part of the show is a similar vibe. Viewers pick their way through thick black cables that lay all across the floor, paintings are framed in warped steel remnants, and pipes that poke out of ruble piles leak vapors into the air.
With Passcode, Voraphitak (who also goes by the alias Cuscus the Cuckoos) is trying to spark a conversation about where the world is heading if we keep acting so wastefully. Her work is a speculative future, concerned mainly with our use and misuse of technology, and the impact it’s having on the planet we depend on for survival. She’s fascinated by all this new technology and how it offers her the ability to express herself. But she’s equally anxious about the way we strip the world for the parts needed to build these devices, the way we buy and dispose of them so rapidly, and the ever-increasing pollution they create.
Voraphitak is not only concerned with the physical environment, she’s also worried about information pollution. The internet—which once promised to put the entire world’s knowledge at our fingertips—is now overrun with pseudo-science, conspiracy theories, and exploitative capitalists. Instead of a vast library, it’s full of scammers, fast fashion, and bigoted uncles.
Her show is an immersive installation that guests have to navigate with caution, full of exposed wires, jagged edges, and ominous sounds (provided by experimental electronic duo HIGHLAG). But it’s nothing compared to the rage of an Earth at its tipping point. Still, it’s not meant to frighten you. In fact, Voraphitak’s paintings and virtual characters are actually pretty cute. With bubbly shapes, comical faces, and bright colors, they’re straight out of a children’s book. They take our hand warmly into theirs and guide us carefully through the consequences of our actions. Massive storms and wildfires are everywhere in her work, but so are teddy bears and pastels. Don’t be scared, but do be cautious. Heed the warning now.
