KORAT CHITCHAT, 2013

A collection of Thai Health Organization, Bangkok

ผลงานสะสมของ สำนักงานกองทุนสนับสนุนการสร้างเสริมสุขภาพ, กรุงเทพมหานคร

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A permanent drive in installation in at a large 2 stories parking lot of Education Center for Health, Bangkok.

ศิลปะจัดวาง ตัวอักษรสะท้อนแสงบนอลูมิเนียมเคลือบสีทำรถยนต์ดูปองท์ 12 ชิ้น, A drive in installation with 12 reflective texts on DuPont Automotive Coated aluminum plates

ขนาดแปรผันตามพื้นที่ โดยงานผล 12 ชิ้นที่ประกอบกันมีขนาดที่แตกต่างกันด้วย, size variable

Dialogs from villagers in Nakorn Ratchasrima or Korat Province. They reflect relation in family within diverse culture, agriculture, disaster, lifestyle, belief, political response, immigration and more throughout Thailand. I transcribed them in Thai alphabet but in phonetic way in order to reveal the local dialect to be seen and pronounced.

There are 12 random wall texts made by reflective sheets which can be seen/read by drive through the parking lot using high beam light from the car itself as light source. The parking lot is located at underground of the building which creates a darkness area. Each lamps at parking lot turns on via motion sensor. In another word, the space is dark only if there is some movement in the space, light will then turn on in specific area and time.

The 12 texts that appear in the wall are except from my previous sound recording project “Welcome to Your Voice”. I captured one way phone conversation of villagers, students, school kids and fabric factory’s staffs in Pak Thong Chai District, Nakorn Rachasrima or Korat Province in the northeastern part of Thailand in 2010. The conversation was captured just right after the massacre in May and before the big flood in the area. It is a small district but, unexpectedly, we found people both born here and from other parts of Thailand. I gave some of them a phone and asked them to call a relative or family member who lives far away from them. To give them the full personal sphere, I left the recorder recording the conversation while he or she chatted. The stories and dialects of the local/personal voices from these are valuable. They tell people’s reactions to agriculture, disaster, lifestyle, belief, political response, immigration and more throughout Thailand. I transcribed them in Thai alphabet but in phonetic way in order to reveal the local dialect to be seen and pronounced. In this work the local dialects and Thai font designers which has been invisible in our society will be shortly seen and acknowledged when audience drive through the parking lot.