Miti Ruangkritya: Sathorn Sunset no. 1
Catalysed by his return to Thailand in 2010 following over a decade in England, his works chronicle personal responses to everyday observations while articulating the urgencies of contemporary urban living. He engages in depth with a range of topics, including political upheaval, ecological change, dislocation, and economic inequalities, as evidenced by his ongoing series such as Thai Politics (from 2006), DREAM PROPERTY (from 2014), and Sunset (from 2018).
Overview
Sathorn Sunset no.1 is a part of Sathorn Sunset (2018), a photography and video project that focuses on Sathorn, a major commercial district of Bangkok with many skyscrapers, high-rise condominiums and office buildings. The project features sunset scenes taken in and around Sathorn Unique Tower during January 2018. The construction of the luxury condominium began in 1990 but the tower remains unfinished after the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 put a halt on funding and construction.
The tower was designed by architect-turned-real estate developer Rangsan Torsuwan. His 185m-high tower makes use of exuberant Classical elements, particularly Classical Order columns usually found in Greek and Roman architecture but which were in vogue during the economic boom of the early 1990s. It is Rangsan Torsuwan who is generally credited for popularising this style in Thailand in the 1990s.
The video follows a drone flying from inside the top floor of the unfinished tower amidst debris of the columns. The drone slowly moves out into open air towards the unattainable horizon at sunset before flying back to the tower as dawn sets in.
Sathorn Sunset is also an extension of DREAM PROPERTY (2014-ongoing) and part of Sunset (2018-ongoing), a series exploring Thailand’s economic, political and social tensions, examining property developments including Sathorn Unique Tower, 7/11 convenience stores in A Convenient Sunset | A Convenient Holdup (2019), and anonymous paths in Room no.2 and Sunset on Unnamed Lanes (2020).
