atmopsheres

an art experience in  architecture, film, light, and music

king mongkut’s university of technology thonburi (k.m.u.t.t.)

school of architecture and design,

bangkok code building, sathorn, bangkok

by: surasak BTS station, exit 3.

thursday 2nd december, 19.00-21.00

conception, photography and videography: raphael jay adjani (a.k.a. ajaykumar)

music composition: rapeedech v. kulabusaya 

editor: daniel somerville

curation: chanyaporn chuntamara

admission: free, but by email reservation only to chanyaporn chuntamara at inverselighting@gmail.com

refreshments to be provided

technical and logistical support: chokeanand bussracumpakorn, sura charoensuk, pongsak kitirojpan, lucksak pansuwan

atmospheres transforms the industrial atmosphere of the King Mongkut’s Sathorn campus through film projection, live improvised music, and evocative use of light and architecture to create a sublime art experience . This visually stunning and memorable experience is conceived by U.K. based artist raphael adjani, and evolved through a collaboration with Thai based composer Rapeedech v. Kulabusaya, who produces the most haunting and exquisite live piano arrangement in response to not just the film projection, but the mood and atmosphere of the place and audience he encounters on the night.

atmospheres draws inspiration from the stupendous tantric cave temples of Ellora and Ajanta in India, the exquisite designs of Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the inter-active and immersive processes of the Japanese tea ceremony, and ideas of Vipassana meditation, to facilitate a sense of deep relationality of all phenomena, human and non-human, and of relationship to place and time.

Through both music and image, though both light and sound, layer upon layer is created so that ultimately one has less an attachment to tone and image and instead may become captivated by atmosphere, taste, and flavour that is evoked. It is as if through intricate form one may glimpse formlessness. There may be perceived to be a sense of ‘sacred’ generated without religious specificity.

While atmospheres contains delicate and captivating imagery and music, it is less about seeing or listening to something, and more about experiencing something. Like a memorable dinner in a lovely restaurant, not only the food, but every element of the evening serve to create sublime experience.

The presentation of atmospheres will be accompanied by an informal talk by artist raphael jay adjani, about how particular aesthetics and conceptual ideas in light and architecture influence the creation of his art work. This will be followed by a relaxed question and answer session.

raphael jay adjani works in different media and technologies to generate inter-active and immersive experiences, which may facilitate an experience of the sublime, and a greater sense of our relationship to all other phenomena. He is also a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. Currently he is residing in Bangkok as an artist-in-residence and visiting professor at K.M.U.T.T, for whom he will also create a public light sculpture in 8-22 January 2011, close to the Chao Praya River.  Details of this and some of his other art work can be seen at the website: www.8technology.net

Rapeedech v. Kulabusaya is a precocious composer based in Thailand. He is classically trained. One of the things that interests him in music is the sense of its pervasive yet ephemeral quality: how it may fill the air around us, and we may acknowledge its presence, yet it remains ‘untouchable’. Rapeedech is interested in the nature of the relationship between performing body and musical instrument: how musicians interact with their instruments, how they resonate through their instrument and how the instruments resonate through them.

For further details contact Chanyaporn Chuntamara at inverselighting@gmail.com