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Karin Klinkajorn on Life is Beautiful in Samphrang

Architecture students and lecturers from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang exhibit art pieces contributing to Bangkok’s Samphrang area where they learned about the old community and its historical architecture. Lecturer Karin Klinkajorn explains the idea behind the exhibition Life is Beautiful In Samphrang.

By
20 May, 2010 Bangkok time

Technique & medium: Drawing, Fotomo amd Fototrace

What was the idea that makes this exhibition?
A few years ago I met a couple lecturers who brought students to Samphrang for a class. Unfortunately, they didn’t produce enough art to mount a full exhibition. This year, we added more pieces and are now able to contribute to the community by hosting this exhibition.

Why Samphrang?
Ten years ago, I started coming here for walks and good food. Apart from yummy eateries, people are friendly, and the old buildings and community are beautiful. The area remains peaceful even though it is surrounded by crazy traffic and a big residential area.

Photomo and Phototrace are the two main techniques used. What are they?
Fotomo is simply a model made from photographs. Fotomo comes from ‘Foto’ and ‘Model’ and was first created by Japanese photographer Kimio Itozaki. To make it you need to go take photos and then cut them to make a 3D model. So the model presents the perspective of the real community—the photographers need to really explore the community. This is an opportunity for students to experience real local lives. Fototrace is another artwork created by placing a copy paper on the photo and tracing all the lines and shadows in the photo. This allows you to see every tiny detail that you might miss at first glance.

Who should come to see the exhibition? 
Old town lovers, architects and everyone should come to see and share their views toward this old community so there will be a chance for new projects to develop Samphrang in the future.

What’s your next project?
I just got to know people in Kesorn Lamphu Club and from the talks, I think Bang Lamphu is also an interesting area and great for learning opportunity for students in architecture. So I started to bring students there, too.