Facing Demons / Oct6 Museum

Bangkok, Thailand

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Facing Demons / Oct6 Museum

Bangkok, Thailand

Firm

The Storeys/Ben Winitchakul

Type

Cultural › Gallery Museum Memorial

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2022

SIZE

3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

BUDGET

$10K - 50K

“Facing demons I The devil is in the details,” is an exhibition of unseen photographs created for the 46th anniversary of the October 6 massacre in Bangkok . The exhibition was curated and designed by Benjamas Winitchakul and Nachapon Rujirasopon who founded Cutting Edge of Things [CoT] , a group of volunteer designers who provide architectural design services for social movements.

The October 6 Museum Project [OMP] team found fourteen rolls of unpublished photos from a group of photographers who witnessed the massacre. On the evening of the massacre, the junta that launched a coup banned the dissemination of photographs. They remained unseen until now, after the passage of 46 years. The exhibition focuses on examining the unpublished photographs as new evidence and searching for perpetrators and suspicious figures. The history of the massacre is still unfolding. Contributing to the fight against impunity is a key part of the OMP’s manifesto.

CoT focused to the key message_ “the devil” in OMP’s brief to shape the exhibition theme and design concept.

The design starts the introduction to the story right away at the outside front of the gallery. Current exhibition posters are combined with newspapers published on the morning of October 6, 1976, in which agitators accused the students of staging a mock hanging of the crown prince and calling for their deaths. Reproductions of the newspapers cover the outside walls of the gallery. This functions to provide a sense of discovery of a hidden place and an unfolding history inside.

The audience is invited to sit down and read. The chairs themselves are also a symbol of the massacre and refer to “The Chair Man,” Neal Ulevich’s 1976 Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a person using a metal folding chair to brutalize a student who was hung from a tree.

To realize the atmosphere of one of the most brutal instances of violence in Thai history, the October 6, 1976 massacre at Thammasat University, the designer intentionally brings the audience immediately into the lynch mob on the morning of October 6. Upon opening the exhibition door, as if entering a time machine, the audience enters into the lobby of the gallery, titled “Facing Demons.”

Stepping into the low ambience light room, the audience is suddenly surrounded by 1:1 scale images of people. Mirrors reflect the audience and place them within the lynch mob. Bystanders in the past watched violence as if it were entertainment, and the exhibition audience joins them. The selected unpublished photos on both sides are scenes of those who were present during the massacre. This was chosen as the opening of the exhibition story, in order to represent the eyes of the photographers and witnesses of this moment.

The existing gallery space is a 50-year narrow shop house, comprised of tiny pocket spaces vertically connected by a series of steps. Concerned with the design challenge presented by many transitions in a small space, CoT chose to diminish vision by using darkness to obscure the dimensions and spaces. Then, CoT lights up particular content and images to lead the audience through the story.

The design intentionally exaggerates the uncomfortably narrow, low ceiling of the existing space to create a depressive feel in which the audience witnesses the demons’ actions. At the burning bodies scene, the bystanders, those who watched in the past, are watched by the audience in the present.The most stunning instance of the massacre, when people and corpses were burned, is part of the mezzanine level.

An informative design approach is the main design direction to invite the audience to start investigate each picture in detail. A dark grey wall background is used to enhance the black and white photographs, lead by focused light and red crop markers, the tools invite the audience to investigate to the Devil. The information unfolds in direct text and clear photographs. The design continues the scale and sense of place from downstairs, by forcing the audiences walk through a narrow corridor on the second level to experience enlarged photographs.

Pieces of paper containing the junta’s orders, which came into power by a coup after the massacre, are scattered all over the floor and are made audible and noisy as the audience walks over them.

On the third level, a floating red box represent a coffin and those lost during the massacre as a Specter of Red, glows in the midst of the dark room providing colored reflection on one side and a vessel to hold the objects on display on the other side. The main hall provides a seating area for viewing the films and an overflow space for the panel discussions held every weekend.

An Easter Egg is a set of narrow stairs without an outlet is covered on all sides by photographs of students who were forced to lay on the ground during the massacre. As the audience reaches the last step, lights turn on and the voice of Tomayanti, a famous novelist who incited people on right-wing radio broadcasts to attack the communist students in Thammasat University, rings out.

The Finale: The brightness of the final room of the exhibit represents the experience of coming to consciousness (ตาสว่าง) about the massacre upon viewing new information about the 6 October 1976 massacre.

Within Christian and Jewish belief, there can be multiple demons, but the Devil is the singular leader who empowers the demons with their destructive power. The display of previously-unpublished photos point to the Devil, who remains unspeakable in Thailand.

Facing demons I The devil is in the details is on display from 1 October – 20 November 2022 at Kinjai Contemporary, Bangkok, Thailand.

Watch the design animation : https://youtu.be/Si1G6jZHF-4

Exhibition Designer : Cutting Edge of Things [CoT] ตัดมุม : Benjamas Winitchakul, Nachapon Rujirasopon, Ponlawat Katjinakul, Ratima Prapasawad
Exhibition Photos : Somboon Katepeung, Preecha Kansompoj, Sayant Pornnantharat, Pavit Sorojchana and Kraipit Panwut
Exhibition Content : The Oct 6 Museum project [OMP]
Graphic Designer : Pornchalerm Rattanatraipob
Lighting Design : L&E Co.Ltd.
Production Manager : Jiraporn Hirunburana
Documentary Film : Chulayarnnon Siriphol
Owner / Producer : The Oct 6 Museum project [OMP]
Photo credit : Benjamas Winitchakul, The Oct 6 Museum project [OMP]

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Facing Demons / Oct6 Museum

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Facing Demons / Oct6 Museum

Bangkok, Thailand

Other Projects by The Storeys/Ben Winitchakul

Hang - Oct 6th Museum

N House

Lamphu House

Facing Demons / Oct6 Museum

Bangkok, Thailand

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team

Articles