Paradise Sala
2005
APAP 2005: Anyang Public Art Project
Anyang, Korea

Meaning paradise or utopia in Korean, Anyang was the site for a public art project in which Navin Production decorated a Korean style gazebo with a traditional mural. Similar open-sided pavilions, or sala, are a focal point of most Thai rural communities, with the simple wood frame structures serving as an open platform to gather and communicate. Melding traditional Thai and Korean painting styles, the permanent Paradise Sala had a lotus flower in the centre of the ceiling with panels circumventing. There was also a permanent billboard painting displayed on a nearby wall that revealed scenes from the accompanying comic book, Paradise in Anyang, an imaginative tale of Thai scholar Pandit Chanrochanakit and how he came to marry his true love, the Korean painter Oh Hwan Hee. Distorting reality from fantasy, an ‘International Public Art Treasure’ sign was erected beside the Paradise Sala claiming the mural as a tributary memorial to their love story, playfully misleading the public as to the truth. Containing lots of cultural blurring, there was also a small video screen within the Paradise Sala that relayed interviews conducted in collaboration with Seoul-based emerging video artist Raymond Hahn, asking the local populace to define paradise.
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