For the Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, the more is indeed the merrier. As an artist Tiravanija is a catalyst for human interaction; his work revolves playfully around things like food, music and more often architecture.
Rirkrit created a full-scale replica of his own East Village apartment at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise on West 15th Street, complete with a bedroom and a working kitchen and bathroom. The ”apartment” was open 24 hours a day to anyone who want to stop for a home-cooked meal, a nap or a shower.
This Asian-style home is a collaborative effort among Tiravanija and Aurell, sited in Thailand. Antoinette Aurell is his wife and she is the photographer. Conceived as a series of pavilions around a central courtyard with public functions (offices, kitchen, living room) on the street side and private (a study, bedrooms, a master bath with an outdoor shower) on the back, the house incorporates many of the practical elements of the country‚ indigenous architecture while referring to the work of Tiravanija. It is so unusual to have an outdoor shower even if it has glass doors (check out these top tips for frameless showers).
Aurell, who grew up in Japan, brought yet another sensibility to bear, which is most apparent in the master bedroom, where the massive platform bed is like a tatami room within a room.
The house may not be perfect, the techniques like drywall did not come naturally to the construction crew, and the flat roof has already proven to be an issue in the monsoon months.But as a social experiment, it leaves nothing to be desired.
Maybe that is the nice thing about relational aesthetics. It’s the opposite of a vision rendered. It’s a collaborative thing that no one person could predict.
1 Comment
so awesome