Bangkok’s vanishing architecture

Those lucky enough to be in the city we love may find this exhibition worth a visit.

From Coconuts Bangkok

After years roaming the capital to document its architectural glories, many of which now only exist in photographs, a photographer will bring them to a downtown gallery. 

At Something Was Here: The Fading Memories of Bangkok Modern Architecture, Weerapon “Beer” Singnoi will exhibit photographs of roughly 20 buildings around Bangkok, including Scala theater, which was hastily demolished last year despite promises it would be preserved amid a public outcry. 

“I hope that this exhibition will raise questions about how we can preserve our  architectural heritage,” Weerapon said. “Before something becomes forgotten, how can we balance development and conservation?”

It’s a topic Weerapon knows well: He has been archiving such buildings via his Foto_momo project for the past five years.

His other photos for the exhibition buildings focus on Bangkok’s concrete cathedrals to versatility and function that defined Bangkok’s midcentury, post-war Thai Modernism, an era being rapidly demolished. Other buildings to be featured are the Indra Regent Hotel, Dusit Thani Hotel (RIP), and Hua Lamphong, aka the endangered Bangkok Train Station.

The event is a collaboration between Foto_Momo and its Dutch inspiration, Docomomo, aka the Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites, and Neighborhoods of Modern Movement.

Something Was Here will run March 15-27 on the third floor of the Bangkok Cultural and Art Center. The contemporary art gallery is connected to BTS National Stadium by skywalk.