Icon / Empire is a durational fixed frame video work begun in late 2019. Its subject is the tower block of Icon Siam, a supersized luxury mall and residence completed in 2018. The building, much touted as an “icon of eternal prosperity”, stands as a signaler of ostentatious display and outlandish wealth set against the economic disparity and class division of contemporary Thailand.
In late 2019 I started filming the building with the intention of streaming the video on Youtube and Facebook for an extended period of time, perhaps one year.
The resemblance of Icon Siam tower to the Empire state building* is an accident of architecture. The model of Icon Siamas a subject is an accident of time and location as i happen to view this building from my studio rooftop. Within these accidents of architecture, time and location, as in the decisions and events that led me to film it, I have found a certain comfort in the practice of filming it again and again.
In 2019 Facebook set a time limit for a live stream to a maximum of 8 hours. There’s an elegance to the coincidence that the longest duration a film of radical duration could be imagined in 1964 is the same as Facebook’s current time limit for a live video stream. Youtube has no time limit for a live stream and over time i have come to prefer it as a platform.
Its an elegant coincidence that the maximum length a film of radical duration could be imagined in 1964* is the same as the current time limit for a live video stream on Facebook, 8 hours. Youtube has no time limit & i have come to prefer it as a platform. This project attempts to push the minimalist envelope within the social media environment.
Youtube playlists
Full playlist to date (Dec 2019 – July 2020)
*Audio playlist
*This playlist of 12 tracks was streamed from March 24 – April 9 2020, during the period of COV 19 lockdown. They contain an audio track as part of the live stream. The audio track was generated using an audio software that analyzes the color field of the cameras ‘target’.
