TARGET 130130

A FLOATING THEATER

^{Archipelago Cinema: A floating auditorium
for Thailand’s "Film on the Rocks" Festival.}

Nestled in a cove between an island and two tree-covered peaks sticking out of the water is a large theater screen (the vertical, bluish object) and the seating area for the audience (the white area).



Archipelago Cinema, an auditorium raft designed to float on the sea, premiered at the inaugural edition of the "Film on the Rocks Yao Noi Festival", curated by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Tilda Swinton. The Festival, which took place from 9th-12th March 2012, is set to become an annual meeting place for art and film.

The final night of the first edition of "Film on the Rocks Yao Noi" took place on Archipelago Cinema, designed by German-born and Beijing-based architect Ole Scheeren . Guests were taken by boat through the darkness of the sea to arrive on a glowing raft in the middle of the quiet waters of Nai Pi Lae lagoon on Kudu Island.


^{The audience seating area}

The extraordinary modular, reusable structure was made entirely out of recycled materials in accordance with vernacular Thai architecture. Everything can be reused or recycled, and local people were employed to do the job. After the film festival wass complete, Archipelago Cinema was donated to the Yao Noi community that built it in the first place. The wooden, floating auditorium was to be used as a floating playground and stage!


^{What better way is there to watch a movie than being immersed
in one of the world’s most majestic natural locations
with stars overhead and stars on the screen.}

A work with a strong connection to the local community, Archipelago Cinema is based on the techniques used by fishermen to construct floating lobster farms. The raft is built out of recycled materials as a series of individual modules to allow for flexibility for its future use. Subsequent to a journey which will see the raft travel to further places as an auditorium for other film screenings on water, it will eventually return to the island and be donated to its actual builders, the community of Yao Noi, as its own playground and stage in the ocean.


^{Safety lights prevent falling into the water.}

"The thought of watching films here seemed surprising", said Ole Scheeren. "A screen, nestled somewhere between the rocks and the audience 'floating', hovering above the sea, somewhere in the middle of this incredible space of the lagoon, focused on the moving images across the water: A sense of temporality, randomness, almost like driftwood. Or maybe something more architectural: Modular pieces, loosely assembled, like a group of little islands that congregate to form an auditorium."

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If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, more information, pictures and videos can be found at the following web sites:

Archipelago Cinema
ABC News site: Floating Cinema Buoys Thailand Film Festival
Architech Ole Scheeren: TED talk & other interviews

Many thanks to Ray McClure for developing & progrmming this target.