Bassac Genealogy: Open studio with Pen Sereypagna
Sunday 18 Janurary 2015, 4:30-7:30pm
Sa Sa Art Projects, #26-28 E2, White Building, Sothearos Blvd.
In Khmer and English translation.
Pen Sereypagna and students of architecture from Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh, and PARSONS The New School For Design, New York, will share some of the results from their research over the past 2 months during Pisaot residency.
This project maps the genealogy of Bassac area, Phnom Penh as a community based, participatory exercise. A key objective is to discover ways to visualize the differences of urban form rather than continuities, and the characteristics of urban ruptures through various historical eras. The mapping exercise takes place within and be informed by the artistic community of the famous White Building, currently under threat of demolition. The project aims to learn what is existing now in Bassac, and what was in the past, creating a new dialogue which can serve as a basis for ideas about the future of the city. Bassac is a city of memory; how can this be visualized, as expressed in the city’s changing urban forms?
The project is based in the White Building and is a development and extension of Sereypagna’s work with Professor Brian McGrath in Theory of Urban Form class at the New School. Moreover, the project provides a counterpoint and foundation to Phnom Penh Visions, an ongoing project which Sereypagna initiated in 2013, comprising a website (www.ppv.lumhor.org).
Mapping genealogy of urban form will contribute as an informative data for artists, architects, urbanists and local people to understand the city through taking the White Building as a metaphor of urban change through periods. The project will also engage with the White Building community by encouraging them to participate and interact in the mapping progress.
The project is hosted by Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh’s only artist-run space, in partnership with School of Constructed Environment, PARSONS the New School for Design.
Speakers:
- Pen Sereypagna
- Royal University of Fine Arts’ students : Hann Vathanakun, Roeun Virak, Thlang Chhairath, Khem Daren, Puy Vicheaveng and Seng Yden
- PARSONS’ students : Catherine Carter Sims, Danielle Bowler and Michael McDowell
About the Artist:
The project is initiated by Pen Sereypagna, an architect and scholar of urban studies based in Phnom Penh, and a 2012-2013 Visiting Scholar at PARSONS, with the support
of the Asian Cultural Council. He audited courses in Theory of Urban Form with Professor Brian McGrath in the fall of 2012 and Urban Design Senior Studio in the spring of 2013 with Professor Victoria Marshall which focus on the exchange experience of urban design between Phnom Penh and New York City.
