Mark Cousins
Drawing on Bangkok
7th May - 1st July 2017

“It’s all about the food.” David Thompson; Thai Street Food 2009
This exhibition focuses on the architecture of Bangkok’s street food, specifically the mobile architecture of the vendors’ trollies, carts and wagons. In documenting this Mobile Architecture I completed 31 drawings (one for each day in January 2017) along with some 1,800 photographs. I was interested in the fluidity/flexibility of space – specifically how the same stretch of pavement could accommodate multiple uses ranging from passing pedestrians, beverage stalls, food vendors to Night Market merchants selling tee-shirts and bootleg videos. Each stall holder’s wagon is highly personalized and bespoke to the particular food for sale. These mobile structures have the ability to transform what might be seen as marginal public space and help to enrich the daily grind of city life. Each stall is a small-scale (temporary) intervention in the public realm which connects to a wider network.
Mark Cousins is an Architect & Lecturer who lives and works in Edinburgh.
Drawing_on_Bangkok_-_review.pdf