As the festive season draws ever closer, people throughout the country are gearing up to celebrate in style this year to make up for the turbulent and challenging times that they and their loved ones have experienced of late.
Bangkok’s biggest megamall ICONSIAM is set to astound visitors again with “Bangkok Illumination 2020 At ICONSIAM”, lighting up the longest line of Christmas trees along the Chao Phraya river bank, as well as showcasing world-class art installations, with the festivities to run from November 5 to December 30, 2020.
This exhibition of light sees collaborations between ICONSIAM and three world-renowned artists including Mike Perry, the Emmy Award winning graphic designer, who is designing special patterns for the Chirstmas trees, Amanda Pearer, a famous Australian visual artist, and SOFTlab, a world-renowned design studio from New York.
Spectacular Christmas trees on the banks of the Chao Phraya River
Having been moved by Thai artistic beauty, Mike Perry has designed two patterns for the 20 meter tall Christmas trees and Yi-Peng northern style lanterns. The patterns are called “Celebration of Life” and “Energy Flows”, both of which are inspired by diamond-shaped coloured glass mosaics which are used to decorate the main halls of Thai temples.
“Celebration of Life” is a pattern especially designed to feature on the Christmas trees. It is designed with the traditional Thai diamond-shaped, coloured glass mosaics in mind that could be found in Buddhist monasteries as an inspiration, while also used bold and playful lines, making it resemble the times in the day of sunrise and sunset.
“Energy Flows” is a pattern uniquely designed for Yi-Peng lanterns (traditonal Northern Thai lanterns) inspired by the Thai traditional motif known as Kra Jung Bai Thed, a flower like square shape that could be found as part of temple hall pillars: the main motif is placed in the center of the pattern to represent the source of creative energy that spreads out across the universe. These charming Christmas trees can be found at the River Park on ICONSIAM’s G floor and ICONSIAM Park on Floor 2.
Thought-provoking art installations to draw inspiration from
Apart from the giant colourful Christmas trees, world-class installation art pieces are also featured as a part of the event. Coming into the River Park, visitors will find “Peeping Corner” and “What’s That” sculptures: two ginormous humanoid designs conceived by Australian visual artist Amanda Pearer.
The idea behind “Fantastic Planet”, the name of Pearer’s light installation art, draws inspiration from the 1973 Czech/French film of the same name. The stop-motion sci-fi film depicted the distant future world of giant humanoids.
You can visit these two big friendly giants at River Park on the G floor. They really are a sight to behold, and make for amazing photo opportunities that you will long cherish.
Immerse yourself within the enchanting ‘Infinity Forest’
Having taken sufficient amount of selfies with the colourful Christmas trees and the humanoids, don’t forget to take an elevator up to Napalai Terrace on Floor 7 where “Infinity Forest” is another world-class art installation to feast your eyes over, created by New York’s SOFTlab.
Upon entering the terrace, visitors will find mirrored pillar sculptures standing tall, reflecting the surrounding Bangkok skyline and the mighty River of Kings. Once they move closer, they will also see the reflection of themselves in different angles, or even play with the Droste Effect, seeing themselves repeatedly appearing in the mirrors.
At night, the “Infinity Forest” also lights up with LED lights that respond to sound flowing continuously in the same fashion as the river below. This masterpiece awaits you every day from 4.30 pm to 10.00 pm.
Apart from seeing the attractions of Bangkok Illumination 2020, do make the effort to see the ICONIC Multimedia Water Feature, which has won the Gold Stevie Award in 2019. The show takes place everyday at 6.30 pm. and 8.00 pm.
Furthermore, in this year’s season of celebration under the theme of Magic Comes Alive, customers spending THB 4,000 at ICONSIAM will receive a THB 200 Siam Gift Card, while customers spending THB 6,000 will get Siam Gift Card to the value of THB 500. Customers who spend up to THB 50,000 will get 3 months free parking, which has a value of THB 9,000.
Bangkok Illumination 2020 At ICONSIAM is illuminated with festive lights from November 5 to December 30, 2020. Seeing is most certainly believing with this breathtaking example of splendour and creativity.
ICONSIAM, 299 Charoen Nakhon Rd, Khlong Ton Sai, Khlong San, Bangkok
For further details, please call 1388 or visit: www.iconsiam.com/en
