Imagine being able to interact with classic paintings such as the Mona Lisa or The Birth Of Venus. Now you can, thanks to the new Art in Paradise museum, which exhibits paintings in 3D so people can explore the artworks in a hands-on way.
Some of the 3D paintings exhibited in the Art in Paradise museum, the latest attraction in Pattaya.
Open for one month, Art in Paradise was established by a group of South Korean artists and businessmen who leased an old nightclub in Pattaya and renovated it into a bright and colourful museum.
The 3D art gallery is the first of its kind in both Thailand and Southeast Asia, according to the museum's managing director, Shin Jae Yeol.
The total of 45 million baht has been invested in the project, and almost half of the budget was spent on refurbishing. Four years ago, Mr Shin was the manager of Love Land, an outdoor sex sculpture park in Jeju.
A Korean businessman visited the park and was interested in the art concept and asked him to visit Pattaya with a view to setting one up in Thailand.
"The original idea was to build another Love Land in Pattaya, but the concept did not get approval by the Ministry of Culture. However, we still wanted to open an art museum because there was no such thing in Pattaya," he said, adding that all the investors had a brainstorming session and eventually came up with the 3D art concept.
"Our art is different. We add something to each painting because we want to make our museum fun," he said.
First, the team thought about pictures people would like. They started with classic paintings such as the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (1503), The Birth Of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1486) or The Gleaners by Jean-Francois Millet (1857). They then modified the pictures to encourage visitors to play with the paintings.
Art in Paradise Open daily from9amto 9pm. Entrance fees for Thais are 150 baht (adult) and 100 baht (child). For foreigners, the fees are 500 and 300 baht, respectively. Call 038-424-500.
"We thought [about] how people could interact with each of them and [we] also enlarged their sizes," he said.
For example, the Mona Lisa has a painted pencil added so visitors can feel as though they are drawing the picture. The original painting of The Gleaners shows three female farmers working in a rice field, but the modified version shows one female farmer taking a break outside the picture frame, holding a cup of tea. The visitor is able to feel they are pouring tea into the cup.
Besides the classic paintings, there are other pictures, including underwater worlds, wildlife, surrealism, natural settings, dinosaurs and a cultural hall displaying paintings of Ayutthaya, Egypt and Machu Picchu.
The museum has guidelines to show visitors about how to interact with the paintings, and walking inside, it feels as if you are walking through a normal art exhibition.
But if you see someone interacting with the pictures, such as walking on wooden boards in the waterfall scene, then be sure to capture the moment on camera. In the photograph, it will look as if the person is actually part of the painting.
"There are 140 pictures and all of them [were] painted by 12 Korean artists," said Mr Shin. They spent about six months drawing, and two years preparing the 5,800m2 museum.
"So far we have completed about 70% of our intentions for developing the museum. The rest will be a miniature zone displaying scenes of Thai tourist attractions, pictures of superstars, an area for a rotating art exhibition, a coffee shop and a souvenir shop." Apart from Thai visitors, the museum is also popular with Russians and Koreans.
"We plan to work with tour operators to bundle tickets in Pattaya package tours. With their cooperation, we believe the number of visitors will rise to 30,000 a month," Mr Shin said, adding that Art in Paradise is expected to break even within three years.
"This is a place where you can enjoy another angle of art and culture. If you want to be happy, you should visit us."
