Confirming the worst suspicions, reports say a historic art deco theater from Bangkok’s golden age of cinema will soon be replaced by a shopping mall.
Chulalongkorn University, which owns the land under Siam Square, has leased the spot occupied for 51 years by Scala theater, which closed last year, to Central Pattana, the nation’s largest retail property developer, which said it would try to preserve some of Scala’s architecturally significant elements.
There were many critical reactions to the news since yesterday, including from well-known film buff Noridha Ruencharoen, aka “Earth Oscar.”
“This country likes to claim it loves culture and wants to preserve the culture, but it’s likely that will never be a space for contemporary art and culture that is truly a space for the public. There are only department stores owned by the capitalists,” he…
