‘Objects of belonging’ are found or ready-made objects that users adapt to redefine the conventional boundaries of a home. For example, these objects’ tacit presence in Bangkok dissolves where the house begins and ends, blurring boundaries between urban and domestic spheres.

Objects of belonging are found or ready-made objects that users adapt to redefine the conventional boundaries of a home. These objects’ tacit presence dissolves where the house begins and ends, blurring boundaries between urban and domestic spheres.

In the city of Bangkok, everyday objects like a tarpaulin can be used to claim parts of the public urban realm for the intimacy of the private home by appropriating it into a shelter or window screen.

This matrix presents twenty-five idiosyncratic objects frequently appropriated by residents of Bangkok. These objects of belonging recall how communities of inhabitants critically question conventions of the domestic sphere.

Submitted by
Ariel Bintang and Samantha Ong are Master of Architecture students at the Yale School of Architecture, with interests in informality and extractive industries.

This object is part of the TACK Exhibition “Unausgesprochenes Wissen / Unspoken Knowledge / Le (savoir) non-dit”, in the section “Codes and Communities”.