Davisi Boontharm

architect-urbanist | academic | visual artist

Gallery

palimpsest

palimpsest, Bol

cat at slole

the essence

infraordinary Tokyo

street with no name

inVISible

orihon Korčula travelogue

view of Vis

žuti Split

made in Barcelona

recent works

Places & Traces exhibition is over; thank you for

Places & Traces exhibition is over; thank you for all the support and encouragement. I have received fruitful comments and had lively discussions at the gallery. It means a lot.

Here is one of the new works I would like to introduce.

The melody of train ride: views from Tokyu Toyoko Line, 2026

Watercolour on a handmade orihon (concertina sketchbook) made from music sheets.

For a long time, I’ve wanted to portray the experience of a train ride through Tokyo’s suburbs.

Inside, it’s a vacuum of silence—no voices, just the hum of the motor. I find myself escaping into the "ugly and ordinary" views of Tokyo.

I’ve started seeing the city through music sheets. The staves helped me spread the roofscape, and structure the building facade; sometimes they are the tangle of electrical wires. The staccato notes became staircases, and other times they could accidentally become window frames.

The tracklist for this journey felt like destiny. "Partire"—to depart. Leaving one station, arriving at another, suspended in the music of the commute.

The work has been featured in the exhibition "PLACES & TRACES" Palimpsest books at Design Festa Harajuku 9-15 January 2026.

#palimpsest #palimpsestbooks #palimpsestpaintings #concertinasketchbook #orihon #drawingonmusicsheets #accordionsketchbook #tokyosketches #tokyutoyokoline #watercoloursketches

The opening of Place & Traces: Palimpsest Book wen

The opening of Place & Traces: Palimpsest Book went beautifully. The intimacy of the space at Design Festa Gallery allows for a quiet, close-up look at the palimpsest books—exactly how I hoped it would be experienced.

To the friends and students (past and present!) who joined me: thank you for being part of this story. Your support means a lot.

This weekend Design Festa received many visitors, I’ve spent these days having inspiring conversations with so many new visitors.

I also caught up with Rachel @veggie_crochet from the DFG staff for a quick interview and reportage. It’ll be online soon—stay tuned for the link!

Thank you Vid de Gleria of @strip_lab and Darko for the nice pictures.

Come visit the PLACES & TRACES before it closes!

#Palimpsest #BookArts #TokyoArtist #DesignFesta #Harajuku #PlaceAndTraces #ContemporaryArt
#orihon #palimpsestbooks

We’ve been busy setting up Places & Traces: Pali

We’ve been busy setting up Places & Traces: Palimpsest Books at Design Festa Gallery Harajuku. @designfestagallery

A huge, heartfelt thank you to Sano Satoshi (co+labo Sano), Keio University @keio_sanolab and the team of committed students:
Kotaro Kitajima @kotarokitajima , Shintaro Tokoro @sveorq , Riko Ida @ri_arch15 , Lisa Suzuki, Kosuke Shimida @cousk_ and Loup Ramlot @rascar_kapac .

My special thanks also go to Sotaro Miyatake @38takeroppi for the brilliant design of the cardboard shelves, and the layout of the display. We are reusing some of the shelves from last year's exhibition at Shinkenchiku -sha, truely eco concept!

This year's exhibition venue at Design Festa Gallery is quite small, but I have chosen this place for a reason.
This gallery is where it all began. In 2008, as a Postdoc research fellow at the University of Tokyo, I stepped out of the desk at my Lab into this gallery to present my first exhibition.

Two years later, I returned for the Creative Precinct Revisited project, exhibiting the outcomes of the collaborative workshop between Keio University (co+labo Radović) and National University of Singapore where I worked at that time.

Places & Traces is a homecoming. After eighteen years of academic and artistic exploration, I have returned to the origin of my creative journey. The works displayed here are a dialogue between the researcher I was then and the artist I am now—reflecting on the spaces we inhabit and the memories we leave behind in the architecture of the city.

I will provide more information about the opening and the exhibited work in my next post. The show will be on until Jan 15th.

Friends from Tokyo... please drop by.

Layered memories and hidden pasts. Join us for "P

Layered memories and hidden pasts.
Join us for "Places & Traces | Palimpsest Book" exhibition in Tokyo at Design Festa Gallery West, room 1-B.

Davisi's artistic practice is rooted in creative acts which both enable the flows and fix concrete situations. Her choice of tactile, orihon (concertina) sketchbook
format facilitates the transformation of static contents into dynamic records of movement and time. As orihon unfolds, the viewer gets drawn into the sequences of the world observed, the maps of journeys and sensations as experienced and recorded al fresco, in continuous, hand-drawn compositions.

The artist selects old books carefully, for both their texture and history which form the nourishing foundational layer of her palimpsests.

Every orihon invites immersion, unique, intimate dialogues, a touch. New paint and lines laid directly onto the remnants of faded past, create rich images where memory resides in both the original page and the new drawing.

Don't miss the Opening & Artist Talk next Friday! Jan 9–15, 2026 📍 Design Festa Gallery West, Room 1-B

Artist Talk: Friday, Jan 9 @ 18:00

ご案内：『Places & Traces | Palimpsest Book』展
記憶、時間、そして環境の重なりを「パリンプセスト（再利用された写本）」という視点から探究する、**『Places & Traces』**展を開催いたします。

原宿のDesign Festa Galleryにて、歴史と地理がどのようにアートを通じて重なり合い、その痕跡を現していくのか。そのプロセスをぜひご高覧ください。

開催概要
会期： 2026年1月9日（金）〜1月15日（木）

会場： Design Festa Gallery 原宿 WEST 1-B

住所：東京都渋谷区神宮前3-20-18

時間： 11:00 〜 20:00（最終日は17:00まで）

オープニング・イベント
初日には、作品の背景や制作過程についてお話しするアーティスト・トークを開催いたします。

日時： 2026年1月9日（金）18:00 〜

内容：オープニングレセプション＆アーティスト・トーク

パリンプセストとは：元の文字を消して別の内容を上書きした写本のこと。かつての「痕跡」がうっすらと残るその姿は、私たちの場所の記憶と深く共鳴します。

皆様のご来場を心よりお待ちしております。

#PlacesAndTraces #ArtExhibition #Palimpsest #HarajukuArt #DesignFestaGallery #TokyoArt
#orihon #concertinasketchbook
#orihonexhibition #accordionsketchbook
#oldbooksnewart

The Shapes of Silence is grounded in the expressiv

The Shapes of Silence is grounded in the expressive poetics of two authors who meet at the intersection of introspection, space, and spirituality.
Nada Topić is an acclaimed Croatian poet, librarian, and essayist, author of several poetry collections, prose works, and scholarly articles on literature and librarianship. Her poetic expression is marked by contemplation, serenity, and linguistic precision. In the collection Otac (Father), from which the poems for this project have been selected, silence is explored as an in-between space: between words and emotions, between presence and absence, between the personal and the universal.
Nada’s language is neither loud nor declarative — it operates through silence, through what is not said yet remains present. This quality makes her an ideal counterpart in dialogue with the visual language developed by Davisi Boontharm. Her poems act as quiet encounters with one’s past and present self, while the visual interpretations emerge as an echo of the verses.
Davisi Boontharm, visual artist, architect, and professor, uses drawing as a tool for architectural and emotional mapping of space. Her artistic language stems from urban reflections, the everyday experience of place, memory, and silence. Her artworks - often executed in watercolour, drawing, or mixed media - create subtle spatial structures that do not depict literally but rather evoke the feeling of dwelling and breathing within a place.
In this project, Davisi draws inspiration from the poems in Otac and develops a visual cycle that does not illustrate the text but enters into a quiet, horizontal partnership with it. The visual narrative does not follow a linear structure; instead, it unfolds in parallel layers — much like the verses that gradually reveal themselves within the visual-sensory composition of the book.
Their collaboration achieves a rare balance between two art forms that are often positioned hierarchically. In The Shapes of Silence, neither image nor word dominates — they coexist, intertwined and attuned. It is a dialogue, not an illustration; a harmony, not an interpretation.
(text by Maja Stazić)

#otac #gkmm #orihon #concertinabook #poetrybook

The exhibition "spaces & emotions" has arrived in

The exhibition "spaces & emotions" has arrived in Rijeka!

A huge thank you to Tihomil Kreitmayer and Leo Modrčin for helping bring the exhibition to DAR (Society of Architects, Rijeka), where it will be on display from September 19 to October 3, 2025.

We had a great time at the opening event, which included a mini-lecture by Darko on "infraordinary Tokyo."
A big thanks to everyone who came to support us!

#exhibitioninrijeka

Moleskine discontinued the production of the pocke

Moleskine discontinued the production of the pocket-sized Japanese album three years ago. Therefore, I decided to make my own orihon using old books that I acquired from secondhand bookshops.
"Les Caractères" is a French book that I discovered in a bookshop in Jimbosho, Tokyo, in January of this year. I applied a fine layer of gesso to the age-old paper and treated it as a palimpsest. The paper has a stunning patina which is fun to work with.
Different "characters" are depicted as they appreciate the waterfront promenade along the riva of Split in my paintings.
Split Riva is a unique place where residents dress to impress and tourists enjoy the beautiful vistas while walking, sitting, and gazing out. I attempted to capture the ordinary moments of strolling through this place.
#splitriva #concertinasketchbook #orihon #palimpsestpainting

I was featured on HRT4, aired on 11.06.2025. Thank

I was featured on HRT4, aired on 11.06.2025. Thanks to Tatjana Lisičin, reporter from HRT whom we met since the workshops Anatomija Otoka (2012-16) in Vis. She kindly came to see the exhibition and we wondered around Diocletian Palace for the footage filming. Sorry, no English subtitles.. :)
#hrt4 #gkmmsplit #paintingsofsplit #splitcroatiaart

A new, but shorter version of orihon, of Marjan, D

A new, but shorter version of orihon, of Marjan, Druga Voda, Split. This place is one of the most beautiful spots for swimming in the wild. I tried to capture the beautiful pine trees that cast shadows around and frame the breathtaking view of Koziak mountains. The colour of the sea is a mix of blue and turquoise. The water is clear like crystal. I love the gentle winds that accompany the sound of cicadas. It is so peaceful.
How can I paint all these?

This work is featured in the ongoing exhibition "skice i slike Dalmacije" (Sketches and Paintings of Dalmatia) at Gradska knjižnica Marka Marulića until July 11, 2025.

Splićani, Splićanke dodjite!

#orihon #concertinasketchbook
#watercoloursketches #watercoloursketchbook
#marjanpaintings

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