# 415

" Rong Nang (Cinema) "

The show commences the moment you put the key in the door. Sit back and be part of the audience in one of Rong Nang 415’s vintage cinema seats – or if you’re feeling a little more adventurous either become a screen star and perform for the CCTV cameras or take control as the auteur and direct the action yourself – from the comfort of a spacious, low-slung double bed. Whatever role you choose, indulge yourself in this homage to classic Asian motion pictures.

Rong Nang 415 is a seductive and sultry hotel suite with a contemporary, interactive twist – the interface between the observer and the observed, the tension between performer and performance the nub of the concept of this boutique hotel key. By allowing guests to move fluidly between the two, the room repeatedly underscores the pleasure of both enacting and capturing drama on screen.

Alongside a fully-functioning private en-suite cinema, decked out with original film house seating, wood panelling, signage and velvet drapes, is a funky ochre bathroom, both kitsch and kinky, that doubles as a dressing room – with pink mirror lights – and a ‘stage’. Four strategically-placed CCTV cameras capture every movement and send a signal to a central bedroom projection, while costumes in the shape of shiny, tacky maid and school uniforms offer extra spice. Guests are encouraged to leave their mark and add to the bill by recording their own action. The dedicated 200-Gigabyte CCTV hard drive allows exhibitionists of every type the opportunity to add to an ever-changing, fully editable voyeuristic feast. And while the gallery of Thai, Chinese and Japanese kung-fu, gangster and sexploitation movie posters provides plenty of inspiration, the interchangeable signage letter set makes for playful titling and announcing of impromptu shows.

The main bedroom’s architectural centre piece, a back-lit brass wall facade, and the wooden boudoir partition reinforce the sexual tension respectively through the veiling of fluorescent light and the shrouding of the window-end of the room, whereas the open, circular bathroom window and the heavy presence of mirrors shape more overt and candid representations of the human form.

The themes of intimacy and interactivity are extended online, too, with a blog that unites a network of guests and experiences past and present – further blurring the lines between interior design and conceptual art – and adding the uber-cool digital dimension of web-based social networking.