Bangkok Kunsthalle Presents 3 Contemporary Exhibitions Where Stories, Memories, Beliefs, and Cultures Are Expressed Through Art - newswit
Bangkok Kunsthalle Presents 3 Contemporary Exhibitions
Where Stories, Memories, Beliefs, and Cultures Are Expressed Through Art
Bangkok Kunsthalle, a contemporary art space housed within a historic building in Yaowarat, invites everyone to its three contemporary exhibitions. With each offering a distinct artistic experience and diverse art media including moving images, sound, sculptures, and installations, these art events address contemporary concepts and issues in unique ways.
From stories that evolve as they travel across languages, cultures, and people, to a world that exists between what can be seen and what lies beyond perception, and to the recording and preservation of cultural roots facing inevitable change, the three exhibitions take visitors on a journey through these themes with works by contemporary artists from diverse backgrounds.
Mooring 24 July - 27 September 2026
This is the inaugural exhibition under Bangkok Kunsthalle's Open Groundproject, which provides emerging artists and curators with opportunities to experiment with all forms of creative practices. Curated by Thaphong Srisai, it features works by four artists: Arisa Purkpong, Kay Zhang, Tanat Teeradakorn, and Vanessa Bosch.
At this art event, visitors explore the journey of "stories" traversing language, culture, people, and time. As a story is passed from one context to another, its meaning may shift according to the storyteller, the listener, and the conditions of each interpretation.
The exhibition's title, Mooring, refers to the act of 'anchoring' - a metaphor for the search for a standing point amid the constant flow of movement, reinterpretation, and transformation of stories in today's world—where history, memory, and identity are continually reimagined through exchanges between people and cultures.
Spirits Melt to Flesh
5 June - 4 October 2026
This group exhibition features site-responsive moving image, sound, sculpture and photographic installations by eight Asian artists, with Sam I-shan as the curator.
With this exhibition, Bangkok Kunsthalle has transformed into part of the artistic experience through light, shadow, darkness, and sound, and brought its visitors to the realm between the visible and the invisible for them to contemplate reality, belief, and what lies beyond perception. As Al-Ghazali put it, "This visible world is a trace of that invisible one…"
The eight artists articulate their concepts through distinct forms and mediums: ranging from the installation incorporating maps, historical records, and life-size elephant anatomical illustrations that questions nation-states and borders by Anthony Chin (Singapore); to a sound and kinetic artwork drawing on the stories of "Mae Nak" and "Somdet To" to explore Thai beliefs in spirits and faith by Taiki Sakpisit (Thailand); to ceramic and porcelain sculptures blending human, flora, and fauna forms to convey metamorphosis and transformation by Soe Yu Nwe (Myanmar), to a real-time projection that enables viewers to encounter images of the "past" or "future" by Heesoo Kwon (South Korea).
The exhibition also features video presentations by Hsu Che-Yu and Chen Wan-Yin (Taiwan), who blend 3D scanning technology with political memories; an audio-visual presentation that explores love and separation in a dark room with burning traces by Daniel Hui (Singapore); and a video crafted from photographs of more than 100 couples riding pillion on motorcycles in Bangkok by Lieko Shiga (Japan).
Spirits Melt to Flesh is held with the support of the Japan Foundation at Bangkok Kunsthalle. Running from 5 June to 4 October 2026, it is open from Wednesday to Sunday, between 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Admission is free.
The Preservation of Fire
15 May - 1 November 2026
the work of Akha artist Busui Ajaw, this exhibition conveys the narratives, culture, an d beliefs of the Akha people in the style of a "living archive" that not only preserves but also celebrates the cultural heritage of this ethnic group. The Akha live in the northern regions of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. In the face of change, their traditional ways of life—encompassing language, beliefs, and wisdom—are affected to the point of cultural amnesia.
The exhibition spans across two floors, presenting approaches to the preservation and revival of traditions fading with time. On the first floor, Akha textiles and everyday objects are on display to visualize ways of life and identities handed down from generation to generation. The second floor, meanwhile, features an "Akha house" disassembled in Chiang Rai and reassembled on-site. Complete with traces of actual use, it has a stove and farming tools, as well as soot still clinging to the ceiling. All these traces breathe life into the space rather than presenting it as a mere museum display.
As this art event fosters a dialogue among memory, transformation, loss, and the endurance of identity, audiences are invited to connect with the spiritual realm where the past remains embedded, awaiting reinterpretation in the present.
The Preservation of Fire Flesh is held at Bangkok Kunsthalle. Running from 15 May to 1 November 2026, it is open from Wednesday to Sunday, between 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Admission is free.
