Our picks for the best things to do in Bangkok this weekend

Connection is rarely tidy and almost never quiet, which is precisely why this exhibition lingers in the mind long after you leave it. Spread across the room are 74 photographs shaped by the eyes of 30 photographers and the steady hands of 20 riggers Each image holds a moment where bodies, wires and emotion collide. The pictures move between tenderness and strain, showing how intimacy can sharpen or soften depending on the angle. Some frames feel like overheard confessions, others resemble scenes from a play that never made it to stage. Together they form a study of human expression that refuses to settle for easy sentiment. Instead the show leans toward tension as a kind of truth, suggesting that connection is born as much from friction as it is from comfort. Until November 30. Free. Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, 10am-8pm

Central Chidlom has decided to suspend reality for a moment and turn its ground floor into something resembling a spell gone slightly rogue. For a short run, the space becomes a portal to the world of Wicked: For Good, inviting visitors to wander through a virtual reconstruction of scenes that once belonged only to cinema screens and fan forums. Elphaba and Glinda reappear as if mid-conversation, their long-tangled histories rendered in glowing detail that feels both theatrical and strangely intimate. The installation ends with the film’s sweeping conclusion, a final gesture that slips between spectacle and sentiment, leaving you unsure where the illusion stops. Until November 30. Free. Central Chidlom, 10am-10pm

PLAY art house and Rosewood Bangkok have teamed up for their first artistic collaboration, shining a spotlight on Song Wat Road through the eyes of local creators. This exhibition peels back the layers of one of the city's most storied neighbourhoods, where century-old shophouses sit alongside slick new cafes. It brings together artists working across different styles and media, each capturing the peculiar magic of this never-sleeping street. You'll find pieces inspired by everything from the cracks in ancient tiles to chance encounters outside family-run businesses that have been serving the same customers for generations. It's essentially a love letter to Song Wat Road's beautiful contradictions – the way trendy cocktail bars nestle beside traditional Chinese medicine shops, and how morning market chaos gives way to evening temple rituals. Proper neighbourhood storytelling at its finest. Until January 11, 2026.  3/F, Rosewood Bangkok, The Gallery, 9am-9pm

Graffiti Social Club started as a Taiwanese gathering back in 2019 and has now made its way to Thailand for the first time. Founded by curator REACH, this isn't your average street art showcase – it's a proper celebration of how graffiti has grown from underground rebellion to a legitimate global art movement. Over the past six years, the platform has popped up in major museums and galleries across Taiwan, giving local spray-can wielders a chance to rub shoulders with the international scene. This Thailand debut brings together 12 acclaimed artists from Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Europe and, naturally, Thailand itself.  Until January 4, 2026. Free. River City Bangkok, 10am-8pm

Cat Radio’s annual festival has grown into a rite of passage for anyone curious about Thailand’s music scene. It celebrates the artists who might not dominate the charts but shape the sound of a generation, a playground for discovery and genuine joy. Across the weekend, stages showcase a range of Thai talent, from up-and-coming bands to familiar favourites, each set carrying its own quirky energy. Between performances, a marketplace hums with activity, where vinyl, merch and rare finds invite browsing and conversation. It’s less about spectacle and more about connection – dancing close enough to strangers to feel the music in your chest, laughing over shared discoveries and leaving with memories that stick. The festival honours the ‘little people’ of music, proving that magic lives in corners often overlooked. November 29-30. B499 via here. Siam Amazing Park, midday-11pm

Pnk.ff's second solo exhibition celebrates everything we usually try to sweep under the rug – the fumbles, the messes, the moments when life doesn't quite go to plan. Rather than hiding these beautifully awkward bits of being human, the artist drags them out and gives them proper gallery treatment. What you'll find here are personal, clumsy snapshots transformed through playful and humorous artworks that feel refreshingly honest. It's essentially an invitation to laugh at your own stumbles whilst recognizing that these wonky moments are what make ordinary stories genuinely memorable. Because let's be real, some days simply refuse to go smoothly, and often it's precisely those off-kilter experiences that stick with us longest. Until December 27. Free. KICH Ari Space, midday-7pm

After a fully packed debut earlier this year, Bangkok is set for a three-day deep dive into acoustic roots music, celebrating bluegrass, Irish trad and old-time tunes. Rare live in Thailand, these sounds feel like secret treasures when they appear, and the festival promises to uncover them in full. Friday, November 28, opens with The Welcome Jam, an intimate session where local players meet visiting musicians, each style given its moment to shine, all accompanied by canapes and free-flow drinks. Saturday, November 29, The Gathering fills the day with Thai and international acts, including standout headliners from last year, alongside food and drink for purchase. Sunday, November 30, Songs and Stories guides listeners from the green hills of Ireland to early America, ending with a communal finale that lingers long after the last chord. November 28-30. B900-2,999 via here. Public House Bangkok.

Malee Naree, also known as Watcharakoranan Panya, paints like she’s decoding human contradiction. In her exhibition In Layers, each piece slips between tenderness and tenacity, dream and daylight, revealing how the human spirit is stitched together with both grit and grace. The closing work, I Am a Robot, plays with the edges of identity, asking what happens when technology starts to mimic our emotions a little too well. Yet beneath the metallic glint lies something deeply human. Until November 30. Free. Blacklist Gallery, 10am-6pm

Japanese street artist Aruta Soup makes his significant Thai solo debut with work that refuses to take itself too seriously – a rarity in contemporary art spaces that often mistake solemnity for depth. His paintings marry free-flowing linework with colours that practically vibrate off the canvas, capturing a specific kind of joyful energy that feels increasingly difficult to manufacture. At the centre sits ‘ZERO,’ his bandaged rabbit character who's become something of a mascot for optimism despite looking like he's recently survived something unfortunate. The rabbit represents fresh starts and hope, which sounds almost painfully earnest until you see how Aruta Soup renders it: with enough playfulness to undercut any potential schmaltz. It's street art that's migrated indoors without losing its original spirit – still accessible, still speaking to connection rather than exclusion. November 8-December 21. Free. Maison JE Bangkok, 11am-7pm

Sauce's latest exhibition picks apart the performance we all put on daily – that carefully curated smile, the ‘good person’ act we maintain to meet societal expectations, the emotional mask we wear because power structures demand it. His works treat the smile not as genuine happiness but as a shield concealing suffocated feelings and identities crushed by systems that control both body and mind. Building on his 2023 solo show Exoskeleton, which examined the concept of Body under Body – essentially the shell encasing your true self – this series pushes further. What happens when orchestrated expression becomes so automatic you forget what's real? When politeness transforms from choice to survival mechanism? Sauce's pieces force you to confront how we've all become masters at performing emotions on command, smiling through gritted teeth whilst our actual selves remain buried beneath layers of social conditioning. Uncomfortable viewing, perhaps, but bracingly honest. Until November 30. Free. Joyman Gallery, 11am-6pm