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

Bangkok’s growing secondhand scene has another reason to gather as Use Loop Repeat 2026 returns to Open House at Central Embassy. Organised with Loopers, this year’s edition, ‘Designed by Her: Discover Stories Made to Matter’, celebrates women-led creativity through practical ideas rather than lofty statements. Opening day brings talks with Pancake Khemanit, Samich Petdee and Aim Phumipat, alongside workshops turning bottle caps, food waste and discarded packaging into everyday objects. More than 30 sustainable brands also set up shop. The three-week programme makes an easy stop whether you’re hunting for thoughtful design, browsing secondhand finds or escaping the afternoon heat. August 3-23. Free entry. Open House at Central Embassy. 10am-9pm

Japanese craftsmanship has long balanced painstaking technique with a playful streak, and The Superlative Artistry of Japan shows how little that has changed over the past 150 years. After touring internationally since 2017, the exhibition finally arrives in Thailand, bringing together Meiji-era masterpieces and contemporary design in one thoughtful survey. Rather than separating tradition from pop culture, the exhibition shows how the same careful approach continues to shape Japanese creativity across generations. July 25-August 23. Free entry. First floor, TCDC Bangkok. 10.30am-7pm

First staged in Cheongju Craft Biennale, this group exhibition arrives in Bangkok following a debut as the Invited Country Pavilion in Cheongju, South Korea. The project grows from an ongoing exchange between Thailand and the Republic of Korea, setting craft alongside contemporary art across Southeast and East Asia. At its core sits ‘Elastic Time’, a curatorial thread that questions how time behaves across the region. Forget neat timelines. Here, past, present and future overlap, repeat and quietly reshape one another. The Cheongju edition sets the tone as a cross-cultural conversation, where material, process and memory carry equal weight. Artists approach craft not as something fixed, but as a way to consider what unfolds now, and what might come next. Until August 16. Free. Jim Thompson Art Center. 10am-6pm

Three decades after Detective Conan first arrives on television, the long-running mystery series gets its first Southeast Asian anniversary exhibition. The show traces the anime's history from early sketches and storyboards to voice recording, music and final animation, offering a closer look at the work behind one of Japan's biggest franchises. Highlights include life-sized recreations of memorable scenes, a storyboard wall spanning 30 years and a screening room showing an exclusive anniversary film. Pick up an assigned collectible ticket on arrival, then finish with a browse through exclusive merchandise made specially for the exhibition. July 23-November 8. B250-900 via here. FreeAttraction Hall, ICONSIAM. 10am-9pm

An entire Akha house now stands in the middle of Bangkok, carefully dismantled from a village in northern Thailand and rebuilt piece by piece inside an art gallery. Roof panels, woven bedding, timber floors and weathered household objects all carry marks of the people who once lived among them, quietly tracing a way of life that grows more fragile with each passing generation. The Akha are an Indigenous ethnic group whose communities are spread across the mountains of northern Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and southern China, known for their intricate textiles, spiritual rituals and deep connection to land and ancestry. In recent decades, migration, tourism and rapid development have reshaped many of those traditions. Through memory, craftsmanship and personal histories, The Preservation of Fire by Busui Ajaw keeps those stories alive a little longer. May 15-November 1. Free entry. Bangkok Kunsthalle. 2pm-8pm

Bangkok Kunsthalle sets aside alternate Sundays for cinema in a new screening series curated by Rosalia Namsai Engchuan. Running through the second half of the year, Sunday Cinema pairs Thai classics with contemporary international films, celebrated masterpieces and overlooked titles that deserve more attention. The programme travels from post-war Japan and rural Thailand to the Amazon, Mongolia and modern Italy, returning to themes of love, work, migration, memory and community. It is a reminder that films from very different eras and places can still speak directly to life now. Every Sunday, from July 19-December 20. Free entry. Reserved via here. Bangkok Kunsthalle. 5.30pm

Road to Melt Festival brings together two of indie music’s most distinctive singer-songwriters, Matt Maltese and Phum Viphurit, for a night of intimate live music in Bangkok. With his bittersweet songwriting and heartfelt storytelling, Matt Maltese creates songs known for turning everyday emotions into beautifully honest lyrics that resonate deeply with listeners. The British-Italian singer-songwriter earned a loyal following with his charmingly melancholic style and captivating live performances.  Sharing the stage is Phum Viphurit, the Bangkok-born, New Zealand-raised singer-songwriter behind global hits like ‘Lover Boy’ and ‘Long Gone.’ With his laid-back charm, warm vocals and feel-good approach to songwriting, Phum has become one of Thailand’s most recognised indie artists, winning fans around the world with his effortlessly relatable sound. Together, they bring two distinct worlds of indie music from opposite sides of the globe together. August 16. B2,500 via here. Cloud 11 Hall. 7pm

Printmaking takes centre stage at the Maxnifier VI International Print Exhibition, bringing together artists from every continent for a wide-ranging survey of the medium. Woodcut, etching and lithography sit alongside contemporary techniques, showing how ink, paper and printing plates continue to shape personal stories and printing plates continue to carry personal stories and cultural identities. Each piece is presented as an original work rather than a reproduction, putting the precision, labour  and experimentation of the process firmly in view. It is also a rare chance to see artists from very different backgrounds push the same medium in strikingly different directions. Until August 15. Free entry. MMAD MunMun Srinakarin. 10.30am-7pm

Craft here reads like a way of staying present. The exhibition looks at time across Thailand and Southeast Asia as something layered and cyclical, shaped by ritual, labour and shared experience rather than strict progression. Makers move between past and present with a quiet ease, holding inherited knowledge while adjusting to what now demands. Objects carry that negotiation, each one marked by repetition. Slowness becomes intentional, offering an alternative to constant speed and easy consumption. Nothing feels rushed, yet nothing stands still either.  April 30-16 August. Free. Jim Thompson Art Center, 10am-6pm

Filipino artist BLIC returns with HARD SHIFTS, a new exhibition centred on his signature ‘Humand’ figures, using the familiar motif to consider how people adapt when life refuses to follow a tidy plan. Across paintings and mixed-media works, the artist explores resilience, uncertainty and quiet acceptance without dressing struggle up as triumph. Stress balls appear throughout the exhibition as recurring objects, offering moments of pause rather than easy solutions. Expect expressive colours, oversized hands and characters that keep moving despite the setbacks around them, reflecting everyday experiences that rarely come with neat endings. August 1-September 5. Free entry. Joyman Gallery. 11am-6pm