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

Marc Butler’s latest solo show, disappear here stepping through a cracked mirror. He builds a world shaped by human appetite, where spectacle teeters on the edge of collapse, never quite settling. Sculptures appear raw, almost unsettled, filled with distorted figures, hybrid symbols and fragments that feel oddly familiar. His material language stays direct, refusing polish, which gives each piece a kind of restless energy. Installations spread outward, forming spaces that feel immersive yet slightly uneasy, as if everything exists on repeat. References to consumerism, power and stylised violence slip through without announcement. Moments of dark humour sit beside something more pointed, asking quiet questions about participation.  April 21-May 23. Fakafei Gallery, 10.30am-6.30am

Coffee in Italy rarely stands alone. It arrives with ritual, design and a certain sense of theatre, and Passione Italiana: L’Arte dell’Espresso leans fully into that idea. Curated by Elisabetta Pisu with Distortion Studio, the exhibition brings historic espresso machines together with sculptural objects that trace how coffee shapes daily life. Alessandro Mendini’s playful designs sit alongside rare pieces from the Mumac museum, each carrying its own story of craft and innovation. Talksopen up conversations around culture, sustainability and ritual, with speakers including Tomaso Mannu and Massimiliano Marchesi. In the evenings, the mood softens into Jazz & Coffee sessions, where Bruno Brugnano joins the Bangkok New Trio for sets that pair sound with aroma in a quietly absorbing way. April 24-May 12. Free. Nextopia, Siam Paragon. 10am-7pm

Passakorn Pachana turns his gaze seaward with Sea Reverie, a solo show that hovers between recollection and shifting tide. Each canvas captures a fleeting state – a storm gathering, a lull settling, light changing by the hour – so the view never quite holds still. Colour does most of the emotional work, moving from brooding swells to calmer stretches, while the shoreline slips between the tangible and the imagined. Anemones, shells, fish and birds thread through like half-remembered details. Spend time here and the horizon begins to echo something closer to home, as if each scene carries a mood you recognise but can’t quite place. Until May 3. Free. KYLA Gallery and Wine Bar. 3pm-midnight

sits firmly in the category of places you keep having to return to. But this time, it feels different. The concept leans on the ocean after dark, when sunlight disappears and whole ecosystems carry on unseen. You wander through shifting light, sometimes above the waterline, sometimes beneath it, with bioluminescent creatures flickering softly around you. Details keep catching your eye. A neon wall answers your touch with imagined marine life. Seahorses glow under tinted light, rainforest corners bloom with luminous flora, and a quiet full moon hangs over goldfish. In the shark tunnel, silver ripples mimic night tides, while Gentoo penguins stand beneath drifting northern lights. Even the familiar route feels refreshed, with a small stamp trail guiding the way. Until September 20. Starts at B449 via here. SEA LIFE Bangkok

Closing the summer season with a bang, Sarran and Kaenkrung have put together a limited-run tasting built around khao chae – Thailand’s very unique royal summer dish – and the history of the Wat Arun neighbourhood. The experience plays out as a multi-course set, starting with traditional snacks before moving into the hero khao chae course, inspired by the architecture and prangs of Wat Arun, a long-standing symbol of Thonburi. From there, the meal continues through classic Thai elements, ending on a more decorative, dessert-led note. It is as much about storytelling as it is about the food, with each course echoing a piece of local history or cultural reference. May 2-3. Early bird B1,950 per person, regular B2,500. Kaenkrung, Arunamarin, Bangkok Noi. Advance booking required. From 5pm

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

For something more decadent, Consul Caviar Club turns Sunday afternoons into a drawn-out affair with a caviar-focused tea set paired with champagne and cocktails. The menu moves between light pastries and richer bites, from blinis and smoked Tasmanian salmon to wagyu puffs and seafood-led snacks, with caviar carried through the experience in different forms. You can keep things classic with tea and a glass of something sparkling, or take it further with cocktail pairings or a bottle of champagne if the mood calls for it. This works best when you are not in a rush, more about letting the afternoon stretch on its own terms. From B3,200++ per person. The Consul Club, 30/F, JLK Tower. Advance booking recommended. Every Sunday, 1.30pm-5pm

Grey rarely settles comfortably within beauty. It lingers between light and dark, feeling and logic, never fully choosing a side. In In the Midst of Gray, Chainarong follows that in-between state through Chawky, a character who carries the quiet weight of growing up without quite knowing how to answer their own emotions. Encounters pass, connections form, affection deepens, then shifts. Not everything finds resolution. Some moments blur, others stay unexpectedly sharp. Chawky moves through this uncertainty with a kind of soft detachment, as if standing just outside their own story. The works feel reflective without becoming heavy. They ask simple questions that don’t quite settle: which memories stay brightest, and why do certain feelings refuse to fade, even as everything else slowly recedes? Until May 3. Free. Supples Gallery, 11am-6pm

‘Preserve, Maintain, and Extend’ sounds almost instructional, yet the White Elephant Art Competition treats it as an open question. Artists answer in their own language, moving freely across form and surface. Among the works that linger, Branches of the Era by Theerapol Seesang carries a steady gravity, while Doi Ang Khang by Boonmee Saengkham leans closer to memory and place. Recognition matters, but it never overwhelms the wider conversation. Each year, this show marks a subtle shift, where technique evolves and ideas stretch, leaving visitors with something to sit with long after. Until May 17. Free. Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, 10am-8pm

Thanwa Huangsmut takes familiar expectations and quietly pulls them apart, piece by piece. His paintings rely on instinct as much as discipline, balancing assured brushwork with colour that feels almost unruly at first glance. Figures seem caught mid-shift, held between movement and control, as if testing how much space they can claim for themselves. The question lingers without insisting on an answer: do we truly own our lives, or simply perform within inherited limits? Each canvas suggests a different response, shaped through texture, rhythm and carefully measured composition. What stays with you is less a conclusion and more a feeling, a quiet encouragement to stand firm, to choose deliberately, and to carry that choice with a certain grace. Until May 3. Free. Joyman Gallery, 11am-6pm