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

By this point in the year, most of us have spent far too much time staring at screens. Art in the PARQ offers a welcome excuse to step away for a while. Organised by The PARQ Life and Groundcontrol, the ten-day festival fills the mixed-use development with installations, live music, workshops and conversations centred on rest and emotional wellbeing. Artist collective Eyedropper Fill creates a landscape of shifting light and ambient sound, while works by Yibso Ariyaganta sit alongside a free rock-painting activity for anyone craving a quieter moment. After office hours, live painting from Blue Dean and laid-back sets by GYPSHA take over. Weekends add an art market, wellbeing talks, food stalls and activities for four-legged companions. Jun 12-21. Free entry. The PARQ Life. 11am-8pm

At Avani Ratchada Bangkok, The City Is Never One Color turns the hotel’s public spaces into a photographic portrait of the neighbourhood, tracing stories of community, individuality and belonging through the colours woven across daily life. Created with Dr. Prachaya Piemkaroon and first-year students from Srinakharinwirot University’s College of Social Communication Innovation, the exhibition gathers more than 40 images across three chapters: When Colors Coexist, Quiet Colors and Balance. Together, they frame familiar streets, fleeting moments and shared spaces from fresh angles, revealing a district shaped not by one perspective, but by many. June 8-30. Free entry. Avani Ratchada Bangkok. All day.

Pride Month brings a compelling reason to make tracks for Yaowarat, where new contemporary gallery Adult Material opens its doors with Against the Grain on June 18. Tucked among the neighbourhood’s glowing alleyways, the inaugural exhibition assembles artists from Bangkok, Berlin, Singapore and New York whose work probes identity, masculinity and the stories societies tell about belonging. Across sculpture, photography, installation and design, inherited symbols take on fresh meaning while intimacy, desire and power come under scrutiny. Expect standout contributions from Shen Wei, Oat Montien, Dylan Chan, Gregor Jahner and Thyme Neelaphanakul, alongside plenty to spark conversation long after you leave. June 18-August 15. Free entry. Adult Material. 1pm-6pm

Few animated films carry the same emotional baggage as Toy Story, and House of Toy Story 5 banks on exactly that. Created as a celebration of Pixar’s beloved franchise, the limited-run experience shrinks visitors to toy-sized proportions with a giant recreation of Bonnie’s bedroom, complete with oversized furniture and playful photo opportunities. Keep an eye out for rare collectibles, including pieces from celebrity collections, while dedicated merchandise corners cater to anyone still attached to Woody, Buzz and the gang. Once the nostalgia kicks in, round off the day with a screening and relive the adventures that made these characters household names. June 15-25. Free entry. Outdoor Square C, CentralWorld. 10am-10pm

Fresh from its 19th edition earlier this year, the cult-favourite market returns for round 20 with a new indoor home at Pat Arena, the stomping ground of Port Futsal Club in Khlong Toei. Air-conditioning, tighter walkways and a more compact setup slightly change the energy, though regulars still come for the same reason: over 250 vendors selling vintage fashion, vinyl, handmade goods, books and wonderfully unnecessary things you absolutely do not need but somehow buy anyway.  Food stalls keep everyone fed, DJs soundtrack the day and stylish regulars roam the venue with equally stylish dogs trotting beside them. June 19-21. B160 at the door. Pat Arena. 1pm-11pm

Chatuchak’s latest weekend distraction arrives several storeys above the usual market crowds. Taking over the tenth-floor rooftop car park of S-Oasis, TRYSTER’s Tay Level 10 gathers more than 80 vendors for a laid-back mix of vintage fashion, secondhand finds, handmade goods, homeware and niche collectibles. Bangkok’s skyline provides the backdrop while DJs, drinks and pop-up activities keep the atmosphere lively without trying too hard. Better yet, the covered setting means a sudden monsoon shower barely registers. Whether you're hunting for a one-off treasure or simply killing a few hours, this rooftop market makes a strong case for heading north of the city centre. June 19-21. Free entry. 10th floor, S-Oasis. 3pm-10.30pm

Ireland’s greatest export might not be Guinness or green landscapes, but its writers. Marking Bloomsday, the annual celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses, this two-day festival considers how a small island nation continues to produce literary giants whose work resonates far from its shores. Conversations led by academics, translators and publishing figures explore the ideas, histories and cultural traditions that shape Irish storytelling, from Joyce’s modernist experiments to the contemporary voices of Claire Keegan and Sally Rooney. Highlights include a discussion of Keegan’s acclaimed Small Things Like These and a conversation with Irish Ambassador H.E. Pat Bourne. Best of all, admission costs nothing. June 20-21. Free entry. Jim Thompson Art Center. 11am onwards

Bangkok Kunsthalle hands over its cavernous industrial halls to Spirits Melt to Flesh, a striking group exhibition bringing together eight Asian artists under the curatorial direction of Sam I-shan. Working across moving image, sound, sculpture and photography, the artists  respond directly to the building’s rough architecture and layered history. Light flickers across concrete, voices drift through shadowy corners and small encounters appear around every turn. Rather than relying only on what the eye can catch, the show asks visitors to listen, feel and move through the former warehouse as an experience, not just an exhibition. June 5-October 4. Free entry. Bangkok Kunsthalle. 2pm-8pm

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

MunMun Srinakarin opens MMAD Gallery with six exhibitions from the first artists selected through the MMADness is Calling project, giving emerging names space to experiment across installation, sculpture, sound and textiles. Psyche and Flesh turns suffering and memory into tactile forms, while Upper’s What Lies on Top of the Mountain pairs animation, towering canvases and atmospheric audio to unpack the awkward quiet after intimacy. Elsewhere, Jhanyar’s 24/7 Objects reframes Bangkok’s pavements and everyday clutter with a sharply observant eye for city life. Steam Stream drifts through water and rice fields, Sunburn The Kid reconstructs discarded fabric into new textile works and Fish Are Friends introduces scrap-metal fish puppets for anyone carrying around a little low-level loneliness. May 7-June 21. Free. MMAD GALLERY. 11am-7pm