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

Bangkok welcomes 2026 with a knowing wink as Muse Anime Festival sets up at JAM SPACE, a familiar meeting point for pop culture devotees. This is less trade fair, more shared obsession. Fourteen anime titles spread across 17 photo zones turn fandom into a walk-through experience, complete with oversized sets and scenes designed for lingering rather than rushing. Expect towering inflatables of Momo and Okarun from DAN DA DAN plus Rimuru, the eternally cheerful slime, looming large for cameras. Beyond the visuals, shelves fill with officially licensed pieces and harder-to-find imports, tempting even the disciplined collector. Food gets its own moment too, thanks to a themed cafe riffing on SPY x FAMILY and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.    January 10-March 29. Free. 4/F, MBK Centre, 11am-9pm

Hope has a strange way of finding you when you least expect it, usually while you’re still adjusting your fringe in a mirrored wall. This exhibition leans into that feeling, pairing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with digital worlds that nudge you towards a lighter mood. The guide is Blossom Bloo, a soft-glowing creature with its loyal Seed, both drifting through scenes that chart the rhythms of a life lived in four chapters. The route begins at The Flower Shop, where you design a tiny seed that reappears later as part of a vast installation. Summer stretches out in a field of towering blooms, autumn follows with a golden oak shedding leaves that respond to your steps, then winter quietens everything with pale light and drifting snow. Spring closes the journey with a sweep of colour that feels a bit like exhaling after holding your breath too long.   Until March 10 2026. B450-990 via here. 6/F, Iconsiam, 10.30am-9pm

Czech contemporary art gets a brief, welcome stretch in Bangkok with the return of Jan Bican. Known for treating streets, bodies and public space as his canvas, he brings new works that feel quietly confrontational without raising their voice. Light plays a central role, cutting through shadows and reflections, asking you to slow down and actually look. Bican’s pieces often sit between opposing ideas: exposure and privacy, intimacy and distance, softness and control. That tension gives the work its emotional charge. Seen far from its European context, the effect sharpens rather than softens. You notice how easily the themes travel, how little translation they need. It invites wandering, second glances and the occasional pause mid-step, which might be the point.   January 3-28. Free. Vanich House Bangkok, 10.30am-6pm

(In)visible Presence opens Dib Bangkok with a quiet confidence. Think a painted gust of wind, music shaped by half-remembered summers and the soft trace of herbal medicine lingering longer than expected. The show asks how we hold on to what matters when it cannot be seen, while also nodding to the many people, some now gone, who helped turn this museum from idea to place. Drawn from a collection built across three decades and widened through fresh collaborations, the exhibition gathers 81 works by 40 contemporary artists, several new to Thailand. Sound, scent and light do much of the talking. Across three floors, everyday materials shift, memories blur and imagination fills the gaps. A special focus on Montien Boonma closes the journey, offering space for reflection, healing and a slower way of looking. December 21-August 3 2026. B150-700 via here. Dib Bangkok, 10am-6pm

The second solo exhibition by Thai artist Krittin Kaewyongphang, better known as Condo Ceramics, feels like a quiet conversation rather than a statement. Curated by Jason Yang, the show leans on ceramics and illustration to talk about memory, self-acceptance and the value of taking one’s time. Titled Fire Me Slowly, the work reflects Krittin’s own path as an LGBTQ individual, shaped by gradual understanding rather than sudden revelation. Ceramic figures appear soft yet stubborn, joined by monster-like characters that refuse neat labels or fixed identities. They exist comfortably, without apology or explanation. Nothing here asks to be hurried. Growth unfolds at its own speed, gently and without pressure. The exhibition suggests that arriving is overrated anyway. Staying present, slightly unfinished and fully yourself, might be the point worth holding onto.   January 10-February 9. Free. GalileOasis Gallery, 9am-8pm

Sunday evening gets a generous dusting of sparkle, guided by the magnificent Amadiva, who hosts with warmth and a knowing wink. The night unfolds through a run of drag performances from Amora, SHORTGUN, Lady Judy, Nonny Majoriga and Sasha Lee, with the promise of surprises keeping everyone alert. Shows land at 9.30pm, 10.30pm and 11.30pm, leaving just enough time to refill a glass and gossip. Earlier hours lean social. From 5pm-8pm, selected handrolls and drinks arrive in generous pairs. Expect spicy salmon, maitake tempura, maguro zuke and indulgent wagyu variations, washed down with gin, beer, wine, vodka or umeshu. It is celebratory without being forced, glamorous without trying too hard. The sort of Sunday that reminds you Monday can wait.   Every Sunday, Free. Reserve via 088-665-9986. Kaiwa, 5pm onwards  

Sunday nights take a different shape when a dance floor fills with 140 to 180 bodies moving for the same reason. It starts earlier with free workshops split between beginners and open level, easing everyone onto the same rhythm before the lights drop. By the time special guests step up, the room feels loose, confident and ready to keep going. Not everyone needs to dance all evening. A free chill area sits nearby for friends, spectators and anyone catching their breath. Professional cameras quietly document the night without getting in the way, while generous fans keep things bearable when the floor heats up. Complimentary parking at the Sheraton helps too. It feels organised without being stiff, sociable without trying too hard. A weekly ritual that knows how to balance movement, rest and the pleasure of staying out later than planned.   Every Sunday. B300-400 at the door. amBar Bangkok, 8pm onwards

At this exhibition, the first section turns its attention to Korea’s Demilitarised Zone, a strip of land that has carried the weight of an unfinished war since the armistice paused the conflict in 1953. Spread across 248km, with two narrow bands flanking the Military Demarcation Line, it has remained largely untouched for about 70 years. The exhibition doesn’t retell history as much as reframe it, pairing archival echoes with scenes shaped by nature’s quiet resilience. With people kept out, the land has healed in its own stubborn way, giving rise to wetlands, wildflowers and animals that rarely appear elsewhere. What you get is a portrait of a place suspended between past and renewal, still holding its breath yet defiantly alive.   Until February 22 2026. Free. 7/F, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, 10am-8pm

If you should find yourself feeling all jazzed out, head over to Soi 88 for a cold beer instead. Woodstock Bar is a watering hole where you can experience another pillar of Americana roots music, the blues. Nightly jam sessions riffing on the classic 12-bar template are led by bar-owner and local guitar hero Ped Bluesman, with his band, The Blues Cats.     Everynight. Free. Woodstock Bar, 4pm-midnight 

Gallery VER’s 20th anniversary lands with a show that feels a bit like opening an old photo album and finding the pages humming. Rirkrit Tiravanija, the gallery’s co-founder, takes on curating duties for The Abyss Is Calling, gathering 47 artists who have shaped its story. The result leans less on nostalgia and more on tuning into the echoes left by two decades of shared rooms, late-night installs and conversations that stayed long after closing time. More than 50 works span painting, sculpture, installation, video and fragments from the archive. Together, they form a kind of collective memory, mapping the relationships between artists, curators, collectors and visitors. Walking through it feels like catching whispers from the past, a reminder of how art spaces hold people as much as objects.   Until January 31 2026. Free. Gallery VER, midday-6pm