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

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

Calling all book lovers and drink enthusiasts.  Bangkok’s chillest book festival returns with free entry across  10 leisurely days of reading, browsing and casual day drinking. Vistors are encouraged to settle in with a book and a cold drink while exploring craft markets, workshops, live music sessions and talks from fellow literary obsessives. Honestly, it feels less like a festival and more like a very well-organised excuse to keep adding books to your already dangerous reading pile while staying pleasantly hydrated.  June 26-July 5. Singha Complex. 11am-10pm

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

Kind Market offers a welcome alternative to spending another rainy weekend indoors. The community-focused gathering brings together local makers, independent labels and small businesses for an afternoon of browsing, eating and meeting like-minded people. Stalls are stocked with handmade goods, vintage finds, second-hand treasures and environmentally conscious products, while food vendors keep visitors fuelled with plant-based snacks and drinks. Conversations tend to linger as long as the shopping, with many people stopping to chat with creators about their work. Bring an empty tote bag and a little spare time, because a quick visit rarely stays that way. June 28. Free entry. EKM6. 10am onwards

June’s wet-weather forecast comes with a silver lining. Bangkok City Library in Phra Nakhon spends the month revisiting some of Thailand’s most significant cinematic treasures through a programme of free classic film screenings. The selection includes Santi-Vina (1954), the first Thai production to win an international prize, alongside enduring titles such as Forever Yours (1955), Hell Hotel (1957) and Sugar Is Not Sweet (1964). Many of these films hold a place in Thailand’s national film heritage, making this a rare chance to catch them on the big screen. Bring a national ID card or passport, grab a seat and spend a few hours in another era. June 7, 14, 21 and 28. Theater Room, Bangkok City Library. 4pm onwards

Long before phone cameras and endless image feeds, photography in Bangkok meant rolls of film, contact sheets and hours spent under the red glow of a darkroom. Inspired by the Vanishing Bangkok series, this programme revisits that period through photographs, conversations and hands-on demonstrations. Organised by Dib Bangkok with Bangkok Darkroom, one of the city's few remaining analogue photography spaces, the session brings together artists and collaborators connected to Surat’s work.  June 27. B850 via here. Gallery 2.3, Dib Bangkok. 2pm-4.30pm

(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

Yaowarat welcomes the Bangkok debut of Filipino artist and sculptor Jinggoy Buensuceso with Cosmic Bloom, an immersive solo exhibition taking over Luenrit. Known as one of the Philippines’ leading contemporary sculptors, Buensuceso builds large-scale installations from industrial materials, shaping them through an origami-inspired visual language that explores motion, tension and constant change. Spread across multiple levels, Cosmic Bloom follows a journey of entry, expansion and release. Here, sculpture becomes an environment to move through rather than something viewed from a distance. The result is a striking exploration of perception, consciousness and our place within the wider universe. June 4-July 28. Free entry. Luenrit Yaowarat. 9am-5pm

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

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.