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

Bangkok starts 2026 with a familiar pleasure, bringing back the fourth edition of Bangkok Outdoor Cinema just as evenings turn comfortably cool. After consistently warm receptions, the series returns feeling confident rather than flashy. Over three consecutive weeks, three locations host open-air screenings alongside live music, panel conversations and food stalls representing different BMA districts. Film crews and creators also set up shop, turning each night into a loose meeting point rather than a fixed event. The first stop lands at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, with How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies on January 17, followed by My Boo Part 1 the next evening. Entry stays refreshingly free, which feels quietly radical.   January 17-18. Free. Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, 7pm

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

Baan Tepa’s annual gathering returns with the kind of ease that makes you want to clear an afternoon. It’s a meeting point for farmers, bakers, food producers, artisans and compost collectives who work closely with Baan Tepa across the country. The focus stays on connection, eating with a clearer sense of origin rather than shopping for the sake of it. Seasonal fruit and vegetables sit alongside handmade goods, while Chef Tam and the team cook special dishes that feel generous rather than showy. Visitors are encouraged to wander, chat with producers and taste as they go, picking up ingredients trusted by Michelin-listed kitchens for home use. Entry costs nothing, pets are welcome and the atmosphere remains unhurried. Come hungry, stay curious and leave with better food and a few good conversations.   January 17-18. Free. Baan Tepa, 10am-4pm

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

The Imprint Project opens its first chapter with a focus on marks that travel further than borders. Conceived as an international printmaking initiative, the idea is simple and generous: one country at a time, letting each exhibition carry its own cultural residue. This edition brings together 16 artists from Poland alongside works from Pracownia414 Studio, forming a conversation that moves through technique, texture and intention. Printmaking here isn’t treated as a historical footnote but as a living language shaped by social conditions and personal memory. Etchings, presses and layered surfaces reveal how identity settles on paper in quiet but deliberate ways. The project itself acts as a meeting point, linking artists across continents while offering audiences a chance to read the traces left behind. Not grand statements, but thoughtful impressions that reward close looking and patient attention.   Until January 30. Free. Arun Amarin 23 Art Space, 11am-4pm

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

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  

This feels like the sort of exhibition you stumble across on a slow afternoon and end up thinking about days later. Jean-Paul De Croux’s abstract paintings sit quietly, asking you to slow your pace and notice what’s happening on the surface. Inspired by the natural world, each canvas carries traces of time through layered marks, rough textures and gestures that feel both deliberate and instinctive. Light slips across the work in subtle ways, changing how colours behave and how forms settle. Emotion isn’t announced but sensed, like weather rolling in. Nothing here feels fixed or final. Memory, movement and material seem to shift depending on how long you stay with them. It’s less an exhibition to decode and more a moment to share, reflective without being precious and reassuringly human in its restraint.   Until February 8. Free. 5/F, Art Jewel, Siam Paragon, 10am-10pm

(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