Kaweewat Siwanartwong

The rain is turning up almost every evening, so Bangkok’s wet season is well and truly here. Need an excuse to duck the next downpour? Go gallery hopping. August’s art calendar is packed with reasons to head out, from major openings and long-awaited reunions to hands-on installations and quietly compelling solo shows. Several new creative spaces are opening their doors, too, while standout exhibitions continue their runs. Got an hour between coffee stops or a whole Saturday afternoon to spare? These are the exhibitions to catch across Bangkok this month. Need more ideas? Browse our guides to Bangkok’s best bars, restaurants, parks, galleries and interviews, or start ticking off the best things to do in Bangkok. Regular gallery-goer or just art-curious? Follow our guide to live the art life. From alleyway masterpieces and paint-splashed corners hiding in plain sight, seek out Bangkok’s top spots to see street art. Subscribe to our free Time Out Bangkok newsletter and get the best of the city delivered straight to your inbox.

Another working week disappears in a flash, which means it's time to make proper use of the weekend. Gallery-hopping? Dancing till your feet give up? Wandering the city with something delicious in hand? The choice is yours. We've rounded up the best exhibitions, markets, parties and pop-ups worth adding to your plans, so all you need to decide is where to start. It's also your last chance to catch Ong Ang Walking Street before another weekend slips by. Spend the evening wandering beside the restored canal, stopping for old-school Thai snacks, vintage finds and murals that brighten the old neighbourhood after sunset. If you'd rather stay indoors, The Superlative Artistry of Japan pairs Meiji-era craftsmanship with contemporary design, proving that meticulous handiwork still shapes everything from lacquerware to the hyper-realistic food models found outside Japanese restaurants. Fancy something more interactive? RETROTECH SERIES: Player You transforms visitors into pixelated game characters, while Detective Conan 30th Anniversary TV Series Exhibition celebrates one of anime's biggest success stories with original storyboards, recreated scenes and exclusive anniversary displays.  As night falls, Octave Maze Live fills a former film studio with experimental sound performances, or head to Bart Temp where Seoul collective Lazberry makes its Bangkok debut with a club night centred on community and carefully selected music. If slowing down sounds more appealing than staying up late,

Vinyl ruled the way we listened long before streaming put millions of songs at our fingertips. Yet the warmth and crackle of a needle hitting the groove still draw collectors and casual listeners back to something a playlist cannot quite replicate. Listening bars are flourishing around the world, and Bangkok is no exception. New spots keep appearing down sois and above shophouses, paying as much attention to turntables, valve amplifiers and acoustics as to what lands in your glass. Everything is tuned for switching off and listening properly.  Whether you collect rare pressings, simply love a good song or fancy a change from the usual after-work haunt, few things beat watching a record turns slowly through the night becomes one of those small, perfect hours. That's the whole appeal. We round up 14 vinyl bars around Bangkok that stand out for their atmosphere, their selections and their pours. Pick the one that catches your eye, and go make a night of it. Still undecided? Turn to our guides to Bangkok’s best bars, restaurants, parks and galleries, or consult our bucket list of the best things to do in Bangkok. Map out the rest of this month with our guide to what’s on, and keep an eye on our picks of Bangkok’s best things to do. Subscribe to our free newsletter for the best of Bangkok, straight to your inbox.

Fried chicken belongs to everyone. From the United States to Korea and Taiwan, almost every country and culture has a version. But ask Bangkok diners where Thailand’s best comes from and one answer rises above the rest – Hat Yai.You know the type: skin that shatters, meat still steaming underneath and fried shallots piled so high they border on showing off, with sticky rice to catch whatever survives. It is Southern Thailand’s great contribution to the fried chicken canon, and the rest of the country has happily claimed it.The strange part is that half of Bangkok advertises Hat Yai fried chicken, yet very little tastes as it should. The marinade lacks depth, the oil goes tired or the shallots come straight from a packet. Anyone raised down south can tell in one bite.We went looking for the real deal. Four proper Hat Yai and Songkhla-style specialists made the cut, joined by one Bangkok fried chicken institution too good to leave out.Order at the counter, wait for the batch that is still spitting and eat with your hands. Obviously.   What is it?Hat Yai fried chicken begins long before the oil gets hot. Garlic, coriander root and white pepper worked are worked into the meat, which is left to marinate for hours before frying to a deep gold: crisp skin outside, juicy flesh within. Unlike fried chicken that depends on the dip, the seasoning runs through the meat – peppery, savoury and faintly herbal. Crisp, sweet fried shallots are scattered over the top by the fistful. Att a road

 What beats a margarita or two after a long day? Not much, honestly. And this month, Bangkok gets a whole run of them. PATRÓN launches Margarita Your Way, a month-long love letter to the world's most famous tequila cocktail, on now until July 31 and turning the city loose on flavour, discovery and a proper bit of self-expression. The heart of it all sits on the M Floor of Siam Paragon, where the Margarita Your Way Pop-Up poses one simple question. Which one are you?  Four personalities set the tone – classic, fruity, spicy and cool – each a different attitude, a different flavour, a different way of drinking. Are you the purist? The fruity show-off? The one who orders a chilli rim and dares the table to keep up? Photograph: PATRÓNMargarita Your Way Come Friday evening, the guest shifts hand space to some of Bangkok's sharpest bartenders, who reimagine the drink their own way. And the fun spills out across town. All July, PATRÓN teams up with a hand-picked cast of bars, restaurants, hotels and lifestyle spots. Sunset rooftops, buzzy nightlife dens, tucked-away cocktail hideaways and plush hotel lounges – each one shaking up its own take on the classic. So, thirsty yet? Here’s where to go.

When it comes to art and exhibitions, Bangkok has a lot. From poky little independent spaces to avant-garde galleries and the big crowd-pleasing museums, the city brims with shows that perplex, challenge, inspire, educate and leave you thoroughly awestruck. The trouble is, there's an absolute mountain to get through. Too much, you might say. So we're here to tell you where to spend your precious time. Whether you're a bona fide art connoisseur or simply the type who likes to stand about looking pensive in front of a canvas (we've all done it), these galleries promise to inspire and entertain in equal measure. So if you're wondering what's genuinely worth a trip across town, start right here. Have a browse through the best museum exhibitions and art in Bangkok at the moment, take your pick and make a day of it. We refresh this list regularly, so do pop back regularly for our latest and greatest picks.Stay one step ahead and map out your plans with our round-up of the best things to do in Bangkok. Whether you're a regular gallery-goer or just art-curious, these are Bangkok’s best spots to live the art life. From alleyway masterpieces to paint-splashed corners you might walk past without noticing, here are our top spots to see street art.

You've probably seen the look before you've heard the name. The head tilts back, the eyes go wide, there's a held beat of silence, and then the camera swings up to a neon skyline or a stretch of white sand. The man doing the looking is Travis Leon Price, and at 35, the Donegal-born creator has spent the last five years in Bangkok, amassing more than 500,000 followers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram who tune in for that signature slow, upward gaze of awe before a skyline or a shoreline reveals itself. Photograph: Travis LeonTime Out Bangkok His tagline, 'Bringing you the magic of Asia', sounds like marketing until you realise he means every word of it. He has slept in a 24-hour Chinese spa for the price of a takeaway, crawled the bars of Yaowarat and built a whole second life on an iPhone and a refusal to film anything corny. As busy as you would imagine, we never actually speak on the phone. The whole conversation is over WhatsApp, his replies are in clusters from elsewhere while Bangkok goes grey around me, then the little 'typing…' that flickers and stalls and starts again. He writes the way he talks on camera: warm, fast, unbothered by punctuation, a 'haha' dropped in before he's finished a thought. So, everyone, pour yourself a rooftop something and settle in. What follows is a love letter to a city that refuses to let him leave. Photograph: Travis LeonTime Out Bangkok A long way from a famine village Donegal to Thailand is not exactly a casual commute, and Travi

Lesbian venues aren't exactly a dime a dozen in Bangkok. The city does a roaring trade in bars and clubs that pull a mainly gay and bi male crowd, yet permanent spaces built for queer women, or trans and non-binary folk, remain frustratingly thin on the ground. You can count the long-running ones on one hand and still have fingers spare. Happily, the tide turns. Social media crowns this the year of the 'Lesbian Renaissance', and Bangkok plays its part with gusto. A growing roster of roving club nights now fills the gap, popping up across Sukhumvit, Silom and beyond the usual haunts, each one carving out a proper safe space where queer women party on their own terms. Discrimination gets left firmly at the door, the line-ups skew fresh and local and the welcome runs warm. Some come monthly, some quarterly, a few keep their locations hush until the last minute, half the fun is the chase. So whether you fancy sweaty basement raves, sapphic disco or a low-key spot to nurse a beer and make connections, the scene finally delivers. Hunting for your new favourite haunt? Here's our pick of the bunch. These venues span everything from dancing clubs to cosy bars and they're all genuinely welcoming to all genders

Some drinks work like a key. Ask any writer hunched over a keyboard at midnight, chasing the messy business of being human, and you may hear something similar: sometimes the second glass loosens what the first one couldn’t. Literature and drinking have long kept close company. Some writers turned bars into second homes. Others wrote about them as places of exile, romance, loneliness, glamour or escape. And a few, before the books made their names, worked behind or around the bar themselves. So here's a round-up, inspired by Koktail Kuisine's list, of Bangkok bars with a literary streak. Some wear the theme boldly. Others keep it tucked into the wallpaper, the music, the mood or the way a cocktail arrives like a sentence someone has worked on for hours. Book lover? Cocktail snob? These are your places.

We arrive on Decho Road in the afternoon, the sun still strong outside but the air pressure dropping, hinting that rain is on its way. It is unusual to be here before opening time, so we slip in through the back door and climb the stairs to a wine bar. In this wine bar, a small cinema is hidden behind curtained walls on the floor above and the dusty smell of old parquet fills our senses. That, near enough, is the whole idea. Photograph: Lalitphat BumrungkarnSala Saneha At a moment when independent picture houses around town are quietly going dark, Natchanon 'Vana' Vana, Pakapol 'Meang' Srirongmuang and Dit Thanasresthavilai have chosen to walk the other way. They have taken things they love – movies, wine, food and books – and poured them into a close-to decade old building, with help from more than a dozen friends drawn from the world of entertainment and art.  The result is Sala Saneha, a place built on the faintly old-fashioned conviction that going out to the pictures ought to feel like romance again. Photograph: Lalitphat BumrungkarnSala Saneha I met the three of them upstairs in the bookshop, on soft chairs among the wood – cladding the walls, forming the bookshelf, the floor, the table, the chairs – and as the early afternoon light came through the leaves just outside the windows, we began to talk. Photograph: Lalitphat BumrungkarnSala Saneha A building with several past lives What was clear, is how exact they are about the conditions. The venue could not disturb

June marks the official start of Pride Month, though anyone paying attention knows the celebrations rarely stay contained to four weeks. Across Bangkok, galleries, clubs, restaurants and public spaces roll out programmes honouring LGBTQIA+ communities while making room for protest, conversation and the simple joy of taking up space together. Some gatherings lean political. Others just want you dancing under disco lights until midnight. Both matter. This year's line-up covers everything from large-scale parades and drag showcases to film screenings, speed dating nights and art festivals built around queer storytelling. One evening might find you watching voguing performances above the city skyline, another screaming sapphic pop lyrics in a crowded bar off Silom Road. Rainbow branding arrives right on cue every June, but Pride carries far more weight than a seasonal marketing campaign. Its history is political, personal and deeply tied to communities still fighting for safety, visibility and equality. So whether you’re here for the parties, the performances or the people, these are the Pride events worth adding to your calendar this month. Joining the Bangkok Pride parade? Here's everything you need to know before showing up.

We keep this article updated regularly to make sure everything stays accurate and current, pop back anytime for the latest. So 2025 was pretty huge for live music in Bangkok, wasn't it? We had Doja Cat, BLACKPINK, TV Girl, The Smashing Pumpkins and Tyler, The Creator all gracing stages across the city. Not a bad lineup. The good news? 2026 is looking just as packed. Alright, Oasis might not be on the cards just yet, but there's still a serious roster of artists lined up to play Bangkok stadiums and arenas over the coming months. And rumour has it even more big names are yet to announce tours like BTS. Givēon, Central Cee, Taeyong, Kraftwerk... the list goes on. Whether you're into R&B, grime, K-pop or electronic legends, there's something coming your way. Here are the best major gigs heading to the capital this year.  

Art festivals often ask you to stand back and observe. UNFEST’26 wants you to join in. Returning through a collaboration between Unformat and Cloud 11, it brings artists, designers, developers and technologists together around real-time technology. Expect immersive dome screenings, interactive simulations, live performances, virtual-production sets and LED installations that respond as visitors move through the space. Technology is treated as a creative tool rather than a gimmick, with the festival examining how it is changing the way art is made and experienced. More events and workshops will be announced ahead of the main festival, so keep this one on your radar. Now-September 13. Check the schedule here. Second floor, room 218, Cloud 11.

Every Ari regular carries a different map of the neighbourhood: perhaps a long-gone coffee shop, a shortcut down a quiet lane or the house passed each morning on the way to the BTS. Maps of Memories turns those personal recollections into Ari’s first community-made exhibition, inviting residents and visitors to sketch directly onto a shared map. Organised by Puenban Ari, the project draws on psychogeography to explore how everyday experience binds emotion to place. Pick up a blank map around the neighbourhood or download one at home, then return it by August 18 to help createa portrait of Ari shaped by the people who know it best. August 22-September 2. Free entry. Numthong Art Space. 11am-6pm

Rain can send everyone running for cover, then slow the city down enough for us to notice pavement reflections or water tapping against a window. Chulalongkorn University’s In the Rain starts with that familiar experience, drawing on the university’s art collection to explore memory, uncertainty, hope and quiet reflection. A suspended rain-cloud installation sets the scene. Visitors can add their own rainy-day thoughts and read short essays on the link between weather and emotion. Thoughtful and gently immersive, it feels made for Bangkok’s wet season. Now-October 6. Free entry. Chula Museum. 9am-4.30pm

Urban Collectibles returns for its fifth edition under the theme Moving City, taking over guest suites and shared spaces of The StandardX, Bangkok Phra Arthit instead of a conventional white-walled gallery. Paintings, limited-edition art toys and collectible design pieces appear among beds, bookshelves and living rooms, showing how art can sit within everyday life rather than behind glass. Galleries and creative studios including Art Zone Asia, gallery. sort of., Boo X Project, Ming Art Space and Street Star Gallery, round out one of Bangkok’s most intriguing showcases of contemporary urban art. August 7-9. Free entry. The StandardX, Bangkok Phra Arthit. 1pm-9pm

George Kongmark’s SUPERNOVA brings together more than 60 installations, videos, performances, paintings and collaborative works in the artist’s largest solo show to date. The body becomes a lens for exploring memory, identity, desire and self-acceptance, with each gallery approaching those ideas from a different angle. The title refers to a star’s life cycle, using dramatic change as a metaphor for personal transformation rather than pure spectacle. August’s accompanying programme includes artist talks, workshops, guided tours and life-drawing sessions, giving visitors more ways to engage with the work. August 6-29. Free entry. 6060 Arts Space (White and Black Buildings)

The photographer Chaiyos Pinpradab returns with his first solo exhibition in 20 years, bringing together 114 handcrafted film photographs from a 150-day road trip through southern Thailand. Travelling from Pran Buri to Narathiwat between September 2024 and January 2025, he captured everyday life, distinctive architecture and quiet landscapes with remarkable patience. The series takes its cue from ‘Golden Chersonese’, an ancient name for the Malay Peninsula. Shot on a Hasselblad XPan panoramic film camera, each image rewards close inspection, while traditional darkroom printing preserves subtle shifts of light, texture and tone. The result celebrates the region without romanticising it. Now-August 9. Free entry. Fifth floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. 10am-8pm

Long before ‘City Pop’ became shorthand for a nostalgic sound, Hiroshi Nagai was painting the bright skies, quiet coastlines and palm-lined streets that helped define its visual identity. This August, the celebrated Japanese artist brings Summer Dreaming to River City Bangkok for his first solo exhibition in Thailand. More than 30 original works span the early 1980s to the present, revealing textures, colours and hand-painted details often lost in reproduction. Four new paintings created especially for Thailand also offer Nagai’s sun-soaked take on Bangkok. August 4-September 4. Free entry. Galleria 1, River City Bangkok. 10am-8pm

How much of history is fact, and how much comes from the images we inherit? In Gentle Ghosts With Eyes as Fair, Sirawit Chatu revisits the contested legacy of The King and I, using photography, film and installation to question the stories that have shaped perceptions of Thailand and King Rama IV. Mirrors, staged scenes and recurring gazes draw attention to what is shown – and what remains hidden. Rather than supplying neat answers, Chatu examines the overlap between colonial narratives, popular culture and historical records, reminding us that every version of history reflects the teller’s point of view. July 25-September 6. Free entry. FAZAL Unlimited. 2pm-6pm

Japanese craftsmanship has long balanced painstaking technique with a playful streak, and The Superlative Artistry of Japan shows how little that has changed over the past 150 years. After touring internationally since 2017, the exhibition finally arrives in Thailand, bringing together Meiji-era masterpieces and contemporary design in one thoughtful survey. Rather than separating tradition from pop culture, the exhibition shows how the same careful approach continues to shape Japanese creativity across generations. July 25-August 23. Free entry. First floor, TCDC Bangkok. 10.30am-7pm

Seoul-born party collective Lazberry makes its Bangkok debut with a club night built around care, respect and good music rather than big-name hype. Created to offer a safer space for FLINTA communities, the event welcomes anyone willing to share the dancefloor with the same spirit. There’s selectors like Xing Xing, Uni, Elaheh and Sarayu soundtracking the night with sets while Bart Temp's intimate room keeps the focus firmly on the people in front of the speakers. Come for the music, stay for the sense of community and enjoy a club night where everyone gets the chance to dance comfortably on their own terms. August 2. B300 at the door. Bar Temp. 9pm-2am

Spend a Sunday afternoon with needle and thread instead of another aimless scroll. Held alongside Chopper Pipatphong Sripeng's exhibition home, this embroidery workshop invites participants to stitch a brooch inspired by their own idea of home, whether that's a place, a memory or a person. Over four hours, the artist shares the thinking behind the exhibition while guiding everyone through the process, making the session suitable even if you've never picked up an embroidery needle before.  August 2. B400. Reserve at GalieOasis. 1pm-5pm

Filipino artist BLIC returns with HARD SHIFTS, a new exhibition centred on his signature ‘Humand’ figures, using the familiar motif to consider how people adapt when life refuses to follow a tidy plan. Across paintings and mixed-media works, the artist explores resilience, uncertainty and quiet acceptance without dressing struggle up as triumph. Stress balls appear throughout the exhibition as recurring objects, offering moments of pause rather than easy solutions. Expect expressive colours, oversized hands and characters that keep moving despite the setbacks around them, reflecting everyday experiences that rarely come with neat endings. August 1-September 5. Free entry. Joyman Gallery. 11am-6pm

Founded by Chef Luca Mascolo and Brigitta Houkamp, The Smokaccia Laboratory offers one of Phuket’s most immersive fine dining experiences. Exceptional cuisine, thoughtful hospitality and playful storytelling create a memorable culinary journey that begins in an elegant Champagne lounge with refined welcome bites before unfolding in the intimate dining room. Photograph: The Smokaccia LaboratoryPhuket Every dish celebrates exceptional local ingredients and tells its own story through visually striking presentation. Chef Luca transforms familiar flavours using modern culinary techniques to create not just dishes, but works of art on a plate. While every presentation is imaginative and visually captivating, the flavours remain balanced, familiar and deeply satisfying.Guests can choose between nine- and eighteen-course tasting menus, including vegetarian and vegan experiences. The team also accommodates almost every allergy and dietary requirement without compromising the experience, making fine dining accessible to more guests. Photograph: The Smokaccia LaboratoryPhuket Each tasting menu is complemented by carefully curated wine pairings and acclaimed homemade alcohol-free pairings by sommelier Massimo Zoz, recognised ‘alcohol free pairing of the year’ by Thailand’s favourite restaurants guide.  The restaurant takes its name from Chef Luca’s award-winning invention, the Smokaccia – not a focaccia – but an entirely new and complex style of naturally 50 hours fermented sourdoug

Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan in Nakhon Si Thammarat officially becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 25, and honestly, it's about time. This is a grand old temple that's been quietly holding court in Thailand's deep south for longer than most countries have existed, so the rest of the world catching up feels less like breaking news and more like a long-overdue thank-you note. Here's the backstory. The nomination starts life back in 2012, then crawls through more than 14 years of paperwork, campaigning and sheer community graft to get over the line. That's over a decade of southern Thais writing reports, hosting site visits and lobbying officials to keep their sacred landmark in the running. And when the moment finally arrives, it arrives in style. Delegates at the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee, gathered in Busan, South Korea, vote it in unanimously. Not one hand raised against. If you know how fraught these rooms usually get, that's the diplomatic equivalent of a standing ovation. Photograph: worldpitouWat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Now for the numbers, because they matter. This makes the temple the first UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site in all of Southern Thailand, the country's sixth cultural listing and its ninth World Heritage Site overall. For a region that too often gets skipped on the glossy tourist maps, that's a proper flex. The jewel in the crown? The Phra Borommathat Chedi, a colossal bell-shaped stupa built in the Sri Lankan style an

These days music lives on a screen, stored in the cloud and summoned with the touch of a finger. Yet lowering a vinyl record onto a turntable stays a small ritual, one that makes a song mean a little more. Which is exactly why BKK Vinyl Fair 2026 Vol.3 comes back around, turning REM Hotel over to the collectors, the music lovers and anyone who believes a song is something you can truly hold. Photograph: BKK VINYL FAIRBangkok This year's theme is 'Something You Can Hold Again'. At the heart of it all sits the Market Zone, where more than 30 vinyl vendors from across Thailand set up shop across the hotel floor. Rare pressings, secondhand finds, limited runs and a clutch of exclusive releases you won't get anywhere else all wait for a good flick-through, sleeves stacked in crates you can spend a whole afternoon working through. Turntables, Hi-Fi rigs and audio kit sit ready for anyone keen to level up a bedroom setup or start from scratch, and most vendors are happy to talk you through what a record actually sounds like before you buy. Across three days, the Live Happenings keep things moving. Live recording sessions and talks pull artists, collectors and industry lifers around one table, so a simple listen becomes a shared moment happening right in front of you. Photograph: BKK VINYL FAIRBangkok New to all this? The Activities Zone walks you through the basics with listening stations, exhibitions and a run of workshops built for total beginners and seasoned obsessives alike

PREP, the London indie-pop band that Thai fans have taken firmly to heart, return to Bangkok with PREP Asia Tour: Live in Bangkok 2026 at Melt Livehouse, Cloud 11 Hall on October 17. The show slots in as part of the Maho Rasop Series lineup presented by Seen Scene Space, so you already know the room will be packed. Here's the thing about PREP. They form in 2015, a huddle of studio obsessives who grow up on the glossy sheen of 1980s pop, the slow burn of R&B and the loose swing of jazz, then blend the lot until it sounds like nothing else. It's the kind of music that suits a long taxi ride home, the sort you hum without meaning to. And Thailand knows it. Every time PREP roll through Southeast Asia the crowd sings every word back, phones up, arms up. Fans leave grinning no matter how many times they've done this before, which, let's be honest, is a lot. The band has played here enough now to feel like regulars rather than visitors, and they clearly like it that way. This time round they bring songs from their new EP 'One Day In The Sun', so expect a few unfamiliar ones alongside the singalongs. The whole thing runs under the Maho Rasop Series, that sprawling programme dreamed up by Seen Scene Space, Have You Heard? and Fungjai. Fellow names this year include electronic producer Caribou on November 27 at Ambience Space, Norwegian folk duo Kings of Convenience on December 1 at SiamPic Hall and South Korean band Silica Gel on October 18 at Lido Connect Hall 2.  Tickets run B3,500

Japan has always understood that craft and play aren't opposites. The Superlative Artistry of Japan’ makes the case beautifully, presenting Japanese arts and crafts from the Meiji era to the present day, and after touring the world since 2017 it finally arrives in Thailand.  It's a collaboration between the Creative Economy Agency (CEA) and The Japan Foundation, Bangkok, bringing together the meticulous DNA of Japanese craftsmanship from each era and telling their history side by side in a fun, cross-century comparison. Century talks to century. The old masters and the toymakers share a room. Photograph: The Japan Foundationthe superlative artistry of japan Start in the 19th century with ‘Kogei’, the traditional handiwork that once astonished Westerners. Get right up to the enormous ‘Satsuma vase’, densely patterned and finished in gold leaf, the sort of thing that rewards a proper stare. Then there's the ‘embroidered hanging decoration’ of the gates of Nikko Shrine, worked from tens of thousands of silk threads, one at a painstaking time. And the ‘shell-shaped incense container’, a fine example of ‘Maki-e’ lacquerware, where gold powder is brushed over red and black until it glows. The wall text does a decent job explaining the techniques, but the objects speak for themselves. Now for the twist. That same obsessive precision carries through to the contemporary section as ‘pop culture’. The ‘realistic food models’ you clock in every Japanese restaurant window. The ‘cabbage-

Lately, our life revolves around one thing – buying concert tickets. Saying we book them every weekend is honestly not an exaggeration. Another dream comes true this autumn though, and this one's been a long time coming. We're finally watching Interstellar with a live orchestra performance by the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra. Interstellar Live returns Christopher Nolan's Academy Award-winning epic to the big screen, scored live by Hans Zimmer's masterpiece, the soundtrack Zimmer himself calls the best work of his career. Martin Gellner conducts, organist Charles Andrews takes the keys, and the full 170-minute theatrical cut plays out while every note happens in the room with you. The organ alone runs through your chest. Nolan makes something rare here. Released in 2014, the film is action-packed and poetic, an epic the press ranks among the finest of the early 21st century. Audiences haven't stopped agreeing. It lands on countless best-of lists, takes a Top 10 spot for its year and picks up five Academy Award nominations, including Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design and Best Original Score. We already know how this goes. The seats fill, the lights drop, someone near you sniffles through the docking scene and nobody judges them for it. No headphones, no pause button, just Zimmer's score filling the hall and Matthew McConaughey ageing decades in seconds. It happens on October 28 at 7pm at UOB LIVE, EMSPHERE. Tickets go on sale from midday on July 28. Grab yours here

Anyone after somewhere to wander once the working day winds down, or keen to swap the shopping mall for a city-view car park, can mark this one on the map. 'Tay Level 10' returns, gathering shops, crafts, vintage finds and street food on the 10th floor of S-Oasis in Chatuchak, running August 6-8, midday-8pm. Photograph: trys_terHybrid Flea Market The appeal here isn't only the browsing. It doubles as a community corner in the Chatuchak-Mo Chit-Vibhavadi-Phahonyothin stretch, the sort of place you drop by to sit for a while, meet a friend or grab a proper feed after clocking off. Once again it sets up in an open-air car park ten storeys up, though this round a roof handles the rain. So you take your time regardless of what the forecast says, with the traffic humming somewhere far below. Across the three days more than 80 stalls line the floor, from fashion and secondhand pieces to film cameras, homeware, potted plants and small accessories, alongside a food and drink zone. Whether you collect vintage, need something for the flat or just want a decent bite, you head home with more than you turned up with. Photograph: trys_terHybrid Flea Market The location earns its keep too. It sits a short walk from both Mo Chit BTS and Chatuchak Park BTS, and a free shuttle runs from the stations right to the door, which matters when the afternoon heat sets in. Thinking of trading rather than shopping? The team still takes vendor applications, so long as you send photos and product detai

Two years of Step into Swing at Hua Lamphong Railway Station drew hundreds of dancers under the old station's arches, and Jelly Roll Jazz Club has decided it's time for a bigger room. This August the club transforms Lumphini Hall into a classic swing ballroom, with live jazz from international artists and a proper swing-era atmosphere. 'Swing Partout: Lumpini Grand Ball' takes place on August 23, starting from 4pm. It's free, it's open to everyone and it opens with a beginner class run by actual instructors, so nobody has to stand by the wall pretending to check their phone. Wear something with a bit of swish, flat shoes you can actually move in, and turn up early. Photograph: Jelly Roll Jazz ClubLumphini Hall The music does a lot of the heavy lifting. Yusu Jazz Band flies the Thai flag before a genuinely international line-up takes over: Clap Stomp Swingin' from Japan, Eyal Vilner from the States, The Brothers Arntzen out of Canada and Steven Coombe representing the UK. The Swing Era Cadet closes the night. That's a serious amount of talent for a room that costs nothing to enter. The centrepiece is the Lumpini Grand Ball, a competition modelled on the Harvest Moon Ball, the contest that crowned America's finest swing dancers between 1935 and 1970. This year marks the ninetieth anniversary of that original, and the professionals turn up to honour it with lifts, spins and footwork worth watching even if you never leave your seat. Photograph: Jelly Roll Jazz ClubLumphini Ha

Marimekko's flowers are back, and this time they take over a corner of Mega Bangna. Marimekko: Art of Flowers is the Finnish design house's new pop-up, a bright, print-splashed room that invites everyone to spend a while with the label and its sunny outlook on living well. Photograph: Marimekko ThailandBangkok Inside, the exhibition splits across three zones. Art of Dressing puts those bold signature prints front and centre, a nod to dressing loudly and enjoying every second of it. Art of Living gathers the home pieces – the mugs, the textiles, the small things that make an ordinary day run smoother. And Art of Blooming turns up the flowers, nature and colour, spelling out the idea the brand keeps returning to: 'Bring Joy to Your Everyday Life'. Happiness, it reckons, lives in the little moments. Photograph: Marimekko ThailandBangkok The centrepiece is Kukasta kukkaan, a print Finnish designer Erja Hirvi creates in 2024. It shows bees crossing a summer garden in full bloom, flower to flower, and it now runs through the Pre-Fall 2026 collection across both ready-to-wear and homeware. Marimekko: Art of Flowers runs from today until July 22 at Mega FoodWalk, Mega Bangna, and the newest collections wait at Marimekko stores nationwide.

Pride season in Bangkok has a familiar shape by now. A brand slaps a rainbow on its window, a parade rolls through and everyone packs the bunting away until next year. Beyond the Rainbow continues. For two days this month, TUFF BAR turns over its whole floor to a programme of film screenings, workshops, talk shows and performance art, running 11am to 11pm on July 25 and 26. It comes together through Little Light Lab, a small experimental outfit, and a handful of partners who pool people, ideas and money to make the thing happen. The stated aim is a genuinely safe room where the queer community can, in the organisers' word, 'shine'. The name does some heavy lifting. The rainbow is the shorthand everyone recognises, but the weekend reaches wider than six colours. It isn't only a screening series. The line-up runs workshops, performances and activities built to help people collect and keep their own stories, and that matters because preserving the lives of ordinary people has never been a private hobby. It is part of a longer history of struggle. Photograph: ihleighBangkok Saturday, July 25 The first day opens with periods. 'Let's Talk Periods, but Make It Queer-Friendly' hands everyone, bleeders and non-bleeders alike, a tray of beads and a length of string, and asks them to thread a bracelet that tracks a menstrual cycle in a way that matches their own identity. Later, Zurapun takes the mic for a stand-up hour, 'Love Is (Not) All Around'. She is a creator known for pop-cultu

Mark your calendar for Pantomime in Bangkok, the wordless festival that pulls off something rare – a full night of theatre where nobody says a word and you still catch every beat. That silence is the whole selling point. If foreign languages usually leave you glancing down at subtitles and missing the good bits, this is the one show where none of that applies.  This year's line-up gathers seven troupes from three countries, Thailand, Japan and South Korea – across two days, August 8 and 9, each act arriving with its own style and sense of humour. Photograph: Pantomime in BangkokWordless festival returns Leading it is Kojimaya Mansuke, the Japanese veteran who's performed here since the very first edition. This time he pairs with next-generation artist Ayumi, whose oddball approach sits opposite a legend 34 years her senior, and the mismatch is exactly why it works. Japan also sends Yamamoto Koyo, a professional mime working since 1989, and Sivouplait, the white-clad couple from Ueno Park known for stitching comedy and romance together. Thai audiences get a homecoming too. Ta Nuttapol, formerly of Babymime, now performs solo as Ta Lent Show, and after more than 20 years he's quieter, sharper and more assured. Photograph: Pantomime in BangkokWordless festival returns Rounding things out are the Guri Guri Girls, an accordion duo who appear between scenes to keep the room warm through the 15-minute interval. Satoco brings mime and puppetry she trained in over in Canada. And f

Some memories digital can never replace. The click of a film cameras shutter. The wait while an image surfaces on photographic paper. Colours that come out imperfect and are somehow better for it. Fragments of moments that once existed, rather than 400 near-identical versions sitting in your camera roll. Song Wat understands this. From August 4-12, the 100-Year-Old Gate Alley hosts Song Wat Film Day: Craft & Indie Market, and the old riverside warehouse zone hands itself over to people who still shoot 35mm without apologising for it. The setting does half the work: shophouse façades with paint coming away in sheets, dried goods stacked in sacks outside wholesale shops that have traded here for generations, boat horns from the Chao Phraya and a stray cat asleep on a stack of pallets. The neighbourhood becomes the subject – its alleyways, its shopkeepers and the details you walk past daily without noticing. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Outdoor Bkk time Line @Outdoor999ร้านค้า นักช็อป (@outdoor_bkk_time) What's actually there? Film cameras and the accessories that keep them running, handmade work from local makers, vinyl still doing its thing decades after everyone declared it finished. There are craft drinks and wine too, so you can sit somewhere shaded while conversation and music settle around you. It’s the sort of market where you arrive wanting a roll of Portra and leave three hours later with a record, a ceramic cup and mild sunburn. Pho