11 Things To Do in Bangkok This August: Film Cameras, Resin Nails, and the Tactile Pushback of the Joystick Era
From a film photography exhibition at BACC to a secondhand clothing market at Central Embassy, Koktail Kurated rounds up eleven exhibitions and markets happening in Bangkok this August. The content varies wildly, but they all point to the same thing: keeping things in your hands.
Chaiyos Pinpradab carried a Hasselblad XPan for 150 days. From September 2024 to January 2025, the photographer traveled from Prachuap Khiri Khan and Ban Phru Bue in southern Thailand all the way down to Tak Bai in the deep south, shooting over a hundred photos in the wide 24×65mm film format. The exhibition, titled "The Road to the Golden Peninsula," is currently on display at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre through August 9, free admission. No filter simulation here — the grain is real, and that's the exhibition's most straightforward stance.
That same stance is showing up all over Bangkok this August. Song Wat Film Day: Craft & Indie Market runs from August 4 to 12, daily from 10am to 8pm, in a century-old Gate Alley on Song Wat Road. The market sells more than just film cameras — vinyl records and handmade crafts round out the lineup. The logic behind every stall is simple: an iPhone can't produce this kind of grain, and neither can a digital camera pretending to be film.
Made By Hand: Nail.o1 and A Crafty Affair
If film is a pushback for the eyes, then Nail.o1's exhibition "Happinail" is a pushback for the hands. Running at MMAD – MunMun Art Destination through August 23, the exhibition itself is free, but weekend workshops cost THB 777 per person and involve sculpting UV resin nails you can wear home right after. Sign up via the Instagram account nail.01.
Also leaning into hands-on making is A Crafty Affair, a three-day craft market at Jim Thompson Art Center from August 14 to 16, open daily from 11am to 7pm with free admission. Food stalls are scattered among the craft booths, making it ideal for grazing while you browse. Meanwhile, Urban Collectibles 2026: Moving City, now in its fifth edition, runs August 7 to 9 at The Standard X Bangkok Phra Arthit. This time, paintings and sculptures are placed directly on beds and sofas, breaking away from the white-cube gallery formula and letting the works slow down inside lived-in scenes.
Beyond Touch: Jazz, Secondhand Clothes, and Joysticks
On August 23, from 3:45pm to 7pm, Lumphini Hall hosts the free but RSVP-required Swing Partout: Lumphini Grand Ball, organized by Jelly Roll Jazz Club. The lineup includes Yusu Jazz Band and The Swing Era Cadet, joined by jazz musicians from Japan, the UK, and the US. Don't know how to swing dance? No worries — there'll be lessons on site.
At Central Embassy's Open House space, secondhand fashion curation platform Loopers returns with the "Use Loop Repeat: Designed by Her" market, running through August 23, daily from 10am to 10pm, free admission — with talks and interactive sessions on top of the clothing racks. Over at Slowcombo's bit.studio gallery, the latest installment of the Retrotech series, "Player You," runs as a standing exhibition Friday through Sunday. Tickets are THB 450 for adults, THB 200 for students, and free for children, letting players build their own avatar and move through different in-game stages.
A few quieter exhibitions are worth the detour too: veteran Thai artist Amnaj Wachirasurt's semi-abstract paintings, "Under the Same Sun," are on view at La Lanta in River City Bangkok through August 30; CHOK MAA's "Difference and Repetition: Contemporary Thai Printmaking," named after the Deleuzian concept and centered on contemporary Thai printmaking, runs from August 8 to September 26, open Fridays and Saturdays; and Bangkok Kunsthalle presents "Mooring," the inaugural Open Ground project curated by Thaphong Srisai, running from July 24 to September 29. All of the above are free admission — check each venue for exact hours and locations.
