Something special is always happening in Bangkok. For decades, the countless artists that call Thailand’s capital home have worn their creative hearts proudly on their sleeves. For centuries, the kingdom’s warm, generous people and their wondrous mythologies have shaped the land and its rich, storied history. There is a reason the city of eleven million is never far from the lips of travel enthusiasts around the world—its character is earnest, charming and full of undeniably palpable energy.
However, over the last few years, something in the air has shifted. The fabric of Bangkok’s creative scene has changed, finding a new lease on life in this tumultuous, digital age. Thailand’s centuries-long history is still very much in the picture, of course, but today, that picture is louder, brighter and bigger than ever. On the ground, the shift looks something like this.
Four siblings band together to hold on to the memory of their ancestral home, giving birth to Baan Trok Tua Ngork in Chinatown. The five-storey space retains much of its original shape, but now bridges the divide between the deep-grained wooden foundations occupied by the siblings’ great-grandparents and the bustle of modern retail.
In 2001, the Thai Wattana Panich Printing House is scorched by roaring flame. 23 years later, the building is reborn—transforming into the sweeping cultural institution known as Bangkok Kunsthalle. The seeds of art, cinema, music and more take root within its well-worn walls, grow and flourish.
Smaller, but no less important, communities make space for each other and bloom amidst the thriving latticework of Bangkok’s packed streets and alleyways. Phillip Huang dyes different strains of indigo in handmade ceramic vats. Next door, Ivan Pun uses traditional Burmese materials and techniques to create arresting modern furniture.
The reasons for this shift are much less apparent than its effects. Unlike Singapore, the winding road of creativity in the kingdom of Thailand is less paved with the rigour of government policy. Perhaps the artists of Bangkok are somehow more attuned to the dangers of technological innovation for the sake of technological innovation—more inclined to embrace human labour and shout bravely into the void.
However, even for those in positions of authority, like Purat ‘Chang’ Osathanugrah, founding chairman of Thailand’s leading contemporary art museum, Dib Bangkok, the phenomenon’s origin is, at best, nebulous. To hear Chang say it: “It’s an unplanned cultural renaissance. It’s been a top down movement, without the policies to support us. We’re like the crazy flowers that pop out the cracks in the sidewalk. The artists here have this unexplainable urge to create. Unlike bigger cities with lower sales taxes that make things commercial, the art here is so pure—we can’t help ourselves.”
Regardless of the reason, a road less paved does not mean less important or less impactful. Far from it. If anything, the organic chaos of a city like Bangkok makes for a remarkably diverse petri dish of imagination and innovation. Name the artistic discipline, and odds are that you will find a practitioner in the city, doing the form justice or twisting it in weird, wonderful new ways.
The soil has always been ripe—it just needs a little fertiliser. With the world’s eyes on Bangkok in 2026, there is no shortage of benefactors looking to till the city’s excellent creative earth. The one leading the charge here might surprise you, though. After all, what does the work of a fashion brand like Chanel have to do with championing emerging Southeast Asian artists?
Off the runway, the Chanel machine runs smoothly, well-oiled as only one of the world’s greatest fashion houses can—but this rings especially true when it comes to shaping culture and creativity, not just fabric. Enter: the Chanel Culture Fund.
Founded in 2021, you would be forgiven for thinking the timing with Bangkok’s come-up was intentional. Everything the fund does around the world, whether through core programmes like Art Partners—collaborations with institutions that bring innovation to the cultural landscape—or Next Prize—which celebrates artists by providing access to resources and extending mentorship opportunities—is in service to the exact kind of work being done in the city today. And so, to Bangkok, Thailand the maison goes—with a groundbreaking partnership with Dib Bangkok in tow.
On paper, it makes a lot of sense. The Chanel Culture Fund, helmed by the brand’s president of arts, culture and heritage, Yana Peel, fosters a network of creators and innovators around the world. Dib Bangkok is the epicentre of contemporary art in the city, boasting a collection of over 1,000 works by more than 200 artists. Simply put two and two together, and you get the complete package: raising awareness, creating dialogue, championing creativity wherever it may be found.
Granted, it is no simple task to lay the groundwork necessary to nurture what Bangkok Kunsthalle director Stefano Rabolli Pansera wryly refers to as “an art city without an art market.” But all great journeys begin with a single step, and as first steps go, the inaugural Chanel Gateway Commission at Dib Bangkok is a statement, and then some.
Through the commission, the Chanel Culture Fund aims to give shape to the renaissance currently taking place in Bangkok, to connect the dots between history and modernity by platforming the best of local creativity. Its first edition may have just knocked it out the park. Case in point: the artist spearheading the commission’s efforts, Nawin Nuthong, is both an avid lover of history and a proud gamer.
On one hand, Nuthong understands and appreciates the lasting power of history—its many stories and myths. On the other, he is an unabashed nerd. A newborn has made time behind the joysticks hard to come by for the thirty-three year-old, but his love for video games persists in his art.
Project 147 is Nuthong’s latest work, a rousing testament to the vast expanse of Thailand’s folklore and a loving ode to video games as narrative medium. In it, Nuthong tackles one of the kingdom’s most famous, most ancient tales, Khun Chang Khun Phaen. Through sculptures, across screens and behind consoles, his take on the story is the spirit of the Chanel Culture Fund’s purpose distilled with an expert’s touch. The analogue and the digital, married in seamless lockstep, with plenty of whimsy and nostalgia to boot.
As benefactors go, you would be hard-pressed to find one more supportive than Chanel. “The brand supports the work of local artists not just by providing raw materials, but actually having me work with a new institution,” remarks Nuthong. “Chanel didn’t want to change my sketches and my practice. They encouraged me to work further and to work in a new medium. Through the Chanel Gateway Commission, I was offered a unique opportunity for experimentation. I didn’t have to perform.”
Indeed, performativity would have been anathema to the success of Project 147, much less the tenure of a fledgling programme like the Chanel Gateway Commission. Time is a sacred concept to the kingdom of Thailand and its people. Fittingly, Nuthong’s approach to analysing its impact on the country’s culture and its creative output is borderline academic in its rigour.
The artist’s reverence for Thai tradition is obvious in the scope of his work, if not its medium. “The story of Khun Chang Khun Phaen predates the Ayutthaya Period, and in this way, it almost predates history,” he observes. “The number ‘147’ is an exercise in world-building, as I integrate the concept of chronos, or chronology. Historians argue about the origins of the number and where it came from. Some say it was the year of Buddha’s passing, so that prompted me to examine the broader region—to the countries around our kingdom that possessed a shared mythology.”
Due to the wide-ranging nature of the folk tale, Nuthong is careful to avoid treating Khun Chang Khun Phaen as a story with a concrete beginning and end. Instead, his work dissects its narrative beats in seemingly disconnected vignettes, through the eyes of an anonymous, faceless, delightfully round child avatar. He notes: “I’m more interested in the story’s themes, in exploring the concept of a kingdom and how it writes history and catalogues time. I’m interested in this aspect of cognitive history.”
Working with a local game developer, the artist uses old-school arcade controls—think the comically large joysticks and buttons of a game like Pac-Man or Street Fighter—to filter the child’s journey through a variety of animations, visual styles and gameplay prompts. As Nuthong sees things, the form suits the function: “Video games are deeply related to cognition and time. Project 147 brings together these three questions of history, cognition, and time and offers a framework to explore them.”
Many might not consider video games ‘high art’. Nuthong disagrees. “I grew up with video games and learned so much from them,” he recalls. “They taught me history, ways of building cities and structures. I’ve been making artwork around video games for the past ten years. For example, the concept of archaeogaming—the study of archaeology in and of video games—has allowed me to create art that asks questions about objects, their place in history and how to re-narrate that history.”
Even as time lives at the heart of Nuthong’s work on Project 147, so too will it tell whether or not the Chanel Gateway Commission has the legs to last this particular marathon in Bangkok. And make no mistake about it, the work of the commission is a marathon. Alongside the city’s creatives, it is clear that Chanel has its work cut out for it.
Still, Nuthong is hopeful about the outcome: “There are many ways to look at art: industry, knowledge and speculation. But one thing that I think is missing in Bangkok is this relationship between art and the public. It’s a relationship that I think the Chanel Gateway Commission and Dib Bangkok are trying to build. If we can find a way for people to actually relate to art, it will further this relationship.”
