Bangkok Design Week

This week was Bangkok Design Week, an art and design festival which took place in various arty areas of the city, mainly in and around Charoenkrung Road. As we went about our walking adventure this past Saturday, we got to experience several of the sites which were participating in the expo.

The Central Post Office

First, we arrived at the Central Post Office, which was hosting a number of events. The outside of the post office building was decorated in several funky art designs, and numerous art booths were set up, thought the shops weren't open yet that early in the morning.

art at the postal building

One particularly interesting exhibition was displayed inside the warehouse formerly owned by the son of the famous Anna (tutor of the royal children from The King and I).

art and design display inside an old warehouse

To me, this controversial piece of art was the most interesting. For context, in Thai language, calling someone a water monitor is the worst insult that you can say. It's absolutely the worst swear word in the Thai language. And yet, this artist has depicted a monitor lizard as a Buddha, or enlightened being.

This painting has caused a lot of anger and controversy throughout Thailand, but the message, "nothing is ugly", is an important one. Even a lizard can be kind of beautiful in its own way, and every creature has its place and a role to play in our world.

interesting and controversial art

It was cool to experience bits and pieces of this expo as we explored the city. We didn't go in to see every display, but we picked up parts of the event as we walked along. It's especially cool, since none of us knew that it would be going on, which made it a nice surprise.

colorful modern art in the old district

Bangkok really is a pretty artsy city. I think a lot of people think of the "Big Mango" as an old city full of palaces and temples, but the truth is, it's actually very modern. There is a thriving arts and music scene, and it's really a cool place to live.

neon and street art

I'm especially a fan of street art, and always enjoy stumbling across it.

Maybe I'll need to work on my street photography and bring more scenes like these from Bangkok to my blog!

Bangkok street art

Learn More: https://bangkokdesignweek.com/

https://bangkokdesignweek.com/en/about