BANGKOK.- Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) opens its fifth edition, Angels & Mara, featuring 72 artists and collectives across 11 venues, from historic temples and museums to contemporary art spaces and commercial districts.
Drawing on Bangkok’s identity as the “City of Angels” and Mara, the Buddhist figure associated with temptation and obstacles to enlightenment, the Biennale explores the shifting boundaries between desire and restraint, destruction and renewal, the sacred and the everyday.
Where the sacred meets the contemporary
At Wat Pho, Leiko Ikemura presents Memento Mori, a reclining bronze figure that echoes the temple’s monumental Reclining Buddha, alongside Wu-san and Ma-san, embodying angelic and demonic forces. At the National Museum Bangkok, Liu Jianhua’s Square (Siamese Triangle) brings steel and glazed porcelain into dialogue with the historic Throne Hall and centuries of ceramic exchange between China and Siam.
Elsewhere, Chomphunut Phuttha’s durational tattoo performance WOMARA challenges gendered traditions, while Le Hien Minh’s Lotusthetics confronts representations of Asian femininity through collaged imagery. Ploenchan Vinyaratn transforms discarded materials into an immersive passage in Vestibule, while Tcheu Siong’s intricate embroidery evokes spirits, dreams, and Hmong cosmology. Through performance, Amrit Karki reflects on stillness, ambition, and the passage of time.
These works offer a glimpse into the Biennale’s diverse artistic practices and perspectives, unfolding across Bangkok.
Beyond the exhibition
BAB Plus and BAB Fringe extend the Biennale’s dialogue through independent exhibitions and collaborations across the city’s contemporary art scene. Artist talks, performances, guided tours, and the BAB 2026 Symposium (October 30–31) further connect artists, curators, and audiences.
Participating artists: AES+F (Russia), Tara Al Dughaiter (Saudi Arabia), Arahmaiani (Indonesia), Nobuyoshi Araki (Japan), Cedric Arnold (UK/France), Beyond Pressure (Myanmar), Channatip Chanvipava (Thailand/UK), Yanran Chen (China), Un Cheng (Hong Kong), Mel Chin (US), Amanda Coogan (Ireland), Margret Eicher (Germany), Mandy El-Sayegh (Malaysia/UK), Gerard & Kelly (France/US), Piero Golia (Italy/US), Sonia Hamza (France), Amrita Hepi (Australia), Max Hooper Schneider (US), Mahtab Hussain & Guy Gunaratne (UK), Leiko Ikemura (Japan/Switzerland), Sumi Kanazawa (Japan), Amrit Karki (Nepal), Klara Kristalova (Sweden), Sakarin Krue-On (Thailand), Emi Kusano (Japan), Le Hien Minh (Vietnam), Renato Leotta (Italy), Jason Lim (Singapore), Htein Lin (Myanmar), Liu Jianhua (China), Hsing Yu Liu (Taiwan, R.O.C.), Breda Lynch (Ireland), Yasumasa Morimura (Japan), Soe Yu Nwe (Myanmar), Mary Pakinee (Thailand), Marie Lloyd Paspe (US), Ong Kian Peng (Singapore), Chomphunut Phuttha (Thailand), Chetsada Phuwiang (Thailand), Pierre et Gilles (France), Nazanin Pouyandeh (Iran/France), Chatchai Puipia (Thailand), Ri (Myanmar), Kornkarn Rungsawang (Thailand), Vayupad Ruttanapet (Thailand), Naraphat Sakarthornsap (Thailand), Sylvie Selig (France), Shin Min (South Korea), Sin Wai Kin (Canada/UK), Tcheu Siong (Laos), Teerapon Sisung (Thailand), Song Kun (China), Manit Sriwanichpoom (Thailand), Mariam Suhail (Pakistan), Sun Yuan & Peng Yu (China), Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch (Thailand), Manop Suwanpinta (Thailand), Udom Taephanich (Thailand), Mika Tamori (Japan), Bruno Tanquerel (France), Sudaporn Teja (Thailand), Pathompol Tesprateep (Thailand), Ralf Tooten (Germany), Apulu Pati Tyrell (New Zealand), Ploenchan Vinyaratn (Thailand), Bill Viola (US), Tawan Wattuya (Thailand), Parada Wiratsawee (Thailand), Forrest Wong (Malaysia), Woo Hannah (South Korea), Yeoh Choo Kuan (Malaysia), Yuan Goang-Ming (Taiwan, R.O.C.).
