Three hours away from Bangkok, Khao Yai Art Forest is Thailand’s hidden gem which blends creativity and ecology in an expansive 210-acre property.
Thailand’s beauty lies in how the country shows you different sides of itself with every visit. May it be from the country’s majestic Buddhist temples, Phuket’s pristine beaches, Bangkok’s vibrant street life or, of course, its bustling shopping scene.
There’s just so much to explore in Thailand. And if you think you’ve seen it all, think again. On Thursday, Feb. 6, the land of vibrant culture opened its first art forest, where explorers can immerse themselves deeply in the untapped beauty of Thailand’s art scene and the innate splendor of nature.
Khao Yai Art Forest is an art sanctuary that blends creativity and ecology in an expansive 210-acre property. Here, tourists and art aficionados alike can marvel at large-scale commissions, site-specific installations and exhibitions by international and Thai artists.
Nestled in the mountains of Pong Ta Long, three hours away from Bangkok, Khao Yai Art Forest is a must-visit for when you want some peace and tranquility—with a dash of adventure. It is ideal for when you’re looking for eye-opening things to do in the country, as arts patron and Khao Yai founder Marisa Chearavanont built the attraction from the ground up, with the core purpose of transforming Thailand’s art scene.
Marisa has a strong passion for promoting artists in Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, her husband’s home country. According to ARTnews, the Thai-Korean arts patron and social entrepreneur operated a gallery space in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2002 to support artists in the region. Currently, she serves in the Asia-Pacific Acquisition Committee for Tate Modern in London, as well as the International Leadership Council for the New Museum in New York.
Marisa lived in Hong Kong for 21 years before moving back to Thailand in 2019. After spending two decades abroad, the arts patron saw that Thailand still lacked “a robust arts infrastructure,” with not enough contemporary art museums in the country and support for local artists. Now, Marisa brings a positive change with the launch of Khao Yai Art Forest.
“I wanted to bridge the gap,” she told ARTnews. “When we go to Hong Kong for the auctions, for example, we hardly see Thai artists, and I feel that the Thai artists who are there are undervalued. I want to use my resources to give Thai people access to international art and to help our local artists receive exposure outside Thailand.”
Besides wanting to do something different in the busy landscape of Thailand, Marisa opted to build the art forest in the mountainous region of Pong Ta Long because of the land’s dark history. It was a dense forest until it was cleared for monoculture farming in the 1970s. Marisa then considers Khao Yai Art Forest as some kind of reforestation project, “healing the land through art.”
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What to see in Khao Yai Art Forest
When you’re at the Khao Yai Art Forest, expect to find different kinds of large-scale contemporary art that all showcase “art’s role in healing and restoring the vitality of life.” Each of these works, all blending seamlessly with nature, is categorized as “site-specific” and “non-commissioned.”
For the site-specific works, Marisa collaborated with international artists to create pieces inspired by “what they encounter and using materials found on the grounds,” such as rocks, mud, and water. Marisa said, “I told the artists, ‘Please create art about the healing, love, care, positiveness, so whoever comes to this land can absorb it and leave with positivity.’ This is a new paradigm.”
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One of them is the “Fog Forest” by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, who is widely known for her fog sculptures. Her Fog Forest at Khao Yai runs three times a day for a short interval of 20 minutes, according to the art forest’s website. The massive amount of fog slides down the verdant glass slopes designed by Nakaya’s long-term collaborator Atsushi Kitagawara Architects.
Another piece in the art forest’s site-specific works is a towering stone sculpture called “GOD” by Italian artist Francesco Arena. Like his previous works displayed at the Venice Biennale and other prestigious exhibitions in Europe, Francesco’s GOD “explores the intersection of history, memory, and materiality.”
There’s also the “Pilgrimage to Eternity,” which is a set of ten stupa fragments found across various locations in the forest. Crafted by Thai artist Ubatsat, these unique sculptures were crafted from the soil of Khao Yai and placed directly on the ground for nature to eventually outgrow them. This concept is aligned with a Buddhist belief called “samsara,” which states that life and death are part of a continuous cycle.
Meanwhile, “K-BAR” is a pavilion with a six-seater bar, which Danish duo Elmgreen & Dragset built in honor of the late German artist Martin Kippenberger. K-BAR features Kippenberger’s 1996 painting called “Untitled” as the bar’s centerpiece, as well as a special cocktail menu developed by Elmgreen & Dragset in collaboration with local bartenders.
When looking for Khao Yai Art Forest’s non-commissioned works, “Maman” is one gigantic spider sculpture you surely cannot overlook. Standing 30 feet high, Maman is the most notable sculpture by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois. This marble sculpture is inspired by his mother, who is a weaver and tapestry restorer. Its presence in the Khao Yai Art Forest “alludes to a maternal attitude of reparation and healing within the landscape.”
Another non-commissioned work in the art forest is “Two Planets Series” by Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearmsook. It is a series of two video installations in the middle of the forest, showing people (locals, farmers, workers, and monks) reacting to reproductions of European masterworks installed in nature.
Other commissioned works in the forest include Richard Long’s stone circle installation titled “Madrid Circle” and a series of wooden sculptures called “Nouns Slipping into Verbs” by Richard Nonas.
If you’re planning to explore Thailand’s Khao Yai Art Forest anytime soon, you must first book a visit through the park’s website and pay the entrance fee of THB 500 (PHP 860) per person. The art forest is located at Pong Ta Long, Pak Chong District in Nakhon Ratchasima province, and is open from 9:30 am to 5 pm, from Thursday to Sunday.
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