Thailand’s Ministry of Culture has announced the artist duo jiradej-pornpilai meemalai: BAAN NOORG as the artistic directors for the fifth Thailand Biennale, scheduled to open in Rayong in December 2027. The edition will center on relationships and interconnection, framed within both local and global contexts. 

Jiradej and Pornpilai Meemalai are mixed-media artists working across sculpture, video, photography, and installation. Their practice draws on the joys and hardships of their own marriage as a lens for examining the nature of human relationships more broadly, along with the way those bonds shape society and history. The duo has exhibited globally in solo and group shows spanning Taiwan, Germany, the US, and the UK, and has undertaken several international residencies including at the Headlands Center for the Arts (Sausalito, 2010), Lichtenberg Studios (Berlin, 2013), and the Civitella Ranieri Center (Umbria, 2013). They have previously participated in the 2019 Asian Art Biennial in Taichung, the 2021 Busan Sea Art Festival, and Documenta 15 in Kassel in 2022.

The duo will direct the biennale through Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture, the nonprofit artist collective they founded in 2011 in the Nongpo community of Ratchaburi province. Over the years the initiative has run residencies, workshops, exhibitions, and community programs, and has staged biennales of its own. Joining the Meemalais on the curatorial team for the Thailand Biennale are Emily Chin-Jie Lee, Gesyada Siregar, and Tyuki Imamura. Together they will present “Sin-Samudr, Turning Currents,” an exhibition exploring how art and place inform one another.

Inaugurated in 2018, each edition of the Thailand Biennale is held in a different province. Rayong sits on Thailand’s eastern seaboard and is known chiefly as a fishing and fish-sauce producing center, as well as a hub for chemical and automotive manufacturing. The location of the upcoming biennale reflects the government’s efforts to diversify and expand Thailand’s arts and cultural infrastructure beyond its major urban centers.

Harison Butler is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.