Thai artist blends history and gaming in an installation that puts visitors in control
HONG KONG — Growing up, Thai artist Nawin Nuthong loved playing video games, especially Civilization, where players can create empires as historical leaders.
Drawn to playing as King Ramkhamhaeng, who ruled the Sukhothai Kingdom from 1279 to 1298 in what is now Thailand, Nawin soon became interested in how history is constructed.
The 33-year-old now combines his twin passions for history and video games through his multimedia practice, which examines how new technology shapes and advances societies.
His latest work, Project 147 (2026), inspired by the Thai folk epic poem of love and tragedy Khun Chang Khun Phaen, questions the cosmological principles, knowledge systems and myths that have shaped the region’s consciousness.
The Chanel Culture Fund commissioned the installation to be the inaugural Chanel Gateway Commission at Dib Bangkok, a contemporary art museum in the Thai capital that opened in December 2025. It is also part of Dib Bangkok’s second major exhibition, “Giving Life”, which features 33 artists and their works that “come alive” in the presence of viewers.
Red curtains section off screens and consoles, adding drama. An intriguing mix of artworks features on the walls or between the gaming areas, from a low table stacked with plastic cabbages to a sculptural relief of temple columns wrapped in traditional silk-like material, nodding to religious hierarchies in Buddhism and Hinduism.
Video games form part of Nawin’s installation. (Photo via South China Morning Post)
The game centres on a child protagonist who enters a forest and asks the trees, “What is history?” While awaiting answers, the child explores their surroundings, encountering mythic creatures, deities and artefacts – more than 600 – that offer clues or interpretations of history and immortality.
The visual and narrative language of video games
Nawin’s deeply conceptual approach to “What is history?” appeals to Miwako Tezuka, the director of Dib Bangkok. “It’s related to how we’re thinking about the history of Dib Bangkok and institution building,” she explains.
As a new institution, one of Tezuka’s challenges is considering the many different viewers when making programmes – especially those less familiar with contemporary art. Nawin’s practice, steeped in digital video aesthetics, provides a new entry point: gaming.
“Video games have their own visual and narrative language, which is globalised,” Tezuka says. “It’s how a lot of people communicate, and therefore creates an easier access point for new audiences into contemporary art.”
“I see building the future with fragments of the past and thinking about these themes – for which the artist is a spiritual conduit – as an interesting and recurring theme here,” Peel observes. “What we loved about [Dib’s] selection is the homage to tradition and the focus on the tension between tradition and disruption, heritage and modernity.”
Thai artist Nawin Nuthong loved playing video games growing up. (Photo via South China Morning Post)
Nawin’s commission is part of the Chanel Culture Fund’s growing cultural presence in Asia. Other supported projects include Palme d’Or-winning director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s virtual reality installation A Conversation with the Sun (2025) at the 7th Bangkok Experimental Film Festival in 2025 and its ongoing partnership with M+ museum in Hong Kong, where it supports film restorations, the Asian Avant-Garde Film Festival and exhibitions as the museum’s lead partner.
‘Build their own history’
Another work by Nawin, Play_ (2026), is on view at M+ and features an interactive maze built out of cartoons, video games and short animations. Viewers can use the joystick to navigate a small child through various zones, where they encounter different kinds of games.
For Nawin, contemporary art is fertile ground for speculation: “By the act of exhibiting, curating and distributing, it’s working with questions that you don’t have the answers to.”
This is what drew Nawin to video games and also what he wants viewers to take away after experiencing Project 147: a sense of control over determining their own histories.
“I want audiences to play the game and customise it the way they see fit – it’s a chance for them to build their own history.”
“Giving Life”, including Nawin Nuthong’s Project 147, is on view at Dib Bangkok, 111 Soi Sukhumvit 40, Phra Khanong, Khlong Toei, Bangkok, until May 3, 2027. For more information, visit dibbangkok.org.
Play_ (2026) is on view at M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, 38 Museum Drive, Kowloon, until Jan 10, 2027. For details, go to mplus.org.hk.
Source – Bangkok News
