Jim Thompson is serving "Tomyam Pladib" - not a spicy soup but a flavourful exhibition of work by Japanese and Thai artists who compare traditional and contemporary culture.

The show is at the Jim Thompson Art Centre from Wednesday to June 5.

"We have Japanese artists who've visited Bangkok to create and exhibit their work," says curator Gridthiya Gaweewong, formerly of the Museum of Contemporary in Tokyo.

"Some have fallen in love with the city and continue to live and work here. And then there'll be Thai artists who have lived and worked in Japan."

The show gets its title from the name of a column in A Day magazine by Bangkok-based Japanese writer Ryota Suzuki, an "accidental tourist" who's lived here for 10 year.

At the Thompson Centre, Yasumasa Morimura's stunning photomontage self-portraits will show how Western art can be incorporated into Japanese culture.

Leading Thai independent filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul is going to mount his video installation "Morakot" ("Emerald"), with footage shot at the old Morakot Hotel on Soi Thong Lor.

Tsuyoshi Ozawa will have an interactive installation called "Everyone Likes Someone as You Like Someone", a futon mountain made with children's depictions of who they love.

Textile designer Jarupatcha Achavasmit will show her contemporary kimonos, which utilise Thai mudmee silk.

Animator Wisut Ponnimit and textile-fashion designer Vachiraporn Limviphuvadh have collaborated on an interactive installation entitled "Dress Up Anime" - you put on the latter's clothes and the former's animations will be projected onto them.

By Phatarawadee Phataranawik

Daily Xpress