Asiatopia, Bangkok, Thailand

Asiatopia is Asia’s longest-running continuously active performance art festival. Founded in 1998 in Bangkok by the Thai performance artist Chumpon Apisuk and his colleagues, the festival has developed a strong regional foundation in Southeast Asia while maintaining a distinctly international profile. Since its inception, Asiatopia has presented more than 500 international artists from around the world. Its current artistic director is the renown Thai artist Vichukorn Tangpaiboon who was invited to participate in Live Action 18 in 2023.

The name Asiatopia combines “Asia” with the Greek word topos (“place”), expressing the festival’s ambition to create a space for Asian perspectives within a globalised world, where local identities can be articulated and presented. The festival focuses on performance art in relation to place, the body, ritual, and society, and serves as an important meeting point between Asian and international performance practices.

Since 2008, Asiatopia has been primarily based at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and has expanded its activities to cities including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Korat, and Nan, where it offers workshops for young students and emerging artists. In 2000, Asiatopia was one of the founding members of the Performance Art Platform Asia (PAPA) network and remains one of the most significant platforms for performance art in Asia.

Exchange 2026:
– Joakim Stampe (Västra Götaland Region) to Asiatopia, Bangkok
– Pitchapa Wangprasertkul (Bangkok) to Live Action, Gothenburg

ASIATOPIA. Courtesy the artist.