--- description: Find out why Khao Yai Art Forest is on TIME’s list of the World’s Greatest Places 2026. title: Khao Yai Art Forest: World's Greatest Places 2026 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt987fe4c7224e0705/69ae7fe2e2697aa9714720cc/KhaoYaiArtForest_WGP_2026.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Mar 12, 2026 # Khao Yai Art Forest Pong Ta Long, Thailand by Gisela Williams  Photograph by Krittawat Atthsis and Puttisin Choojesroom Thailand’s contemporary art scene is booming—and not only in Bangkok. One of the most ambitious new projects to open last year was [Khao Yai Art Forest](https://www.khaoyaiart.com/ "undefined"), an 89-acre open-air museum set on formerly deforested land near Khao Yai National Park, about a three-hour drive from the capital. The project was launched by Bangkok-based philanthropist Marisa Chearavanont and Italian architect-turned curator Stefano Rabolli Pansera, with a mission that pairs contemporary art with land regeneration. Today, visitors encounter a bamboo café and works scattered across a landscape of paddy fields, jungle, and wooded hills. Highlights include _Fog Landscape #48435_ by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, which periodically releases a thick mist, and _K-Bar,_ a small building reached by a path through wild grass by Berlin-based Elmgreen & Dragset, the artists behind the iconic Prada store near Marfa, Texas. Up next is a sound installation by French duo Scenocosme and a monumental earthwork by Colombian artist Delcy Morelos, set to open later this year, featuring a 1,000 ft. long communal table beneath a floating roof. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/khao-yai-art-forest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/khao-yai-art-forest/"},"headline":"Khao Yai Art Forest","datePublished":"2026-03-12T10:56:46.337Z","dateModified":"2026-03-12T22:24:50.933Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/khao-yai-art-forest/","keywords":["World's Greatest Places","Thailand","list","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt987fe4c7224e0705/69ae7fe2e2697aa9714720cc/KhaoYaiArtForest_WGP_2026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Gisela Williams"}],"creator":"Gisela Williams","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt987fe4c7224e0705/69ae7fe2e2697aa9714720cc/KhaoYaiArtForest_WGP_2026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/worlds-greatest-places/","name":"World's Greatest Places"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places/2026/khao-yai-art-forest/","name":"Khao Yai Art Forest"}}]}] ```