A landmark contemporary art exhibition exploring home, space, and existence in Bangkok
Bangkok Kunsthalle presents a major contemporary art exhibition for Bangkok and Southeast Asia with Description Without Place by Absalon. This is the first time in Asia that all six of Absalon’s iconic Cells are exhibited together through full-scale replicas, offering visitors a rare opportunity to engage with one of the most thought-provoking bodies of work in late 20th-century art. Curated by Stefano Rabolli Pansera, the exhibition runs from 13 December 2025 to 31 May 2026 and is open to the public with free admission.
This exhibition invites audiences to reflect on a fundamental question: what does “home” truly mean? Through Absalon’s radical architectural works, Description Without Place explores the relationship between the human body, living space, and personal identity, positioning Bangkok Kunsthalle as a key destination for contemporary art in Thailand.
Absalon and the Philosophy of Space and Identity
Born Meir Eshel, Absalon left his homeland at the age of 22 and moved to Paris, where he reshaped his artistic identity. His career rose rapidly, with exhibitions at leading international institutions such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Tate Modern in London, the Venice Biennale, and the Israel Museum. Despite his untimely death at just 28, Absalon left behind a powerful and enduring artistic legacy.
Central to this legacy are the Cells, a series of minimalist architectural structures designed at a one-to-one scale based on the artist’s own body. These spaces reject decoration and domestic comfort, instead functioning as spiritual and philosophical environments. For Absalon, the Cell was not a conventional home but a tool to question how space shapes existence, autonomy, and selfhood.
Six Cells Without Territory at Bangkok Kunsthalle
The Cells were conceived to exist simultaneously in six global cities: Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt, New York, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo. Absalon described them as “viruses in the city,” structures that disrupt conventional ideas of property, belonging, and national identity. Detached from any permanent location, the Cells challenge the notion that home must be rooted in a fixed place.
Description Without Place marks the first time all six Cells are presented together in Asia. Through precise full-scale replicas, visitors can experience how these enclosed spaces transform architecture into a form of existential inquiry. The Cells blur the boundary between shelter and sculpture, asking viewers to reconsider how environments influence thought, behavior, and personal freedom.
Global Concepts Meet Local Context in Bangkok
At Bangkok Kunsthalle, Description Without Place extends beyond Absalon’s work to engage with three key research directions that define the institution’s curatorial vision. These include the study of urban inhabitation through Yaowarat’s vernacular objects as territorial furniture, an examination of repetition as an artistic process as seen in Tang Chang’s calligraphic series, and an exploration of the artist’s studio as a site of withdrawal and experimentation through the work of Spencer Sweeney.
By situating Absalon’s Cells within Bangkok’s urban and cultural landscape, the exhibition creates a dialogue between global contemporary art and local experience, reinforcing Bangkok Kunsthalle’s role as a platform for critical artistic exchange.
Living as an Artistic Practice
Absalon’s Cells are not merely architectural experiments; they are philosophical propositions. Influenced by ideas such as Michel Foucault’s “technology of the self,” the Cells propose living as a conscious practice shaped through discipline, solitude, and self-reflection. Asceticism, in this context, becomes a form of agency rather than denial, offering resistance to the pressures of productivity and constant circulation.
To inhabit a Cell is to turn daily life into a choreographed act, where dwelling itself becomes a work of art. These spaces reveal how architecture can simultaneously limit and liberate, encouraging visitors to see the home not as a passive backdrop, but as an active force in shaping identity and existence.
Exhibition Details at Bangkok Kunsthalle
Event Description Without Place by Absalon
Curated by Stefano Rabolli Pansera
Venue Bangkok Kunsthalle
Exhibition Period 13 December 2025 to 31 May 2026
Opening Days Wednesday to Sunday
Opening Hours 2 PM to 8 PM
Admission Free
Description Without Place at Bangkok Kunsthalle offers a rare and immersive contemporary art experience in Bangkok, inviting audiences to rethink the meaning of home, space, and living in today’s world through the groundbreaking works of Absalon.
For more information, please contact Bangkok Kunsthalle
Email info@bangkok-kunsthalle.org