CHANEL Culture Fund and Dib Bangkok Launch CHANEL Gateway Commission; First Commission Awarded to Nawin Nuthong

# What the collaboration is Dib Bangkok, a contemporary art institution in Thailand, and CHANEL Culture Fund have launched the CHANEL Gateway Commission at Dib Bangkok. The program is an annual creative commission intended to fund and present new artworks by artists working in Thailand. It is framed as a place to test ideas, exchange practices, and create conversations across the region.

# The first commissioned work: Project 147

Project 147 combines sculpture, images on digital screens, and an interactive gaming component. The gaming element uses six console setups that invite shared play. Nawin's practice moves between contemporary art and interactive media, and this work uses gaming as a tool to engage viewers in questions about truth, bias, and inherited values.

# What Project 147 does and how it's structured Project 147 operates as an immersive environment rather than a single object. Key elements are:

• Physical sculptural components that occupy the gallery space.
• Digital screens that display visual material created or curated for the installation.
• Six game consoles configured to enable multiplayer interaction and collaborative play experiences.

These components are arranged to prompt visitors to consider how information is shaped, how perspectives form, and how cultural values persist or shift when mediated through technology and play.

# Program goals and institutional context CHANEL Gateway Commission at Dib Bangkok is designed to support younger and emerging artists working at the intersection of art and other fields such as technology and creative practice. The program aims to expand the ways contemporary art is made and discussed in Thailand and Southeast Asia.

For Dib Bangkok, the commission reinforces the institution's role as a site that connects past, present and future artistic practices. The partnership with CHANEL Culture Fund provides dedicated resources for commissioning new work that might otherwise be difficult to realize.

# Public launch and reception

# Practical details

• Exhibition title: Project 147 (by Nawin Nuthong)
• Venue: Central galleries, Dib Bangkok, alongside Giving Life
• Dates on view: 26 September 2026 to 3 May 2027

# Why this matters now The commission highlights ongoing interest in integrating interactive digital media and gaming practice into contemporary art exhibitions in Thailand. Project 147 exemplifies a mode of practice that treats play and participation as methods for raising social questions, and the CHANEL–Dib partnership channels funding toward those practices.