Values

Develop forward thinking curated programs (exhibitions, artwork commissions, learning programs, and cross-industry collaborations) for Thai artists that refine their practices in dialog with Thailand, and beyond.

Encouraging collaboration in the production and showcase of Thai art, by investing in artistic practices, knowing such processes can be transdisciplinary in inspiration, that such learning generates new audiences for art, building towards a sustainable cultural ecology that supports a diversity of arts workers, not only artists, but also academics, collectors, writers, fabricators, students and more.

Fostering dialog on Thai art and culture that puts Thai artists in conversation with an international array of leading cross-industry experts at home and abroad.

Nurturing innovation in emerging local creative practice towards achieving international caliber, through long-term curatorial consultation.

Providing equitable resources and support towards the presentation of programs from creatives across Thailand, that are of international caliber, and responsive to the needs of our artistic communities.

Founders

deCentral is founded by Central Group.

The Central Family – the Central brand of retail, services and products – has become synonymous with trusted quality and excellence in Thailand, and continues to remain at the top of the marketplace.

Central Group consists of a variety of diverse investments in various corporations, each of which has become the leader in retail, property development, brand management, hospitality, and food & beverage industries. These complementary businesses continue to strengthen our position in the marketplace, both domestically and internationally.

Given our desire to enrich the lives of our community, not only from a commercial perspective, we strongly believe that the arts play a major role in contemporary social life. Given our deep-rooted connections to Thailand and abroad, we believe we are well positioned to make a positive impact on the livelihoods, wellbeing and international prominence of the Thai art ecosystem.

Team

Co-Executive Director (Strategy) - Punn Chirakiti

Punn, the great-grandson of the company’s founder, has always been fascinated with art. Having majored in Business Administration, with a concentration in art history from Babson University (USA), he has since been initiating and managing various projects in the marketing, retail and luxury sector across Thailand. His passion and eagerness for creating a sustainable livelihood for all those in the arts industry in Thailand has made him pursue deCentral, in the hopes of creating a supportive hub within Southeast Asia. His mission for art in Thailand is that it be more accessible and appreciated in Thailand - that contemporary art be understood as creating value for the country and its people.

Executive Director (Operations) - Ormkwan Sanasen

Ormkwan Sanasen grew up in an artistic environment. Her parents (Uab and Wisuta Sanasen) co-founded Nuan Nang Art Centre in 1978, under the then patronage of Princess Panthip Paribatra (Founder of Chumbhot-Panthip Foundation and the Bhirasri Instutute of Modern Art). She studied Fine Arts at Kingston University, London, where aside from her love of art, she also learnt how to combine her creative energy with business acumen. Returning to Thailand in 2012 she began working with Central Group, managing retail and community-driven enterprise in Chiang Mai particularly. Today she is recognized for the success of Jing Jai Market, having conceived, managed and implemented its growth since 2012. She also founded Jing Jai Gallery – an important element of this social hub connecting organic produce, boutique design and cuisine – believing strongly in bringing art closer to the public. She hopes deCentral will not only serve as an art space but also a platform to support the growth of the Thai art ecosystem.

Artistic Director - Zoe Butt

Zoe Butt is a curator, writer and educator, nurturing critically thinking and historically conscious artistic communities, fostering dialogue among cultures of the globalizing souths. Possessing an extensive exhibition, publishing and public-speaking history globally, in 2022, she founded ‘in-tangible institute’ in Thailand, seeking a robust ecology for locally-responsive curatorial talent in Southeast Asia. Zoe holds a PhD by Published Works, Center for Research and Education in Art and Media, University of Westminster, London and is currently Lead Advisor (Southeast Asia and Oceania), Kadist Art Foundation; and Lecturer, Curatorial Practice, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Previously she was Artistic Director, Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City (2017-2021), Executive Director, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2009–2016); Director, International Programs, Long March Project, Beijing (2007–2009); Assistant Curator, Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2001–2007). Notable endeavours include Cultivate (2024-) Pollination (2018-); Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber - Journey Beyond the Arrow, (2019); Conscious Realities (2013-2016) and San Art Laboratory (2012-2015). She has been published by Hatje Cantz; JRP-Ringier; Routledge; Sternberg Press, amongst others.

Curator - Vân Đỗ

Vân Đỗ is a curator and writer from Hanoi, Vietnam whose practice explores how sites, and their physical, socio-political, and affective dimensions, can serve as both artistic and curatorial material. Through architectural interventions and site-responsive commissions, she activates and examines these spaces across institutional, alternative, and independent contexts. Her ongoing research focuses particularly on the re-enactment of performance as a method for revisiting and rewriting histories. She began her curatorial work at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre (HCMC, 2019–2021) and later served as Artistic Director of Á Space (Hanoi, 2022–2024), where she remains on the Curatorial Board. Recent projects include Nostalgia for the Future (Hanoi Children’s Palace, 2024), Vy Trinh: Overvoltage (Gia Lam Train Factory, 2023), and White Noise (Nguyen Art Foundation, Saigon, 2023). Her upcoming texts will be published by post-moma, NUS Press, Art & Market, and Movement Research Performance Journal.

Curator - Ariane Sutthavong

Ariane Sutthavong works across curatorial, editorial and discursive formats, moving through collective processes and the uneasy intersection of art and politics. Her practice often emerges from sites of friction—between languages, temporalities or social imaginaries—and seeks to hold space for forms of knowledge that don’t readily translate. She has delivered exhibitions, programs and talks for Frédéric de Goldschmidt Collection; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo; Gallery VER; Cartel Artspace; Asian Art Biennial 2024; documenta fifteen; Bangkok Biennial 2020; MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum and more. Her writings have been published by Art Asia Pacific, Art & Market, On Curating and Valiz.

Guest Curator - Vipash Purichanont

Vipash Purichanont is a lecturer at the department of Art History at the faculty of Archeology, Silpakorn University. He holds a PhD in Curatorial/Knowledge, department of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London. His research lies at the intersection of curatorial practice, objects, archive, economics and Southeast Asia. Purichanont was an assistant curator for the first Thailand Biennale (Krabi, 2018), a curator of Singapore Biennale 2019 (Singapore, 2019), and a co-curator of the second Thailand Biennale (Korat, 2021). He is also a co-founder of Waiting You Curator Lab, a curatorial workshop that aims at initiating alternative infrastructures in Thailand and beyond.