Mai Pen Rai: The Art of Letting Go
A Participatory Workshop and Discussion
The Paris Biennale in Bangkok 2025 : Empty Its Mind to Rethink Art.
Date: 22.02.2025
Time: 15:00 - 17:00
at RBC Forum, 2nd Level, River City Bangkok
Host by Sasiwimon Paosanmuang
Mai pen rai (ไม่เป็นไร) is a phrase deeply ingrained in Thai culture. Literally translated as never mind or it’s nothing, it embodies a philosophy that transcends mere words. It reflects Thai values of letting go, compromise, and adaptability, rooted in Buddhist teachings of impermanence (anicca). At the same time, it connects to social norms like politeness, humility, and seniority culture, where indirect expression and avoiding conflict are paramount.
At its core, Mai Pen Rai is an art of transformative response, fluidly adapting to social contexts while shaping how individuals navigate tension, harmony, and relationships. As an expression of Thailand’s sub-cultural values, it operates as a nuanced emotional and behavioral language, responding to challenges with resilience and creativity.
This participatory workshop seeks to unpack the deeper cultural meaning of "Mai Pen Rai" as both a strength and a limitation. Through collaborative discussions and movement-based activities, participants will reflect on their relationship with letting go and taking action, as well as the ripple effects of individual choices within collective spaces.
First Session: Cultural Significance of Mai Pen Rai
The first session introduced participants to the cultural and emotional depth of Mai Pen Rai, a common Thai phrase often translated as “never mind” or “it’s nothing.” In Thai society, which is deeply influenced by hierarchical and seniority-based structures, this phrase plays a significant role in everyday interactions. Beyond language, Mai Pen Rai reflects a mindset of emotional fluidity and social balance, often used to avoid confrontation and maintain respectful relationships, especially with elders or authority figures.
Participants—who came from diverse cultural backgrounds including Thai, American, French, and Italian—explored how Mai Pen Rai embodies a uniquely Thai art of transformative response. This mindset shapes people to become sabai sabai (chill/relaxed), flexible, and less prone to overthinking. Closely tied to Buddhist teachings on impermanence (anicca) and cultural values like kreng jai, Mai Pen Rai encourages humility, forgiveness, and adaptability in the face of life’s challenges. The group discussed how this promotes harmony and ease in everyday life, while also acknowledging that it can sometimes prevent people from addressing issues directly or expressing deeper emotions.
The session concluded with a cross-cultural reflection. In Western cultures, communication tends to be direct and solution-focused, with an emphasis on clarity, honesty, and assertiveness. Open dialogue—even disagreement—is often seen as a path toward resolution. This contrasts with Thai indirectness, which seeks to preserve harmony. Similar values can be found in other Asian cultures, such as Gaman in Japan—the endurance of hardship without complaint—and the concept of “face” (mianzi) in Chinese culture, which emphasizes maintaining dignity and avoiding confrontation. These comparisons offered participants a broader lens through which to understand Mai Pen Rai as both a cultural practice and a personal philosophy.
Second Session : Participatory Workshop and Embodied Reflection
The second session invited participants to explore Mai Pen Rai not just as an idea, but as a physical and emotional response. Through a participatory activity using movement and stillness, participants reflected on the tension between letting go and taking action. Staying still represented the act of letting go, while movement symbolized the choice to engage or respond.
Participants—again from a range of cultural backgrounds—responded to a series of real-life scenarios presented by the host, such as arriving late for dinner, receiving the wrong order at a restaurant, or being asked to work overtime without pay. These situations prompted personal decisions that were shared in the room through silent or expressive gestures. The activity emphasized how our responses are often shaped by social norms, cultural expectations, and personal boundaries—especially in Thai society, where values like hierarchy, respect for elders, and kreng jai influence our choices.
Following the host-led scenarios, participants contributed their own personal Mai Pen Rai moments, ranging from humorous to deeply reflective. These included questions like, “What if your barista forgets the sugar in your coffee?”, “What if you had only five minutes left to live?”, or “Would you tell a friend if their partner was cheating?” This open-ended storytelling created a shared space for vulnerability, dialogue, and deeper cultural understanding.
Final Session: Collective Reflection
In the final session, participants gathered to reflect on their embodied experiences from the previous activity. The group explored the emotional complexity of stillness versus movement—examining whether letting go felt passive or, in some cases, even more effortful than taking action. Many participants noted how hesitation emerged during the activity, particularly when scenarios touched on issues involving authority, social pressure, or moral uncertainty.
The discussion also highlighted how cultural norms like Mai Pen Rai subtly influence decision-making. In Thai culture, letting go is often linked to maintaining harmony, avoiding conflict, or showing deference to others—especially elders or those in senior positions. The reflections revealed how these values may lead to hesitation, compromise, or silence in everyday situations.
This final dialogue reinforced the central idea of the workshop: that Mai Pen Rai is not a one-size-fits-all mindset, but a flexible cultural response shaped by context, emotion, and community. The session concluded with a renewed awareness of how our personal and cultural frameworks guide our choices, and how letting go can be both an act of peace and of quiet strength.
