The Art Centre Khon Kaen University (formerly the Art & Culture University Museum), also known as KKU Art Gallery, is a building housing exhibitions of contemporary art, Isan art, and an educational museum about the Isan region. Operated by the Art & Culture Centre of Khon Kaen University, it serves as the university’s main art gallery. Located on the west bank of Bueng Si Than Lake, on Si Than Road, Sila Subdistrict, Mueang Khon Kaen District, Khon Kaen Province, it is the first and largest art gallery in Khon Kaen Province.
The Khon Kaen University Art and Culture Centre was established as a central unit to coordinate exhibitions, dissemination, and display of arts and culture from various departments both inside and outside the university. The building combines contemporary architecture with Isan architecture, inspired by the rice barn style of the Isan people [1].
The interior of the building consists of two main parts: the rotating art exhibition space on the first and third floors and the permanent exhibition space, “Isan Nithat Room,” on the second floor, which is presented in the form of an interactive museum, showing stories about Isan, geography, history, culture, and traditions, using exhibition methods incorporating light, sound, still images, three-dimensional models, moving images, and information retrieval using touch-screen computers.
The third floor of the Art and Culture Centre also houses the Isan Film Archive, an organization that disseminates knowledge about film and is a collection of various media related to film, such as film, projectors, and posters. In the future, it will be established as an Isan Film Archive Museum.
The exterior area surrounding the building is an open-air exhibition space displaying sculptures, statues, and carvings. There is also an outdoor stage and grandstand to accommodate performing arts events and various activities.