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The Princess will be in attendance for the exhibition called "Always Roaming with a Hungry Heart" at 4pm. She will also discuss the stories behind the 230 photographs that she took while visiting over 20 countries.

The arts centre will be open to the public starting on Tuesday with a range of activities planned. To show Bangkok's cross-cultural relations with its sister cities, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is hosting "Sister Cities Week 2008: Friendship and Affinity Forever", which will run from Tuesday to Thursday. The three-day event will feature Otop products and live performances from 11 cities including Washington DC, London, Brisbane, Fukuoka, St Petersburg and Seoul. The must-see international exhibition "Traces of the Siamese Smile: Art + Faith + Politics + Love" is scheduled for September. The Bt20-million show is co-funded by the BMA and the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC).

The 11-storey-centre is a new landmark for the Big Mango; however, the centre is now offering only exhibition services and activities, while other facilities like a library, a theatre, meeting rooms, shops and restaurants are now in the works.

OCAC director Apinan Poshyananda is now the centre's "acting director". He and his team are in the process of hiring a management team to run the centre. People in the arts scene want to know who the director will be. Rumours concerning the search for a director involve a lot of politicking among artists and academics.

Besides managing this multimillion baht centre, Apinan is now working on another mega-project - the multibillion baht contemporary art centre that is set to be built on a 35-rai plot of behind the Thailand Cultural Centre off Ratchadaphisek Road.

Aiming to promote Thailand as the art hub of Southeast Asia, the director proposed this project during the term of the Thaksin government. But the project was delayed following the ouster of Thaksin Shinawatra in September 2006. Although the current government has not approved this project yet, OCAC is continuing its research for the centre's conceptual design. OCAC has commissioned academics from Bangkok University (BU) to work on this project. To prepare for the construction of this world-class centre, the BU team has been visiting museums and art centres around the globe for several years.

On Tuesday, the OCAC is inviting over 150 artists, curators, critics, academics and museum experts, as well as the general public, to discuss their research at the Asia Hotel from 9am onward. A49, the architectural firm commissioned to develop the conceptual design for the centre, will present its drawings and model.

The 56,000-square-metre centre will be divided into four main areas. The exhibition zone will house both temporary exhibitions and permanent collections, which OCAC has been collecting for a few years. A second zone will hold a theatre, a cinema and multi-function meeting rooms, shops and cafes. Permanent collections and technicians' offices will comprise the third zone, while the fourth will be set aside for offices.

Apinan is expected to be the centre's director. While his new mega-project is now in the study and public hearing phase, he is using the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre as a platform to introduce the software for his dream contemporary arts centre in the Ratchadaphisek area. A good example of this is the "Traces of the Siamese Smile" exhibition, displaying over 300 works by 80 Thai artists and 20 international ones.

While many people still harbour doubts about the management of the BMA's art centre and its financial future, another new arts centre is starting to get public interest. Indeed having both centres will be beneficial to the local arts scene in general.

Having more alternatives when it comes to style and art, especially in a popular shopping area, is welcome. Besides artsy people, I hope to see non-artsy people, including children and their families, use this centre as a fun meeting place.

If you are bored with shopping, why not check out this new city landmark?

We should all check it out first and see whether it works or not before voicing any criticisms.

And as taxpayers too, we must keep an eye on both projects.