As his one-month residency at Knai Bang Chatt draws to a close, textile designer, filmmaker and Homeless Artists Collective co-founder Shanghai Chang will present the results of his stay at Art for Kep on 18–19 July: sculptural busts in dyed textile, rising from voluminous woven skirts, that carry his recurring questions of identity, hybridity and transformation into three dimensions for the first time.

Saturday, July 18, 2026, from 6pm, The Wave hosts “Melody & Joe,” a music night presented by Art for Kep pairing a rising voice of Cambodia's pop-jazz scene with the vintage guitar sound of a British musician based in Phnom Penh.

One name keeps coming up on Phnom Penh's music scene: Arôme Khmer. This fusion band draws on Cambodia's golden era to craft a sound that is thoroughly contemporary, one that appeals equally to fans of Khmer psychedelic rock and to lovers of world music — and it is also a regular presence on the Kep West stage, where it performs once a month.

James Speck built a career out of being early to new mediums. Now, a month into a residency at Knai Bang Chatt, he's writing a piece of music that puts the Mississippi and the Mekong in the same room.

Since 6 July, Belgian photographer Aurélie Fischer has been staying at Knai Bang Chatt, in Kep, for a one-month residency organised by Art for Kep. Through the monsoon season, she explores the connections between landscape, labour and identity.

In residence in Kep since June 20, photographer, filmmaker and fashion designer Shanghai Chang is shaping a conceptual fashion piece out of debris gathered along the coast. Portrait of a Phnom Penh-born artist who has made indiscipline his method.

From 20 June 2026, Art for Kep welcomes Shanghai Chang for a one-month residency at the singular setting of Knai Bang Chatt, in Kep. A contemporary artist, filmmaker, and notable co-founder of the Homeless Artists Collective, Shanghai Chang is based in Phnom Penh and works across a wide range of creative disciplines, reflecting a deep engagement with Cambodia's evolving cultural and social landscapes.

Kep-sur-Mer was once a dream made concrete. Modernist villas rising from the jungle above a silken Gulf. French colonists and Khmer royalty. Prince Sihanouk shooting films in golden light. Then, almost overnight, the rockets came. And the silence that followed lasted decades — a silence inhabited only by ghosts, roots, and the sea.

With Beneath the Sea, presented in Kep as part of CIIF 360 and Art for Kep, director Vinay Bharadwaj delivers a film that is both aesthetic and committed, conceived to celebrate the beauty of the coastline while raising awareness about the fragility of the marine world.

In Kep, art is now envisioned as a bridge between the sea, the local community, and environmental preservation. In this landscape undergoing a cultural renaissance, the book Kep Raw 2026 (Blurb, 2026) stands out as a singular graphic voice, carried by the Art for Kep artist residency.

The Art for Kep association, active in cultural promotion in Cambodia, is opening applications for the Cinematic Artist Challenge 2026. Under the evocative theme “Kep in 3 Minutes – Our People, Our Culture, Our Ocean,” this call invites local and international creators to produce original works exactly three minutes long.

In a constantly evolving world, art remains a universal language that reflects, questions, and transforms our relationship to reality. In Kep, a small coastal haven of Cambodia, a new artistic dynamic is blossoming — driven by a bold vision and a deep commitment to nature and the local community.