Anchalee Vanich Thepbutra, President of the Phuket Art Association, led the site visit together with Chalam Attham, Vice President of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation (PPAO), Preecha Jennarong, Palad (Chief Administrative Officer) of Rawai Municipality, and Sasawat Limphanit, Executive Director of Yamaha Music School Phuket.
‘Moon Calendar’ is one of the signature works of the Thailand Biennale, Phuket 2025, the international contemporary art festival that was officially opened by Culture Minister Sabida Thaiset last Saturday (Nov 29).
The five-month festival is hoped to attract more than 3 million visitors and generate over B30 billion for the economy.
The ‘Moon Calendar’ artwork will officially open early next year, said an official report of the visit yesterday.
Mr Dennis, a Johannesburg-based artist whose work explores the “physical and metaphysical conditions of decolonisation”, holds a degree in architecture from the University of the Witwatersrand and a master’s in arts, culture and technology from MIT. His practice frequently interrogates concepts of space, time and political history, eth report noted.
Describing ‘Moon Calendar’, Mr Dennis said the sculpture acts as “a moon dial, a moon clock and a lunar calendar”, designed specifically for its position at Promthep Cape. When illuminated by moonlight, the structure casts shifting shadows and angles that change with each lunar cycle.
He hopes visitors will “spend time with it, with the sea, and experience the relationship between time, day and night”, reducing the essence of the piece to three words: “night, time and wonder”.
Ms Anchalee said the sculpture, jointly sponsored by the Phuket Art Association and the PPAO, represents years of conceptual development by the artist.
“This work is exceptional because when the full moon rises, the light and shadow form a beautiful phenomenon that merges astronomy, civilisation and contemporary art,” she said. “In the daytime it stands as an outdoor sculpture, but at night it seems to glow with its own character, creating a rare beauty.”
She added that ‘Moon Calendar’ marks an important step in Phuket’s ambition to grow as a destination for international contemporary art, bringing together art, science and the natural landscape of Promthep Cape under the Thailand Biennale Phuket 2025 programme.