SOLAR LONGITUDE – TIME ORBIT
太阳黄经－时间轨道
The Same Solar Longitude.
Different Seasons.
Different Landscapes.
One Shared Rhythm.
Jingmin Ren 任静敏 with her public artwork, Solar Longitude – Time Orbit | 太阳黄经－时间轨道, Bondi Sea Wall, Sydney, 2026.
Solar Longitude – Time Orbit is a public artwork and artistic research project situated at the intersection of contemporary art and cultural astronomy. It was created by interdisciplinary artist and artist–researcher Jingmin Ren 任静敏 at Bondi Sea Wall, Sydney, in 2026, with the approval and support of Waverley Council as part of the Bondi Sea Wall public art program.
Drawing on Solar Longitude (太阳黄经) and the Twenty-Four Solar Terms (二十四节气), the work explores how the same astronomical cycle is experienced differently across hemispheres, seasons, landscapes and cultures.
Through Chinese calligraphy, painting and observations of Bondi’s light, ocean and seasonal ecology, the work transforms astronomical time into a lived experience of place—revealing difference while returning to a deeper idea of connection:
One Earth. One Sun. One Shared Rhythm.
Solar Longitude – Time Orbit | 太阳黄经－时间轨道, Bondi Sea Wall, Sydney | 悉尼邦迪海堤, 2026. Artist | 艺术家: Jingmin Ren 任静敏. Photograph | 摄影: Ling Yongxiong 凌永雄.
THE QUESTION
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE CHANGE THE POINT OF VIEW?
For centuries, many systems connecting astronomical observation with seasonal knowledge have been developed and interpreted through the experience of the Northern Hemisphere.
Yet we share one Earth and one Sun.
Because the Earth’s axis is tilted by approximately 23.4°, the Northern and Southern Hemispheres experience opposite seasonal phases as the Earth travels around the Sun. The astronomical cycle is shared, but the seasons are different.
The Twenty-Four Solar Terms (二十四节气) were developed through observations of the Sun and seasonal change in the mid-latitudes of China. Bondi, Sydney, at approximately 33°53′S, offers a compelling Southern Hemisphere point of comparison.
This raises a simple question:
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE TWENTY-FOUR SOLAR TERMS ARE VIEWED FROM THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE?
Solar Longitude – Time Orbit | 太阳黄经－时间轨道 responds to this question through art.
The Artwork | 作品
Detail of the central calligraphic character 时 (Shí, “Time”) in Solar Longitude – Time Orbit | 太阳黄经－时间轨道.
《太阳黄经－时间轨道》中央书法“时”字局部。
Photograph / 摄影: Jingmin Ren 任静敏.
At the centre of Solar Longitude – Time Orbit | 太阳黄经－时间轨道 is the Chinese character 时 (Shí) – meaning time, season and timing. It forms both the visual and conceptual centre of the work, connecting astronomical time with cultural understandings of time and seasonal change.
Surrounding 时 is a 360-degree orbital structure, marked at 15-degree intervals of Solar Longitude (太阳黄经) and corresponding to the Twenty-Four Solar Terms (二十四节气).
The artwork then shifts the point of view to the Southern Hemisphere. The astronomical coordinates of Solar Longitude remain unchanged, while the work reinterprets their seasonal reading from the perspective of Bondi, Sydney. Within this Southern Hemisphere seasonal reading, the September equinox – spring in the Southern Hemisphere – serves as the artwork’s seasonal 0° reference, and the seasonal cycle is presented clockwise, offering a visual reorientation from the familiar Northern Hemisphere representations.
The astronomical coordinates have not changed. The point of view has.
Through this shift, the artwork asks us to see a familiar system differently – from another hemisphere, another season and another place.
SAME SUN · SAME SOLAR LONGITUDE · DIFFERENT SEASONAL READING
WHY BONDI?
Bondi Beach is not simply the location of the artwork — it is an observation point and a place of encounter.
Located at approximately 33°53′S, Bondi offers a distinctive Southern Hemisphere perspective from which seasonal change can be directly observed and experienced.
Here, seasonal change becomes visible through the coastal environment — sunlight and shadow, ocean conditions, migrating whales and dolphins, golden wattle, jacaranda, and the rhythms of coastal life. These local observations become part of the visual language of Solar Longitude – Time Orbit.
Bondi is also one of Australia’s most recognised public destinations — a place where nature, everyday life, tourism, culture and art intersect. At the Bondi Sea Wall, the artwork exists within this shared environment, encountered by local residents and visitors from around the world.
In this way, Bondi becomes more than a setting. It becomes a place from which to observe the Sun, experience seasonal change, and connect astronomical time with lived experience.
ONE SUN SETS THE RHYTHM.
BONDI REVEALS A DIFFERENT SEASON.
ART CONNECTS TIME, PLACE AND CULTURE.
TIME · SEASON · CULTURE
At the heart of Solar Longitude – Time Orbit are three interconnected ideas: Solar Longitude (太阳黄经), the Twenty-Four Solar Terms (二十四节气), and 时 (Shí).
Solar Longitude provides the astronomical framework, measuring the Sun’s apparent annual position along the ecliptic through 360 degrees. The Twenty-Four Solar Terms divide this cycle into 24 intervals of 15 degrees, connecting astronomical observation with seasonal change, agriculture and human life. The Twenty-Four Solar Terms are inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
At the centre of the artwork is 时 (Shí) – meaning time, season and timing. It brings astronomical measurement into a human and cultural understanding of time: not only where we are in the cycle, but how that moment is experienced and understood.
Across cultures and places, people have developed different ways of observing and understanding seasonal change. In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander seasonal knowledge systems reflect deep, place-based understandings of relationships between land, weather, plants, animals and seasonal cycles.
Solar Longitude – Time Orbit recognises these as distinct knowledge systems shaped by different places and cultures. Rather than treating them as interchangeable, the work considers how people in different places observe, understand and experience seasonal change in relation to their own environments.
Through contemporary art, the project asks how a shared astronomical cycle can be encountered through different seasonal, ecological and cultural perspectives.
ONE SUN. DIFFERENT PLACES. DIFFERENT WAYS OF READING TIME.
RESEARCH · ARTWORK · CONTINUING RESEARCH
Solar Longitude – Time Orbit began with an artistic investigation into solar longitude, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, and the experience of seasonal time in the Southern Hemisphere.
This research moved from ideas and observation into public space through the Bondi Sea Wall artwork. But the artwork was not the end of the research. As it was created and experienced in place, Bondi’s changing light, seasons, ecology and encounters with the public became part of the inquiry itself.
In this way, research and artistic practice continue to inform one another — research leads to artwork, while the artwork generates new observations, new questions and new directions for research and creation.
This ongoing inquiry is documented in:
THE SAME SOLAR LONGITUDE, DIFFERENT SEASONS
A Southern Hemisphere Interpretation of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms
Jingmin Ren · 2026
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.22018896
RESEARCH BECOMES ART. ART OPENS NEW QUESTIONS. THE INQUIRY CONTINUES.
YUAN BOUNDLESS™ · SPATIAL TIME
The philosophy of YUAN BOUNDLESS™ | 元无界 has informed Solar Longitude – Time Orbit from its conception:
The Same Solar Longitude. Different Seasons. Different Landscapes. One Shared Rhythm.
Expressed through the work’s seals, Chinese calligraphy, astronomical structure and Southern Hemisphere perspective, YUAN BOUNDLESS™ recognises that different places, seasons and cultural perspectives can remain distinct while being connected within one shared planetary rhythm.
The questions opened by Solar Longitude – Time Orbit continue beyond the Bondi Sea Wall through Jingmin Ren’s ongoing exploration of Spatial Time – asking how astronomical and seasonal time might move beyond calendars, diagrams and two-dimensional images to be experienced through space, form and movement.
Evolving through painting, calligraphy, sculpture and installation, Spatial Time extends the relationship already established in the artwork between the philosophy of YUAN BOUNDLESS™, the astronomical structure of Solar Longitude, and the lived experience of season and place.
FROM A SHARED ASTRONOMICAL COORDINATE TO TIME EXPERIENCED IN SPACE.
Heart Returns to Boundlessness | 心归无界, from the YUAN BOUNDLESS™ series, presented digitally in Times Square, New York, through Plogix, 2026.
DOCUMENTARY · THE STORY OF THE WORK
Solar Longitude – Time Orbit | 太阳黄经－时间轨道
Bondi Sea Wall, Sydney, 2026
Duration: 2:24
This short documentary follows the month-long creation of Solar Longitude – Time Orbit at Bondi Sea Wall – from research and artistic concept to the making of the work in public space.
The artwork unfolded within the solar cycle it explores. The painting began on 7 July 2026, when the Sun was at approximately 105° Solar Longitude – corresponding to 285° in the artwork’s Southern Hemisphere seasonal reading (Xiaohan · 小寒 / Minor Cold) – and reached completion on 7 August 2026, at approximately 135° Solar Longitude, corresponding to seasonal 315° (Lichun · 立春 / Beginning of Spring).
Bringing together the artist’s voice, the making process, Bondi’s coastal environment and encounters with the public, the film reveals how astronomical time, seasonal experience, place and culture come together through the process of making.
THE ARTWORK IS COMPLETE. THE INQUIRY CONTINUES.
Artist: Jingmin Ren 任静敏
Documentary Producer & Editor: Damien Wilkinson
Produced with Damien Wilkinson’s generous voluntary contribution of time and expertise.
CHINESE DOCUMENTARY | 中文纪录片
从南半球季节坐标285°到315°｜任静敏《太阳黄经－时间轨道》在邦迪完成
This Chinese-language documentary introduces Jingmin Ren’s public artwork Solar Longitude – Time Orbit and documents the day of its completion at Bondi Sea Wall, Sydney, on 7 August 2026. It includes an introduction to the project, on-site footage, encounters with the public, and Jingmin Ren’s interview with SBS Mandarin about the work’s artistic ideas, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, and their interpretation from a Southern Hemisphere perspective.
本中文纪录片介绍任静敏的公共艺术作品《太阳黄经－时间轨道》，并记录作品于2026年8月7日在悉尼邦迪海堤完成当天的现场实况。内容包括项目理念介绍、完工现场、公众互动，以及任静敏接受SBS中文采访，讲述作品的艺术构思、二十四节气与南半球视角下的季节性解读。
PUBLIC ART · PUBLIC ENCOUNTERS
At Bondi Sea Wall, Solar Longitude – Time Orbit became part of a shared public landscape.
During the month-long process of creating the work on site, people stopped to watch, read, ask questions and share their own observations of the Sun, seasons and changing environment. These encounters continued after the artwork was completed.
For some viewers, the work offered a new way of understanding changes they had already noticed in everyday life — the movement of the Sun, shifting light, seasonal change and the rhythms of the coast.
In this way, the artwork became more than something to be viewed. It became a place for observation, curiosity and conversation, connecting astronomical ideas with everyday experience.
TO OBSERVE. TO QUESTION. TO CONNECT.
“You are gifting us a complex work that everyone needs to consider and stand with it and be blessed to have it along the wall.”
“Congratulations on a staggering achievement and a complex contemplative gift to the community.”
— Virginia Gordon AM
Public encounters with Solar Longitude – Time Orbit | 太阳黄经－时间轨道, Bondi Sea Wall, Sydney, July–August 2026.
A, contemplation; B, artist–public dialogue; C, public viewing following completion.
公众与《太阳黄经－时间轨道》的现场相遇，悉尼 Bondi Sea Wall，2026年7月至8月。
A，驻足凝视；B，艺术家与公众现场交流；C，作品完成后的公众观看。
Photographs / 摄影: Jingmin Ren 任静敏; Zhimin Ren 任志敏.
Jingmin Ren 任静敏 creating Solar Longitude – Time Orbit | 太阳黄经－时间轨道 at Bondi Sea Wall, Sydney, 2026.
任静敏于悉尼 Bondi Sea Wall 现场创作《太阳黄经－时间轨道》，2026。
Photograph / 摄影: Zhimin Ren 任志敏.
MEDIA · PUBLIC DIALOGUE
The public life of Solar Longitude – Time Orbit has continued beyond the Bondi Sea Wall through media coverage, interviews and wider cultural conversation.
The project has drawn attention to questions at the heart of the work — how the Twenty-Four Solar Terms might be understood from a Southern Hemisphere perspective, how astronomical knowledge relates to local seasonal experience, and how contemporary art can open dialogue across time, place, nature and culture.
Through these conversations, the artwork continues to travel beyond its physical location, reaching new audiences and opening new ways of thinking about time, season and place.
FROM A PUBLIC ARTWORK TO A WIDER CONVERSATION.
SELECTED MEDIA COVERAGE | 媒体报道精选
SBS 中文 | SBS Chinese — 13 August 2026
《悉尼邦迪海滩现二十四节气壁画 一幅画如何连接中西文化？》
Twenty-Four Solar Terms Mural at Sydney’s Bondi Beach: How Can One Artwork Connect Chinese and Western Cultures?
By Jason Liu · SBS Mandarin
READ ON SBS → SBS Chinese article
香港新闻社 | Hong Kong News Agency — 10 August 2026
《跨学科艺术家任静敏完成悉尼邦迪海堤大型公共壁画〈太阳黄经－时间轨道〉》
Interdisciplinary Artist Jingmin Ren Completes Large-Scale Public Mural Solar Longitude – Time Orbit at Sydney’s Bondi Sea Wall
READ THE ARTICLE →
Further Media Coverage
Additional selected Australian and international coverage will be added as it is published.
EXPLORE FURTHER
Solar Longitude – Time Orbit is one part of an ongoing artistic and research journey exploring time, nature, astronomy, place and cultural perspectives.
The inquiry continues through new research, sculpture and installation, extending questions first explored at Bondi into new spatial and artistic forms.
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES BEYOND THE WALL.
RESEARCH
The Same Solar Longitude, Different Seasons
SPATIAL TIME · YUAN BOUNDLESS™
New research, sculpture and spatial practice
JINGMIN REN · 任静敏
Interdisciplinary Artist & Artist–Researcher