A 19th-century clock, a gift from King Rama V, the Thai king of the era, is one of many pieces of art and history that have turned buildings and temples into public art spaces for the fourth Bangkok Art Biennale, scheduled from Thursday through Feb. 25.

The clock is to be displayed in the sprawling Siwamokkhaphiman Hall, part of the Grand Palace complex. And time also was a theme very much on the minds of the two Thai artists who created a video installation, to be shown in the hall, about Rama V’s visit to Europe in 1897.

“In Buddhism we believe that time is not linear, but that it’s a circle,” Nakrob Moonmanas, one of the artists, said. “We believe that we exist and then we live again. Everything is a circle.”

It is a central idea in “Our Place in Their World,” the video that Mr. Moonmanas created last year with Chitti Kasemkitvatana. The four-minute piece is a mix of imagery, including vintage photos of temples, palaces and the clock tower, constructed in 1857, that still stands at the Grand Palace.

“When Westerners came, Thailand created a different concept of time, one of progress and productivity,” Mr. Moonmanas said. “The clock tower is an example of how we adapted to the West. When the watch and clock came to Thailand, we adjusted.”

For Apinan Poshyananda, the biennale’s artistic director, the 19th-century clock became a vital part of this year’s biennale when it was taken from storage belonging to the National Museums of Thailand. Rama V, also known as King Chulalongkorn, ordered it and several other French-made clocks for Buddhist monks in his country in 1873. Nine are believed to still be in temples around Thailand.