The eldest, Suprata, 32, works for the foundation, while one of her two sisters, Boonyapa, 29, runs MOCA.Īt a time in life when many Asian tycoons are working overtime to expand empires, Boonchai is more in line with Getty and Guggenheim. Boonchai has five other children-"and I'm close to all of them," he says proudly. She is his third wife, and the couple have a son who's nearly 2. Most Thais know him as the magnate who married Bongkoj Khongmalai, a Thai actress who's more than three decades younger. Then the group built a massive circular golden temple resembling a spaceship on the outskirts of Bangkok and has been in the news over controversial funding methods.Īside from art events, the 61-year-old Boonchai is rarely in the public eye. There is just better synergy in groups." He's a follower and financial supporter of the Dhammakaya, a Buddhist movement that originally advocated a return to purity and simplicity. "I meditate every day," he says, praising how it provides personal clarity, but "meditation by yourself is more difficult-your mind flows everywhere. Unless he's traveling, Boonchai joins in. The meeting room is actually for monks, who lead prayer and meditation every Tuesday. The D doesn't refer to digital: "D is a character for good luck," he explains. He later changed the name Total Access Communication, or TAC, to DTAC. Boonchai reconnected with Buddhism after a series of challenges that included the 1981 death of his father and the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which nearly ruined the business. And instead of a snazzy, high-tech conference room, we meet in a chamber packed with books on Buddhism. Instead, there's more art, displayed everywhere from the lobby to the rafters, some of the thousands of pieces in his collection. Yet you don't see displays of technology at headquarters in Benchachinda Towers, the twin towers next to MOCA. The family prospered along with his father's decades-long relationship with Motorola, then a high-tech leader in the U.S. 25 on our list of Thailand's richest last month. He and his siblings are worth $1.1 billion and ranked No. But these days he devotes much of his time to the museum. The four also own Benchachinda Holding, which provides broadband services, and he runs Independent News Network (INN, inspired by CNN). They still own 11%, and he continues to chair the board. It started in 1989 he, his two brothers and his sister sold most of it in 2005. Why? "I like this better than sitting at DTAC in the boardroom," he says.ĭTAC is Thailand's second-largest mobile telephone company, behind Thaksin Shinawatra's AIS. He's pushed many to create in different styles or mediums, out of their comfort zones, and cajoled work from recluses such as Sompong. Boonchai has sent artists to Europe for inspiration. Often that means not just collecting art but also commissioning it. The great thing about a private museum like this is that he had the money and made sure the quality is there." "He's been around the Thai art scene a long time, collecting, being quite involved," says Andrew J. With six stories filled with 856 works, it's one of the biggest contemporary art museums in Asia. MOCA, as it's called, opened in 2012 near the airport, inside a giant white cube. He spent $30 million on the land and construction, and tens of millions more on the art. Meanwhile, he became rich, and that certainly came in handy in fulfilling his vision for a world-class museum. Boonchai's first passion was art, but he embarked on a 35-year detour in 1977 when his father called him back to Thailand to help with the family business.
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