AUDEMARS PIGUET UNVEILS HALO, A NEW IMMERSIVE INSTALLATION BY SEMICONDUCTOR THE 4th AUDEMARS PIGUET ART COMMISSION WILL BE PRESENTED AT ART BASEL IN BASEL, JUNE 2018 The artist-duo Semiconductor, pictured left, in the studio with HALO. Images courtesy of the artists and Audemars Piguet Press Conference: Tuesday 12 June, 6:30pm-7:00pm (RSVP to [email protected]) Talk: A Conversation with Semiconductor and Mónica Bello, with CERN Scientist John Ellis. Moderated by Artsy’s Matthew Israel | Wednesday 13 June, 6:30pm-7:30pm (RSVP to [email protected]) Public Opening Hours: 13-17 June | 10:00am-9:00pm Location: Messeplatz, Hall 4U, Basel, Switzerland Le Brassus, 21 May 2018: Audemars Piguet is delighted to unveil details of its 4th Art Commission, HALO, which will be exhibited during Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland, from 13-17 June 2018. This year, the Audemars Piguet Art Commission has been conceived and executed by British artist-duo Semiconductor, Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt, in collaboration with guest curator Mónica Bello, Spanish curator and head of Arts at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva. Audemars Piguet collaborates each year with a selected curator and emerging or mid-career artist to realise a new artwork that is premiered during one of Art Basel’s three international shows. The aim is to amplify the artist’s unique vision, while using the complexity and precision inherent in watchmaking as the artist’s stimuli. This year, Mónica Bello helped select Semiconductor whose work reflects the continuing exploration of these themes, celebrating a dialogue between contemporary art, science, and technology. Titled HALO, the large-scale, site-specific artwork will present visitors with an artistic interpretation of the ATLAS experiment at CERN. The large-scale, immersive experience will allow viewers to better understand subatomic nature and the complex phenomena taking place at the CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Artists-in-residence at CERN for two months in 2015, Semiconductor have used raw data from the ATLAS experiment in their work. HALO takes the form of a ten-metre-wide cylinder-shaped structure that is entirely surrounded by vertical piano wires. Standing four metres tall, the interior of the installation is encircled by a 360-degree screen on which visitors can observe kaleidoscopic data projections generated by a series of slowed-down subatomic particle collisions that ordinarilly occur almost at the speed of light. As they hit the screen, the animated data points also trigger small hammers to hit the surrounding piano wires, emiting an all-encompassing vibration that resonates throughout the artwork, to be experienced both acoustically and physically by visitors. The installation marks the first time an artist has received permission to work directly with raw data generated by the ATLAS experiment, thanks to the involvement of Audemars Piguet and CERN. Semiconductor say, ‘We are interested in the unknown and finding out about who we are as humans through what we don’t know. Science just happens to be the medium through which we do that. We hope visitors to HALO will be humbled by the immersive environment, transcending the scientific aims of the data.’ Following the established approach of the annual Art Commission, the artists were invited to Audemars Piguet’s home in Le Brassus, Switzerland, during the artwork’s development to spend time with the Manufacture’s watchmakers and begin to conceptualise the artwork. During their visit, Semiconductor noted many similarities between the watchmaking workshops and the laboratories at CERN. ‘They’re both operating at the limits of what is physically and humanly possible; the watches on a minuscule scale, where aids are needed to see the parts required, and at CERN, at the other end of the spectrum, where the limitations become how to manoeuvre, install and run experiments at such a large scale.’ Mónica Bello, guest curator of the 4th Audemars Piguet Art Commission, says, ‘I am incredibly excited for the opportunity to realise HALO, and to be working with Semiconductor once again after their residency. This is the first time CERN is featured in an exhibition at Art Basel and I am grateful to Audemars Piguet for the invitation to work together. Ruth and Joe have created an immersive installation that conveys fundamental research with innovative ideas and artistic creativity in an extraordinary artwork. HALO is an opportunity for visitors to see how scientists and artists work together, inspiring each other and bringing to life unique visions of our world.’ Olivier Audemars, Vice President of the Board of Directors, says, ‘It amazes and excites me to see how Semiconductor explore how we see and experience the natural world. They help us to see things differently. And they bring to life the precision and complexity of particle physics and art. As a company, it is fundamental for Audemars Piguet to continue supporting innovative artists like Semiconductor, so we can better understand our own world and our own work.’ Release & visuals available under: https://audemarspiguet.picturepark.com/Go/qJ9x77DS Follow us on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/audemarspiguet Google+: http://plus.google.com/+audemarspiguet Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/audemarspiguet https://www.instagram.com/audemarspiguetsavoirfaire/ https://www.instagram.com/audemarspiguetgolf LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/audemars-piguet Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AudemarsPiguet Weibo: http://e.weibo.com/audemarspiguetchina Youku: http://i.youku.com/aptvofficial YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/audemarspiguet #HALOARTBASEL #APXART #ARTBASEL @AUDEMARSPIGUET Notes to Editors Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet is the oldest fine watchmaking manufacturer still in the hands of its founding families (Audemars and Piguet). Since 1875, the company has written some of the finest chapters in the history of Haute Horlogerie, including a number of world firsts. In the Vallée de Joux, at the heart of the Swiss Jura, numerous masterpieces are created in limited series embodying a remarkable degree of horological perfection, including daring sporty models, classic and traditional timepieces, splendid ladies’ jewellery-watches, as well as one-of-a-kind creations. www.audemarspiguet.com Audemars Piguet and Art Audemars Piguet has always sought to integrate creative vision with superb artistry and technical mastery. Pursuing its commitment to ingenuity, innovation, and a spirit of independence, Audemars Piguet formed a partnership with Art Basel in 2013, supporting the world’s premier contemporary art shows in Hong Kong, Basel and Miami Beach. Since, Audemars Piguet has presented innovative concepts at all three Art Basel shows, inviting artists to creatively interpret Audemars Piguet’s heritage and origins. At the crux of this involvement is the Audemars Piguet Art Commission. The Commission, announced in May 2014, draws inspiration from the craftsmanship and technical excellence inherent in Audemars Piguet’s legacy of watchmaking. Every year, an artist- curator duo is selected to realise a new artwork which explores complexity and precision, while enlisting contemporary creative practice, complex mechanics, technology, and science. By inviting artists to push the limits of technical virtuosity and scientific ingenuity, the Audemars Piguet Art Commission forges a link between the traditions of Haute Horlogerie and Art. Recipients are given carte blanche to realise each Audemars Piguet Art Commission. Audemars Piguet provides full financial support for each commission, in addition to specialised expertise required to realise an artwork. The first Commission, unveiled to coincide with Art Basel in Basel 2015, was created by Swiss artist and composer Robin Meier, and curated by Marc-Olivier Wahler. Synchronicity explored the underlying mathematical rules of self-organisation among seemingly unrelated components: fireflies, computers, crickets, sounds and electromagnetic pendulums. In 2016, Audemars Piguet announced Sun Xun as the second artist for the Audemars Piguet Art Commission. Considered one of China’s rising young talents, Sun Xun unveiled on the oceanfront at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016 a large-scale immersive bamboo installation and 3D film titled Reconstruction of the Universe, comprised of tens of thousands of hand-carved woodblocks.. The following year, Los Angeles-based, multidisciplinary artist Lars Jan was selected for the 3rd Audemars Piguet Art Commission. His large-scale Slow-Moving Luminaries installation, curated by Kathleen Forde, was also realised on the oceanfront at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2017; it explored topics of oscillations, including time, memory and the changing climate. Parallel to the Commission, Audemars Piguet supports annual projects whereby artists create works that offer their own, highly personal interpretations of the company’s cultural and geographical origins. Conceived on a smaller scale when compared to the Commission, these projects testify to the deep and fertile dialogue between two distinct areas of creative endeavour— contemporary artists and watchmakers—and they are emblematic of the company’s most deeply held values. In 2013, Audemars Piguet commissioned the first of these projects: new photographic works by British photographer Dan Holdsworth. It also worked with Galerie Perrotin on Curiosity, a pop-up installation by French art duo Kolkoz for Art Basel in Miami Beach 2013. At Art Basel’s 2014 show in Hong Kong, Audemars