Image courtesy Audemars Piguet

This December, artist Lars Jan has been announced as the third Art Commission artist to have been selected by Audemars Piguet to be featured at Art Basel in Miami Beach.

At Art Basel in Basel last month, the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer announced Lars Jan as the third artist selected for the Audemars Piguet Art Commission. For the past half decade, Audemars Piguet has invited artists to create original works based on the brand’s illustrious story to be presented at all three Art Basel shows in Hong Kong, Basel and Miami. Previously featured artists include British photographer Dan Holdsworth, French art duo Kolkoz, and internationally renowned artist Sun Xun, whose immersive 3D video piece, ‘Time Spy’, is currently being exhibited at Times Square in New York as part of the world’s longest-running digital exhibition, ‘Midnight Moment’. Originally commissioned for the 2016 Art Basel in Miami, the installation will be screened nightly for the full month of July.

A film director, designer, visual artist, photographer, and writer, Jan’s extraordinarily versatile skillset led to his selection for Audemars Piguet’s third art commission, succeeding Chinese artist Cheng Ran, who was selected by the brand to participate in Art Basel Hong Kong earlier this year. Inspired by the beautiful landscape of Vallée du Joux, home to Audemars Piguet’s precision timepieces, Cheng’s video installation, ‘Circadian Rhythm’, blended exquisite scenery with the mechanical ticks of the famously intricate Audemars Piguet mechanism, ingeniously incorporated into the serene soundscape of the Swiss Jura Mountains.

Cheng Ran, ‘Circadian Rhythm’, 2016. Image courtesy Audemars Piguet

As the founder and artistic director of Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary art lab, Early Morning Opera, Jan’s works have been exhibited at numerous film festivals and museums around the world. Most recently, his new installation, ‘HOLOSCENES’, was presented at Times Square, New York, as part of the ‘At the Crossroads’ project. Specialising in genre-defying displays of live performance, au courant technology and visual spectacle, Jan’s provocative style both complements and juxtaposes the timeless elegance that is Audemars Piguet’s trademark.

In collaboration with guest curator Kathleen Forde, Jan will be coming up with a major new artwork to be exhibited alongside a booth concept — titled ‘Second Nature’ — created by Chilean artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz. The artwork will be unveiled for the first time by Audemars Piguet at Art Basel Miami in December.

Image courtesy Audemars Piguet

ilyda chua