Audemars Piguet Unveils Kolkoz Project at Art Basel Miami

By Adrienne Faurote December 5, 2013

Audemars Piguet unveiled a unique project this week at Art Basel Miami. The luxury watchmaker teamed up with Galerie Perrotin and French artist duo Kolkoz to present a new artwork entitled “Curiosity”.

“Curiosity” takes the form of a chalet floating in front of the Miami Marine Stadium. The snowy chalet is perched on top of an “iceberg” in the midst of Miami’s sun and sand. The installation will host Audemars Piguet events throughout the week. The brand also has a booth in the Collectors’ Lounge, which features a retrospective on the Royal Oak and a showcase of works by acclaimed British photographer Dan Holdsworth.

Benjamin Moreau and Samuel Boutruche, who make up Kolkoz, are known for their installations that explore the interchange between the real and the virtual realms. According to the duo, the artwork was named for the last Mars Exploration Rover.

“We have taken this idea of an invader exploring a foreign land and applied it to the snow covered chalet that has set off on a journey and arrived in the middle of a maritime stadium in the hot Florida sun,” the duo said. “We are interested in looking at the chalet in its most essential form and seeing this form as a hut, or as a symbol of the beginnings of the American colonial habitat. If we look at the chalet as a representation of American colonial architecture, the artwork provides a stark contrast to the golden era of leisure in the 1970s and the elegant marine stadium of Hilario Candela. As the symbolic representation of the past, and as a bold and curious foreign explorer of the Miami landscape, the chalet has met upon the once grand stadium. There is a moment for reflection and they seem to be saying to each other ‘Look at what I’ve become’.”