Audemars Piguet is delighted to announce the details of a new series of moving image and photographic works by Dan Holdsworth. Included within the artist’s Continuous Topography series, a new video will be premiered on the Audemars Piguet booth in the Collectors Lounge at Art Basel’s show in Basel (16 – 19 June 2016). Holdsworth’s new moving image work will be accompanied by photographic pieces exploring the unique geological formations found in Audemars Piguet’s home, the Vallée de Joux in the Jura Mountains.
The Jura Mountains were the inspiration for the term ‘Jurassic’, a period coined by the nineteenth Century geographer and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. His studies found that this landscape illustrated the planet’s history through the rock formations, causing people to question what existed before humanity. Holdsworth’s Continuous Topography similarly invites the viewer to think about our place in time and to imagine timescales greater than our own microcosmic human timeframe, which is now experienced amidst the instantaneity of the digital era.
Since 2011, Holdsworth's investigations into landscape have focused on presenting the unpresentable. Through the use of new technologies, he explores what lies beyond our understanding, and beyond the naked eye. Each of Holdsworth’s works reveals millions of minutely calibrated measurements, showing the surfaces of the Vallée de Joux. Bridging the worlds of science and art, each image is created with the latest photogrammetry and geomapping technologies. It is the result of weeks of meticulous fieldwork in conjunction with a research geologist, amassing hundreds of photographic images. Through a specially configured computer programme correlating these images to GPS coordinates, Holdsworth has created astonishing three-dimensional models of the landscape, which offer us a new form of what he calls “future archeology”. The awe-inspiring detail with which Holdsworth’s images are created echoes the precision and accuracy at the heart of Audemars Piguet’s watchmaking.
In 2013, Audemars Piguet displayed a series of Holdsworth’s exquisite photographs on their booth in the Collectors Lounge for Art Basel's show's. Within these images, Holdsworth captured the Vallée de Joux under moonlight, evoking its timeless spirit. His new series will continue his initial investigation into the influential role that the region has played in shaping the story of Audemars Piguet and the development of fine watchmaking.
In parallel with the new works presented by Audemars Piguet at Art Basel, Holdsworth's solo show, A Future Archeology, will open at SCHEUBLEIN + BAK, Zurich on 1 June, running until 2 September. The exhibition will premiere new works from his Continuous Topography and Spatial Objects series, exploring the landscape of the Mont Blanc glacier using the same pioneering technologies to map out the fine detail of the region. A new video work commissioned by Audemars Piguet will also be on view at the gallery from 15-19 June.
Finally, during Art Basel in Hong Kong, Audemars Piguet introduced Sun Xun as the second artist selected for the Art Commission. Considered one of China’s most talented young artists, Sun Xun will create a major new work that will be unveiled at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016.
