These three events have neither the same audience nor the same calendar, and they follow no common script. Yet, on closer inspection, they reveal a shared approach to creation, whether it comes from an artist, a musician, or a watchmaker. To understand why, we first need to go back to the oldest of these commitments: Art Basel.
Art Basel, the Contemporary Art Event
Art Basel is the world's largest contemporary art fair, with editions in Basel, Hong Kong, Paris, and Miami Beach. Every year, collectors, galleries, and institutions from around the world gather there.
Audemars Piguet has been a Global Associate Partner since 2013. At each edition, the AP Contemporary program unveils its most recent commissions: Adrián Villar Rojas' bronze sculpture in Paris in 2025 and Sallisa Rosa's installation in Miami Beach in 2023.
And Andreas Angelidakis' installation, which reimagined the Espace Niemeyer inspired by an ancient Greek temple. Launched in 2012, the program has already collaborated with more than 20 international artists, who all retain ownership of the commissioned work.
A Commission Yet to Be Unveiled
The latest commission has not yet been presented to the public. On September 23 in London, Swiss artist Renée Levi will unveil a diptych—a work composed of two panels designed to interact with one another—that will cover the entire Brutalist façade of the Hayward Gallery. Renée Levi's starting point is the building itself: rather than placing an image onto the façade, she builds her composition from the architecture, connecting its upper and lower surfaces in one continuous gesture. The canvas is assembled in modules on an industrial trunk fabric, a material designed to withstand outdoor conditions. This painting marks a first for the AP Contemporary program, which has never before commissioned a painted work. More will be revealed this fall.
What stands out in the way this commission by Renée Levi is presented is how closely the vocabulary resembles that used to describe a movement. The artist works through experimentation, with no possibility of correction or going back once the gesture has begun; every material constraint—in this case, the industrial trunk fabric—becomes a parameter to master rather than an obstacle. This is exactly how a watch manufacture approaches a complex movement: testing, reaching a technical limit, and turning it in a new direction. A watchmaker and a painter have probably never read the same books, yet here they seem to speak the same language.
Music at an Entirely Different Tempo
The music program follows its own schedule, independent of the art program. A Global Partner of the Montreux Jazz Festival since 2019, Audemars Piguet has developed APxMusic, which has already supported artists such as Mark Ronson and the Keinemusik collective. For the festival's 60th anniversary, British artist Raye, whose blend of pop, R&B, and jazz has earned her six BRIT Awards, opened the 2026 edition with a performance created specifically for the occasion.
The process is not unlike that of a watchmaker adding an entirely new complication to an existing caliber. Rather than starting on a blank page, both must work within an established framework—in this case, the festival's history and venue. Yet it is precisely this creative constraint, when embraced successfully, that can completely transform the final result. A familiar caliber becomes something entirely new once a complication is added, just as an artist can reinvent a repertoire by adapting it to a stage they did not originally choose.
Changing the stage, keeping the same gesture
Art, music, and watchmaking are three ways of putting the same Audemars Piguet conviction to the test: a remarkable result is earned through the number of attempts that come before it. All that remains is to see, in September, what the Hayward Gallery façade will look like once Renée Levi's gesture has reached its conclusion.
FAQ:
Q : What is the partnership between Audemars Piguet and Art Basel?
A: Audemars Piguet has been a Global Associate Partner of Art Basel since 2013. As the world's leading contemporary art fair, Art Basel hosts editions in Basel, Hong Kong, Paris, and Miami Beach. At each edition, the Manufacture unveils a new artistic commission through its AP Contemporary program, such as Adrián Villar Rojas' bronze installation presented in Paris in 2025.
Q : What is the Hayward Gallery?
A: The Hayward Gallery is a contemporary art venue at London's Southbank Centre, renowned for its Brutalist architecture. On September 23, its façade will showcase a diptych by Swiss artist Renée Levi, commissioned by Audemars Piguet as part of its AP Contemporary program—the program's first-ever painted artwork.
Q : What is the partnership between Audemars Piguet and the Montreux Jazz Festival?
A: Audemars Piguet has been a Global Partner of the Montreux Jazz Festival since 2019 through its APxMusic program, which has notably collaborated with Mark Ronson and the Keinemusik collective. For the festival's 60th anniversary in 2026, British singer Raye opened the event with a performance created especially for the occasion.
Q : Who is Raye, the singer who opened the 2026 Montreux Jazz Festival?
A: Raye is a British singer whose music blends pop, R&B, and jazz, and who has won six BRIT Awards. For the 60th anniversary of the Montreux Jazz Festival, a partner of Audemars Piguet since 2019, she opened the 2026 edition with a performance specially conceived for the occasion.
