Audemars Piguet, Mobile Museum

Conceived by Mathieu Lehanneur and called by him "The Ring", Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet presents its history and collection at the Yuz Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai.
The stunning installation is both an architecture and an exhibition offering a fantastic journey through time and history of the brand. It is comprised of a large-scale copper ring structure placed within the Yuz Museum. In the centre of the space, a huge rock - created from cast replicas of those found in the Manufacture's home in the vallée de Joux, Switzerland, and a tribute to its historical geography - drives the visit to each of the open twelve doors as an evocative experience of a watch dial in which visitors move around it as imaginary needles, representing the hands of a timepiece.
"This temporary museum is a reflection on time... a dreamy vision of time where each instant differs from the previous one. Here every door opens onto a new story" says Mathieu Lehanneur. If the exterior completely covered in copper is both mysterious and just as a monumental sculpture, the interior of "The Ring" offers a series of plentiful experiments and iconic pieces of the Swiss brand, each revealing a story about Audemars Piguet: from its origins to the 21st century, from watchmaking to contemporary art, from innovations to the masterpieces, from the Vallée de Joux to China.
Mathieu Lehanneur explores the natural and technical possibilities of an object in order to create designs which are functional yet appeal to the physical and emotional senses. This interest in nature and technology made him a perfect choice to design this temporary museum for Audemars Piguet. The designer restores here the main milestones of this unique watchmaking epic story, which has passed through the eras and styles. "Audemars Piguet is one of the rare brands within everything is so perfect that deserves to be seen, never hiden: origins, landscape, workshop, watchmakers, tools, labs... Just like in their watches, every single tiny piece, even if it is invisible for the consumer, is a masterpiece. In this exibition, I wanted to open all the doors." says Lehanneur.
Two hundred timepieces (vintage and contemporary) - the largest Audemars Piguet's collection of ever to be shown outside of its Museum - will be displayed across the twelve rooms within the installation. Lehanneur's design is present in each room in the mix of noble and natural materials, in the combination between digital content and cratfmenship, in the permanent respect with the brand's codes. From the origins to the watch complications, from the watchmaker's workshop to the acoustic lab, Lehanneur takes us in an inspirational and experimental journey inside the already iconic Ring.