Every two years, Swiss Haute Horlogerie manufacturer Audemars Piguet commissions a rising artist—with the guidance of a guest curator and expert in their field—to realize a large-scale artwork under its contemporary art division, Audemars Piguet Contemporary. For the fifth installment of the competition, Audemars Piguet Contemporary supported Hong Kong-based multidisciplinary artist Phoebe Hui to present a new installation that challenges our relationship with the Moon.

Anatomy of an Artist is a compendium of the elements that are essential to Hui’s practice. In this artist profile she shares the secrets behind her interdisciplinary approach, which borrows from research, acoustic engineering, and coding to create a new epistemology that unites science with contemporary art.

Ying Kwok, the appointed curator for this commission, has had a presence on the international art scene for decades and centers her approach on “the boundaries of collaboration” between curators, artists, and the community. She is also the newly-appointed Senior Curator of Digital and Heritage at Tai Kwun, Centre for Heritage and Arts, where Hui’s installation will be exhibited until 23 May 2020, concluding with Art Basel in Hong Kong.

Hui first had the idea for the project, The Moon Is Leaving Us, after a visit to Audemars Piguet’s headquarters in Le Brassus, a Swiss village nestled in the Jura Mountains. One evening she was struck by the redolent glimmer of moonlight on the mountain slopes and was inspired to find out more about Earth’s only natural satellite.

The title of the exhibition is taken from the fact that the Moon is gradually spinning away from Earth at a rate of 3.78cm per year, which is the same speed our fingernails grow. It will take billions of years before we begin to feel the effects of this interplanetary divorce, but Hui’s creative genius comes from her ability to break down scientific information and communicate it in a visual way.

Audemars Piguet Contemporary supported Hui from conception through to the development of The Moon Is Leaving Us by introducing her to scientists, engineers, and a former astronaut, who provided her with a deeper understanding of lunar theory.

“Phoebe and I embarked on a journey of research and exploration through this project,” says Kwok, referencing the historical astronomical drawings and state-of-the-art research that informs the artworks. “The knowledge and experience that we have gained will continue to inspire our curiosity and desire to investigate further into the unknown.”

The multi-room installation at Tai Kwun primarily consists of two major pieces. Selenite, which takes its name from the sci-fi novel The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells has 48 mechanical arms, each holding a screen, onto which fragmented images of the Moon are projected. The second piece, Selena, meaning “Moon” in Greek, is a hand-built machine programmed by Hui that produces one-of-a-kind ink drawings of the Moon’s visible and invisible faces. 

“I hope that the installation is a chance for audiences to meditate on their relationship with the Moon,” says Hui, whose interdisciplinary approach has created a system of aesthetics that draws on both the scientific and poetic interpretations of the Universe. “I have aspired to transform the space into an urban sanctuary for audiences to explore, reflect, build, or re-build their relationships with our Universe.”