Robin Meier, 1st Audemars Piguet art commission artist, selected for the 17th fondation d’entreprise ricard prize

Audemars Piguet is delighted to announce that #robinmeier, the first artist to present the Audemars Piguet Art Commission, has been selected for the 17th Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard Prize. Robin Meier’s work Synchronicity was first displayed at the Volkshaus for Art Basel in Basel 2015 as the inaugural Audemars Piguet Art Commission under the guidance of guest curator Marc-Olivier Wahler. Wahler has chosen Meier’s installation Synchronicity, along with the work of seven other artists, to be displayed within the exhibition for the 17th Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard Prize in Paris, which opened on 15 September 2015. Based on the theme ‘The order of fireflies’ Marc Olivier Wahler, curator of the 17th Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard Prize, has selected #robinmeier alongside other nominated artists including David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin, Julien Dubuisson, Grace Hall, Florian Pugnaire and David Raffini, Thomas Teurlai. Katinka Bock, winner of the Fondation d'Entreprise Ricard Prize 2012 is also participating in the exhibition. The prize winner will be announced on 23 October 2015. #robinmeier said ‘I was thrilled to discover my work Synchronicity, was nominated for the 17th Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard Prize and I would like to thank Audemars Piguet again for their ongoing support and for enabling me to take my work to a new level.” #robinmeier was selected as the first artist for the Audemars Piguet Art Commission and worked with renowned guest curator Marc-Olivier Wahler on the production of a major large-scale installation which focused on the principles of order in nature. Synchronicity, which is displayed in the 17th Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard Prize, explores the natural phenomena of how fireflies found in remote parts of the world flash bioluminescent light in unison.
Meier’s work takes the form of an abandoned greenhouse overflowing with nature. Once inside, the viewer is greeted by audial and visual pulses flooding the space in a rhythmic beat. The sounds of cricket chirps, metronome beats, water pumps and various other electronic materials seem to harmonise. In the work exhibited for the Audemars Piguet Art Commission, these systems harmonised with light emitted by hundreds of fireflies flying freely and flashing in unison. In this new instalment at the Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard, Meier’s work does not include live fireflies but the artist has created an immersive environment connecting various electronic devices, crickets and hundreds of laboratory grown plants with a pendulum’s relentless pulse. Within the piece, Meier has also integrated the footage from his experiments in Thailand with live fireflies synchronising so people can observe this mesmerising phenomenon through the screen. Created in 1999, the Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard Prize was the first to be awarded to emerging talents in the young contemporary art scene. Its special feature is the purchase of a work by the winner which will appear in the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou. In addition, the Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard offers the prize winner a chance to produce a personal project abroad in any medium.