Jaeger-LeCoultre Reveals New Art Installation Celebrating Sound
The Swiss luxury watch brand has commissioned an evocative sound sculpture by renowned self-taught artist Zimoun
As a highlight of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s year-long celebration of art, the brand commissioned a new ‘sound sculpture’ by contemporary artist Zimoun. The Maison has chosen to collaborate with an artist whose main body of work examines and celebrates the nature of sound. The Sound Maker installation pays homage to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s 150-year-old legacy of watchmaking.
Since an early age, Zimoun was fascinated by the creation of sound and visual textures. He would often experiment with multi-channel sound systems, create small compositions, play in bands and explore analog photography.
Driven by a minimalistic approach, the artist began working with mechanical systems in his early twenties.The visual intentions merged with sound and space to create his recent installation artwork.
The self-taught artist is best known for his sound architectures and emotionally-engaging installation art. His work features mechanical rhythm in programmed systems while simultaneously articulating a tension between old patterns of modernism and the chaotic forces of life. In addition to receiving multiple residencies and grants, Zimoun’s work has been presented at various prestigious international museums such as the Seoul Museum of Art, Museum MIS São Paulo, NYU Art Gallery Abu Dhabi, and Le Centquatre Paris.
Discussing the collaboration, the artist remarks, “The collaboration was very interesting to me. Jaeger-LeCoultre created a starting point within which I was able to develop and realise a new work. I also had the freedom to make all aesthetic decisions, which is important to me.” For this piece, the artist was inspired by the sounds of moving water. “I was interested in the system with the discs, their interactions, the resulting sounds and visual illusions and behaviour. The simplicity and simultaneously emerging complexity. Since the light reflections are very similar to those of moving water, the circle has closed again at the end.”
In the work, the artist employs repurposed industrial components to create evocative tapestries of sound and movement that redefine traditional ideas of sculpture, space and time. The artist deliberately chooses materials based on their functional properties and not their outward appearance, using technical titles that simply describe the materials used, encouraging freedom of interpretation.
“The sound becomes very complex and is constantly changing in its microstructures; like the sound of a river, which never sounds the same,” he expresses. “Visually, a similar complexity arises, resulting in a kind of flickering, similar to the effect from water surfaces.” To the viewer, the sound and movement is reminiscent of the sounds of nature and the reflection of sunlight on water, reinforcing the deep connections between the watchmakers of Jaeger-LeCoultre and their surroundings. This installation took seven months to complete.
Following its debut in China this fall, The Sound Maker installation will be displayed in Paris in March 2021 and Seoul, South Korea in May 2021. The artist is currently working on a public art project in Switzerland and a solo exhibition at the Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich, which will be displayed in summer 2021.
To learn more about Zimoun’s artwork, click here.