Art

Audemars Piguet Contemporary Meets Villar Rojas at Aspen

Discover how Audemars Piguet Contemporary’s latest commission with Adrián Villar Rojas transforms Aspen Art Museum through The Language of the Enemy multi-floor experience.

Por: Angela Leon Cervera
Audemars Piguet Contemporary
Aspen Art Museum (AAM). Photo: @aspenartmuseum

Audemars Piguet Contemporary (APC) is not a gallery, but an ever-moving engine for new ideas. By handing artists a true carte blanche, APC lets creativity tick in unexpected directions, proving that timekeeping and art-making share one heartbeat.

 

Enter Adrián Villar Rojas, the Argentinian sculptor famed for crafting clay galaxies that crumble by design. His newest commission, (Untitled) The Language of the Enemy, debuts in Switzerland’s Jura Mountains before enveloping the Aspen Art Museum (AAM) in a towering, multi-level installation.

Audemars Piguet Contemporary
Adrián Villar Rojas is part of “MACHINE LOVE: Video Game, AI and Contemporary Art” at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo presenting sculptures from his series “The End of Imagination”. Photo: @kurimanzutto

What Is Audemars Piguet Contemporary, and How Does It Shape Art?

  • APC is the dedicated art arm of the Swiss watchmaker, commissioning global artists across media and scale.

  • Finished works belong to the artists, expanding their oeuvres instead of a corporate archive.

  • Two in-house curators shepherd each project from studio sketches to public exhibition.

  • Since 2012, APC has empowered more than twenty commissions—from Ryoji Ikeda’s data-verse to Sallisa Rosa’s Topography of Memory.

  • The programme travels: Hong Kong, Basel, Miami, and now Aspen, reflecting a nomadic philosophy that mirrors contemporary culture’s restless pulse.
Audemars Piguet Contemporary
Adrián Villar Rojas’s commission for “Dancing with All: The Ecology of Empathy” at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. Photo: @kurimanzutto
Audemars Piguet Contemporary
“The End of Imagination VII” by Adrián Villar Rojas. Photo: @kurimanzutto

Who Is Adrián Villar Rojas, and Why Does This Commission Matter?

  • Born in Rosario in 1980, Villar Rojas sculpts time itself—monumental clay forms destined to erode.

  • He treats exhibitions as living ecosystems, often dismantling and recycling them after show-close, underscoring humanity’s impermanence in the Anthropocene.

  • Awards such as the Benesse Prize and twin Konex honors cement his stature on the biennial circuit.

The commission is historic: it is APC’s first to premiere on home turf in the Vallée de Joux before crossing the Atlantic, and AAM’s first multi-floor presentation by the artist.

Beyond the Sculpture: What Experiences Does The Language of the Enemy Offer at Aspen Art Museum?

  • Vertical narrative – AAM’s four-level Shigeru Ban building allows Villar Rojas to weave a story floor-by-floor, from subterranean “fossils” to a rooftop horizon.

     

  • Immersive choreography – Expect shifting lighting, temperature, and textural zones that echo geological epochs; visitors don’t just look, they traverse. (artist’s past practice informs expectation)

     

  • Public programs – AAM’s residency model typically pairs shows with talks, walkthroughs, and workshops; the museum plans similar engagements around the exhibition.

     

  • Contextual pairing – APC and AAM hint at dialogues with local ecology and Colorado’s fossil record, expanding the piece’s paleontological thread first teased in the Jura.

Sustainable staging – Reusable materials and possible post-show deconstruction align with Villar Rojas’s practice of cyclical art-making.

Audemars Piguet Contemporary
Adrián Villar Rojas is part of “MACHINE LOVE: Video Game, AI and Contemporary Art” at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo presenting sculptures from his series “The End of Imagination”. Photo: @kurimanzutto

By joining horological heritage with sculptural speculation, Audemars Piguet Contemporary and Adrián Villar Rojas invite viewers to rethink how time, memory, and matter intertwine. When The Language of the Enemy fills Aspen’s airy galleries, it will not merely occupy space—it will rewrite it, prompting us to ask how long any monument, or moment, can truly last.

FAQ

  • What makes Audemars Piguet Contemporary different from typical corporate art sponsorships? APC lets artists keep ownership and offers full curatorial, legal, and production support, encouraging bold experimentation.
  • Why launch the piece in Switzerland before Aspen? The Vallée de Joux is Audemars Piguet’s birthplace; unveiling the work there roots the commission in the brand’s history of mastering time.
  • Will the Aspen installation be permanent? No. Villar Rojas’s works are designed to evolve or even dissolve, reflecting his focus on impermanence.
  • Can visitors interact with the artwork? Movement through multiple levels forms part of the experience; scheduled talks and tours will deepen engagement.
  • Is this Villar Rojas’s first U.S. museum commission? He has shown in the U.S. before, but this is his first co-commission with APC and his first multi-floor project at Aspen Art Museum.

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