The interactive Wind Piano gives visitors a poetic audio-visual and kinetic experience of a dialogue between the rhythms of time. Conceptualised by Audemars Piguet and outstanding Hong Kong digital artist and avid AP collector Henry Chu, the theatrical piece encapsulates the Royal Oak’s spirit of innovation. This installation seeks something from the future that is co-created with the audience to reinterpret the legendary watch’s heritage.

Representing the past are the mechanical ticks of the original Royal Oak Calibre 2121, produced in 1972, and translated by a computer algorithm into a generative rhythm of heritage, beating into the movement of the wind.

Confronting this heartbeat of the past is the present, with visitors creating real-time input when they strike the piano keys. Each key played triggers a response in the fans that varies with the volume. The new raw and erratic sounds interrupt the constant rhythm of familiarity, setting in motion a beautiful gesture articulated by the long fabric hung in mid-air.

Projected onto the fabric are scenes of Le Brassus in the Vallee de Joux, home of Audemars Piguet, and square patterns that recall the Royal Oak’s signature “Tapisserie” dial. When a visitor plays the piano, the generative music is muted, and visual dialogue between Switzerland and Hong Kong, the past and present, begins. The stunning landscape of Le Brassus is juxtaposed with smears of wind that chimes through the dynamic modern cityscape of Hong Kong, reflecting the past and present of the Royal Oak and inspiring a shared imagination of its future.

Henry Chu is a Hong Kong–based designer and new media artist. He graduated from the Electrical and Electronic Engineering programme at the University of Auckland and founded pill & pillow in 2004. The independent studio has won more than 200 local and international awards including recognition at the Cannes Lions, Webby, and One Show.

An a pioneer digital artist, Chu always works with data, music and body movements. His iPad music app "Squiggle" was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2011. In 2020 Chu created a karaoke generator "Canto Cocktail" for the M+ Museum commission. 

In 2021 he presented "Blockchain Piano" in the Digital Art Fair Asia, which converts crypto price into music in real-time, and allows visitors to buy crypto through playing a song. Currently, Chu is showing his latest interactive work "Portrait Play" in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, which allows visitors to mix their faces with the museum collections and create new portraits.

He has been a speaker at Business of Design Week, TEDxKowloon, and TEDxTaipei.

IG: @henryc.hu