For her first public commission in the UK, Renée Levi unveils September (2026). The artist’s intervention on the west façade of London’s Hayward Gallery was co-commissioned with Audemars Piguet Contemporary, the watchmaker’s contemporary art program. The nomadic program was founded in 2012 to invite international artists to create ambitious works that could not come to life without such support. The work takes the form of a two-part painting installed on the building’s exterior.

‘We are thrilled to present Renée Levi’s first large-scale public commission in the UK, with the artist’s bold painting style in direct dialogue with the Hayward Gallery’s Brutalist exterior set to capture the eye of visitors,’ says Yung Ma, curator at the Hayward Gallery.

Born in Istanbul in 1960, raised in Switzerland, and now based in Basel, Levi first studied architecture before turning to painting. The result of nearly two years of work, September led her to explore new kinds of industrial substrata for the first time and to adapt her painting to the demands of an exterior façade. In a conversation led by curator and critic Nicolas Trembley, Levi and Audrey Teichmann, curator at Audemars Piguet Contemporary, discuss the genesis of September and the artist’s relationship to architecture, color, scale, and the body.

Nicolas Trembley: Audrey, why did you want to work with Renée, and why did the Hayward Gallery feel like the right place for this commission?

Audrey Teichmann: We had been following Renée’s career for several years and really wanted to work with her. It is also the first time since the program began that we have commissioned an artist whose practice is primarily painting. The Hayward offered an exceptional setting, both because of its architecture and its long tradition of collaborating with artists.

Renée Levi: I was very happy about the invitation because I had never exhibited in London. I knew the Hayward and had seen exhibitions there, but I hadn’t looked at the building so closely. I really like the architecture, although I have a bit of a problem with the word ‘Brutalist’ – but that’s another story! Perhaps I understand it, too, because I was an architect myself…a very long time ago.

AT: The architecture is one of the reasons why the Hayward felt so right for Renée. We knew it wouldn’t simply be a matter of placing a painting on a building. The architecture itself would inevitably become part of the process.

RL: Exactly. There were several possible locations, but I chose this one because of the structure of the building. There is a long horizontal window that I find very painterly. It became the center of the painting. I didn’t want to hide the building, but to use it to show the work in an unexpected context.

NT: And yet you don’t want to describe the work as monumental.

RL: Monumentality is often the point at which the human being becomes small, when architecture overwhelms them. I’m interested in the opposite: maintaining a relationship with the body. The painting is made with my body, with the span of my arms, and viewers can come very close to it, almost touch it.

AT: This relationship to the body is something I find very important in Renée’s work. Spending a lot of time in the studio, I was able to see just how physical her painting is, but also how spontaneity emerges from a set of rules. Renée, correct me if I’m wrong, but the constraints almost create the conditions for that freedom.

RL: Yes. I need the technical questions to be resolved so that, when I paint, I can forget about them.

NT: How do you begin a project like this?

RL: With small pencil sketches. Then I discuss them with Marcel Schmid, my partner, who creates computer visualizations. For September, this allowed us to check whether what I was imagining worked on this scale.

NT: And color? How do you choose it in relation to a space?

RL: I like it when things are minimal. At the Lyon Biennale in 2019, for example, I worked with the color of the parquet floor, then red and blue. That was it, but people said, ‘There is color everywhere.’ At the Palais de Tokyo in 2024, I started with the gray of the concrete, which was already there, then with white, and the light. Too many colors can make you forget the building and reality. I like to take what is already there and work with it.

AT: September is quite different from the rest of your work. It’s the first time you’ve used so many colors in a single composition.

RL: Yes, and that comes partly from the material. Because of the wind and the outdoor conditions, I couldn’t work on linen as I normally do. We chose a mesh, a synthetic netting, used, among other things, for large-scale advertising banners. My pigments wouldn’t adhere to it, so we did lots of tests. In the end, we found five fluorescent acrylic paints that I had never used in this way before.

AT: There is also silver spray paint, which changes with the light. At certain moments it looks almost black, while from another angle it becomes very bright.

RL: The work, the installation, changes as we move around it.

NT: Was all of this painted in your studio in Basel?

RL: Yes, everything was painted on the floor. My studio is about 15 meters long, so we were able to work at almost full scale. We thought about renting a larger space, but I realized I needed to stay in my studio in order to experiment and have that freedom.

AT: That is what has interested me over these last two years: seeing how all the technical research ultimately allows Renée to regain freedom when she begins to paint. The rules imposed by the conditions of the project become the prerequisite for spontaneity.

RL: That is also why working with Marcel is so important. Marcel doesn’t paint, but he makes my projects technically possible. Here, he worked with the engineers on the structure and the mesh. We would say, ‘You handle the nuts and bolts, and I’ll handle the creative.’ He calculated which sections had to remain open to let the wind pass through and which could take a primer. I could then forget about the technical side and concentrate on the painting.

AT: This is why I sometimes compare Renée to a musician. You have to know the technique and the rules before you can improvise.

NT: Why the title September?

RL: September is a female given name in English. During the two years I worked on this project, I stayed mentally in the place – London – with the experiences I had there, but also with everything that was happening around us. Finding the title was a little like searching for a poem; there is meaning, but there is also sound. And of course, the work will be unveiled in September. But September is also connected to the moment we are living through. It contains both despair and hope. I hope the painting and the colors can give people a little strength, like a small star.

NT: The work will be in a public space, seen by people who may not necessarily have come to view art. What would you like them to take away from it?

RL: That is something you can never decide. The sprayed lines might create a connection with younger people because graffiti is a language they know. I hope the colors will be present enough for people to notice them. But when I was there, I saw people walking while looking at their phones. Some may not see anything at all. That is also part of our time. And for me, the work will only truly be finished on the day it comes down.

About Audemars Piguet Contemporary   

Audemars Piguet believes that creativity feeds culture, connects people, and gives purpose to our lives. Audemars Piguet Contemporary, the brand’s dedicated art program, embodies this spirit by commissioning international artists to create new artworks. The resulting artworks belong to the artists and are part of their body of work. With the support of two in-house curators, new commissions are realized across a variety of scales and media, enabling artists to explore new territories in their practice. The team follows each carte blanche commission process from inception to exhibition. The nomadic program fosters collaborations with cultural institutions around the world to present commissions to global audiences.   

This year, Audemars Piguet Contemporary and the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery in London have co-commissioned September by Renée Levi, a two-panel painting that will activate the façade of the Hayward Gallery from September 23 – November 15, 2026.

Each Audemars Piguet Contemporary commissioned artwork is an opportunity for new creation, bringing together audiences and broadening horizons, as well as leading to a better understanding between individuals.