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A Local Artist Wants Your $10,000 Apple Watch for a Project

Qinmin Liu needs 50 of the smartwatches for her next installation

Qinmin Liu
Qinmin Liu

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The upcoming Apple Watch Edition has a price tag that ranges from $10,000 to $17,000. While not exorbitant for a luxury watch, it's a risky price point for a smartwatch that will be obsolete well ahead of a similarly priced Rolex. But SF-based interdisciplinary artist Qinmin Liu has requested 50 of these 18K gold designs for an installation piece, starring herself. It's part of her new art concept "4A," which means art is "anywhere, anyone, anything, and anytime."

Qinmin doesn't reveal much about how she plans to showcase the watches, but she says that she wants to explore the relationship between desire and action in relation to Apple products. She cites a story from 2012 of the Chinese teen who sold a kidney to buy an iPad as an influence on her ongoing "Dialogue with the Apple Watch" project.

Supporters with the means to purchase the gold Edition should sign up here. So far, around a dozen people have decided to participate, although Qinmin cannot yet verify if the offers are valid.