up now:

Pierre Huyghe

January 28 - March 12, 2011

Marian Goodman Gallery
24 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
Telephone 212-977-7160



pening Reception: Friday, January 28th, 6-8 pm

Marian Goodman Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Pierre Huyghe, The Host and the Cloud, opening on Friday, January 28th through March 12, 2011.

The following new works will be on view: the film The Host and the Cloud; the mask which appears in the film; three aquariums; and an image from the artist’s descent into the Crystal Cave.

There will be 4 screenings daily for the film, which is two hours in length. The daily screening times are: Monday – Saturday, 10:05 -12:06; 12:07-2:08; 2:09-4:10; 4:11-6:12.

The Host and the Cloud (2009-2010) was filmed over the course of a year in the disused building that once housed The National Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions (Musée national des Arts et Traditions Populaires) in Paris.

How does the exposure to culture change behavior?

‘The Host and the Cloud’ experiment was a real situation that occurred in a closed folk museum which lies at the far end of an attraction park. It was witnessed live by an audience and partially recorded on three days: Halloween, Valentine’s Day and May Day.

The experiment was conceived for a group of actors placed under certain conditions, facing influences they could alter and metabolize. It was created as a game of roles. The roles and behaviors of the actors, here the personnel of the museum, are changing through their encounters with the collection of displays, situations and fragmented narratives. The actors are subjected to the influence of interpreters of our recent history and/or archetypical professional performers.

‘The Host and the Cloud’ is a tale, a journey in the mind of an absent subject. The fictional character that appears in the film is the alter ego, the actuality in the mental landscape of this absent subject.

A white rabbit wanders through the film of his imagination.

The Aquariums follow The Host and The Cloud (Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions, Paris, 2009-2010); La Saison des Fêtes (Palacio de Cristal, Reina Sofia, 2010); and A Forest of Lines (Opera House, Sydney, 2008). Each of these recent projects by the artist presents a collection of subjects within a particular environment. These subjects are simultaneously living entities and characters associated with a fictional context. While the conditions in which the subjects coexist are constructed within fictitious narratives, the relationships between the subjects are real and not scripted. The subjects are no longer protagonists of a narrative, but simply characters who exist within it. Each Aquarium evokes a specific psychological state, emotion, or mood which reflect behaviors and situations we may have experienced ourselves.

Pierre Huyghe was born in Paris in 1962. He studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. He was recently honored with the 2010 Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Contemporary Artist Award which recognizes an artist who has produced a significant body of work and consistently demonstrates exceptional creativity.
Upcoming exhibitions include The Host and the Cloud to be presented on February 13th, 2011 at the Berlin Film Festival’s Forum Expanded, and February 14th, 2011 at the Gloria Cinema, Kassel, Germany, in anticipation of the forthcoming Documenta 13, 2012. A selection of his work is on view in Pierre Huyghe: The Works of the Collection, Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Kunstmuseum, Basel from January 22 – May 1, 2011.

Pierre Huyghe has notably received the Hugo Boss Prize in 2002 and the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Biennale in 2001 when he represented France. His recent solo shows include, for example, La Saison des Fêtes, at the Contemporary Museum of Art the Reina Sofia in Madrid and the Palacio de Cristal, Madrid (2010) ; A Time Score, MUSAC-Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León, (Espagne) (2007) ; Celebration Park, Tate Modern, London, and at l’Arc, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (2006). Pierre Huyghe’s work has been shown at numerous exhibitions though out the world, for example, Yesterday will Be Better – Taking Memory into the Future, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Suisse ; Dreamlands, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010) ; Branded on display, Salt Lake Center, Salt Lake city, UT, The Puppet Show, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, Il tempo del Postino, Manchester international Festival et Basel Theater, Bâle, (2009), The 6e Sydney Biennale, The same River Twice, Part 1, IMA Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, QLD, theanyspacewhatsoever, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY ; Biennale Art Focus, Jerusalem, Israël, (2008); Ecstasy, In and About Altered States, LA MOCA – Museum Of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Biennale de Venise (2003), Documenta 11, Kassel (2002).

Consultation and fabrication of aquariums by Okeanos Aquascaping

Please join us at the opening reception on Friday, January 28th, from 6-8 pm. The screening of The Host and the Cloud will begin promptly at 6:15 pm.

For further information, please contact the Gallery at: 212 977-7160.