Pierre Huyghe’s Solo Exhibition ‘Liminal’ Opens at Leeum Museum of Art on the 27th, Marking Its Asian Debut
Exhibition Data Collected via Sensors and Applied in Real Time
In the pitch-black darkness, if you wait a moment for your eyes to adjust, a world where humans, non-humans, and various life forms coexist soon unfolds before you. Pierre Huyghe’s solo exhibition Liminal, which has gained attention for its experimental works that break the fixed forms of contemporary art, welcomes visitors in darkness symbolizing a transitional state where something unexpected can emerge.
Pierre Huyghe’s solo exhibition Liminal opens on the 27th at the Leeum Museum of Art in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, marking its Asian debut. The exhibition showcases 12 works created over the past decade, including Offspring (2018), Human Mask (2014), and aquarium pieces.
The exhibition begins with the question, “How can we perceive the interdependent relationship between humans and non-humans?” The artist stimulates visitors’ eyes, ears, and nose with the exhibits to encourage an expansion of perception, allowing them to imagine alternative realities.
The exhibition space is designed for interactive responses. Sensors within the gallery collect information on movement, sound, and smell in real time and reflect these in the artworks. The piece Liminal incorporates visitor data gathered by sensors to alter the movements and gaze of figures on the screen. Visitors can experience different exhibition scenes depending on changes in the surrounding environment within the expressive range of the artworks.
The mysterious voices heard throughout the exhibition space are “Idioms.” Actual people wear golden masks equipped with sensors and roam the gallery, perceiving surrounding information and producing unfamiliar, difficult-to-understand sounds. Through this, visitors encounter themselves anew, as if they have entered a strange world.
Cambrian Explosion 16 expresses an evolving world. Rocks floating on water appear to defy gravity, and on the black sand live two species of crabs that emerged during the Cambrian Explosion 540 million years ago. Their continuous reproduction until the end of their lifespan evokes thoughts of humanity’s persistence.
Human Mask projects drone footage of the nuclear contamination zone around Fukushima onto a screen. In an abandoned restaurant, a monkey wearing a young girl’s mask repeats the actions of helping with the store’s work before the accident. In a world where everything has stopped, the masked monkey evokes the residual image of humans, posing a profound question about the “mask” called human.
Cancer Cell Transformer creates an environment where actual cancer cells divide. The images of cancer cell division are expressed through the work U-Umwelt-Anri. This piece is produced in collaboration with Samsung Medical Center.
Kamata depicts a machine collective silently performing a ritual over a human skull found in the Atacama Desert. The images, modified in real time according to data collected by sensors installed in the exhibition space, symbolize an exchange between different realities. It also signifies a transition from a disembodied existence to a lifeless body.
Pierre Huyghe said, “I am interested when the form of a story escapes linearity,” adding, “(My work) is about fiction beyond narratives that transcend history. Simulation is a projection of multiple possibilities that allow passage through chaos.”
Kim Sung-won, deputy director of the Leeum Museum of Art and curator of the exhibition, stated, “The artist’s recent works explore new realities completely different from existing concepts of humanity and reality, worlds beyond and outside of humans. This exhibition sensually and poetically transforms the artist’s imagination, offering visitors a powerful impression and a unique experience.”
The exhibition runs until July 6.
Meanwhile, to commemorate its 60th anniversary, the Leeum Museum of Art is also holding the Leeum Contemporary Art Collection Exhibition, showcasing 44 representative pieces from its collection. Among them, 27 important works that have not been previously exhibited are being revealed for the first time.
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