PIERRE HUYGHE

Born in Paris, 1962, Huyghe’s oeuvre has gained international acclaim for its ability to challenge conventional forms of representation and accepted, narrative models. Covering an eclectic array of topics – ranging, variously, from genetic engineering and new realist philosophy to seascapes – Huyghe’s work unremittingly interrogates the contours of cultural, biological and exhibition-based systems.

In doing so, Huyghe’s approach generates a network of dynamic and unpredictable living situations that unfold in real-time. Huyghe’s work incites heterotopic conditions of ‘permeability, flow and the indeterminate,’ while simultaneously intensifying the ‘presence of what could be.’ [1]

As the language of art undergoes ever-accelerated shifts, Huyghe’s practice embeds in the very interstices of this re-configuration. His body of work continues to play a significant role in the development and expansion of contemporary art.

Huyghe has been celebrated internationally with solo exhibitions at venues including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Tate Modern, London; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. He has also featured in major international group shows including the Documenta, the Biennale of Sydney, the Whitney Biennial and the Venice Biennale, where in 2001 he represented France.

In 2017, Huyghe participated in the decennial exhibition of public art Skulptur Projekte Münster with the highly regarded speculative ecosystem After A Life Ahead. In 2017, Huyghe was awarded the Nasher Prize for Sculpture. He was also the recipient of the Kurt Schwitters Prize at The Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany (2015), Roswitha Haftmann Prize in Zurich (2013), the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Contemporary Artist Award (2010), the Hugo Boss Prize (2002), the Special Jury Prize awarded by 49th Venice Biennale (2001) and received the DAAD Artist in Residence grant in Berlin (1999 – 2000).

[1] Huyghe, Pierre as quoted in Centre Pompidou, ’Pierre Huyghe:’

Courtesy Hauser & Wirth