Huyghe creates films, installations, and events that blur fact and fiction, reinvent rituals of social engagement, and use the exhibition model as a site for playful experimentation. The Human Mask film is inspired by a real situation in Japan, in which a monkey – wearing the mask of a young woman – has been trained to work as a waitress. The film opens with footage of the deserted site of Fukushima in 2011, the camera functioning as a drone scaling the wreckage. This is followed by scenes of the monkey alone in her habitat, silhouetted against the empty, dark restaurant. In this dystopian setting, an animal acts out the human condition, trapped, endlessly repeating her unconscious role. (Bettina Steinbrügge)
Pierre Huyghe was born in Paris in 1962. He studied at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. His works have been exhibited internationally. His recent solo presentations include a major touring retrospective at LACMA, Los Angeles (2014), the Centre Georges Pompidou (2013), Paris, France and Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany (2014) and an exhibition of screenings of the film The Host and The Cloud (2009 – 2010, Forum Expanded 2011) at Museo d’art Contemporani de Barcelona in Spain in April 2014. He lives and works in Paris.
Contact: anna@annalena.fr, www.annalenafilms.com
Format: DCP, Colour
Running time: 19 min
Language: English
