Pierre Huyghe - Biography

Pierre Huyghe was born in 1962 in Paris, France. Huyghe is an artist, filmmaker and philosopher who lives and works in Paris and New York. He attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (1982-85). His works make use of the themes pleasure, adventure and celebration. Through exhibitions, films and public events Pierre Huyghe creates scenarios that explore the borders of fiction and reality. His work ranges from puppet theaters to small town parades and model amusement parks. Often filming recreated scenarios, he attempts to use the power of cinema to re-envision memory. Piere Huyghe was a recipient of a DAAD Artist in Residence grant in Berlin (1999-2000) and received a Special Award from the Jury of the Venice Biennale in 2001, where he represented France, as well as the Hugo Boss Prize at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2002.

Celebration has always interested me. I mean, for example, Halloween. I think Halloween was first an Irish celebration, and then it went to the U.S. and became a very big American celebration. And I think ten years ago, in the beginning of the ‘90s, we started to have Halloween in France. Of course there is some economic reason behind it. But we don’t celebrate anymore Halloween in France. We celebrated it for ten years. It was an attempt to transplant a celebration—but it didn’t work. It’s like when you transplant an organ and then the body refuses it because there’s no reason to accept it. - Pierre Huyghe

Huyghe has had solo exhibitions at Tate Modern, London and ARC, Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2006); Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2004); Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas (2004); Dia Center for the Arts, New York (2003); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2003); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2000); and Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2000). The Public Art Fund commissioned Huyghe to create “A Journey that Wasn’t” (2006), which included an expedition to Antarctica, a performance in Central Park, and a video installation at the Whitney Biennial in New York

Pierre Huyghe recently brought his show Celebration Park to Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland, MUSAC, Castillia y León, Spain, Tate Modern, London, England and the ARC, Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France. In 2006 he showed, This is Not a Time for Dreaming, at the Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, New York. In 2005 Pierre Huyghe hosted A Journey that Wasn’t at Wollman Ice Rink, Central Park as part of a Public Art Fund in New York, New York. He also showed Streamside Day at both the, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden and at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland. 2004 was a big year for Pierre Huyghe his shows for this year included: Huyghe + Corbusier : The Carpenter Center Project, Carpenter Center, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Streamside Day, Galerie Marian Goodman, in Paris, France; a show at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Rivoli-Torino, Italy; One Million Kingdoms, Les Grandes Ensembles at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas and In the Belly of an Architect (with Rirkrit Tiravanija and Pamela M.Lee) Portikus, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 2003 Pierre showed Streamside Day Celebration in Fishkill, New York and Streamside Day Follies at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York, New York. He also showed The Third Memory at the University of Virginia Art Museum, in Charlottesville, Virginia during 2003. In 2002 Pierre received the Hugo Boss Prize at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in New York, New York.

Pierre Huyghe is author of a number of books including: Pierre Huyghe Streamside Day Follies. (Kunstverlag. 2007), Pierre Huyghe: celebration park. (Tate. 2006), Christov-Bakargiev, Carolyn. Pierre Huyghe: Float. (Skira. September 18, 2004), This is not a time for dreaming: Pierre Huyghe. (Harvard University Art Museums. 2004), No ghost just a shell: Pierre Huyghe & Philippe Parreno. (Koln. May 2, 2004), Parkett No. 66. (Parkett. Januar 1, 2003), and Huyghe, Pierre (Editor) and Douglas Coupland. School Spirit. (Dis Voir. October 2, 2002).