By JESSE GRAHAM
AWE-inspiring art from a world-renowned artist has filled the halls of TarraWarra Museum of Art for his first major exhibition on Australian soil.
French artist Pierre Huyghe will have his works adorning the walls of TWMA until 22 November, as part of the museum’s second biennial TarraWarra International.
The exhibition features works never before displayed in the country, and opened on Saturday 29 August.
TWMA director Victoria Lynn and co-curator Amelia Barikin took the Mail on a tour of the exhibition the day before the opening, to explain the pieces and the artist’s unique approach to art.
Ms Lynn said that, though the pieces feature from years throughout Huyghe’s career, they are all linked on the themes of time and temporality.
Pieces in the exhibition vary wildly in their format – visitors will walk into the museum hall and look up to see RSI, un bout de reel, neon circles inspired by the work of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan on the roof.
Nearby, live spiders and ants will be traversing the walls – the first time live creatures have been used at the museum.
Ms Lynn quickly pointed out that the spiders are Daddy Long-Legs, and are based high off of the museum floor, for those who are arachnophobic.
She adds that none of the insects have been harmed in the making of the exhibition, and explains Huyghe’s design of the installation.
“Part of the reason that Pierre works with insects is that they are pushing the boundaries of the museum,” Ms Lynn said.
“They’re not going to necessarily behave according to our rules of an on-and-off-schedule.”
“It’s like, ‘It’s 9 o’clock and I’m going to see the painting’, but the ants might not be there then,” Ms Barikin adds.
But the most breathtaking moments in the exhibition are the videos scattered throughout the museum, depicting live insects, another trapped within 30 million-year-old amber, and an expedition to the Antarctic to see an albino penguin.
That expedition, Ms Lynn and Ms Barikin explain, led to the crew discovering a new island – the topography of the island was then mapped, turned into a musical piece, and performed in a one-off show in New York’s Central Park – all of which is projected onto TWMA’s walls in A Journey That Wasn’t.
One of the key exhibition pieces, L’expedition Scintillante, Act 2: Untitled (Light Box), runs on a cycle with A Journey That Wasn’t, flickering to life and filling the hall with light, sound and smoke once the video has finished.
Ms Lynn said that all of the pieces, in their own way, relate back to the idea of time.
She said that she and Ms Barikin met Huyghe in 2013, and that it took two years for the exhibition to be organised and set up.
After viewing all of the works first-hand, it was clearly worth every second.
To see the Pierre Huyghe exhibition, visit TarraWarra Museum of Art at 311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road, Healesville, from 11am-5pm Tuesday-Sunday.
For more information, visit www.twma.com.au or call 5957 3100.
Ms Barikin is also the author of Parallel Presents: The Art of Pierre Huyghe.
