What form does brain activity take? Pierre Huyghe shows it in one of his works

Hauser & Wirth Gallery, one of the leading galleries on the international scene, presents a digital solo exhibition by Pierre Huyghe (Paris, 1962), titled Of Ideal, which will go online Sept. 21 on the gallery’s website. This is an opportunity to learn about the “mental images” of Huyghe, one of the world’s most highly regarded contemporary artists: these are works produced by combining images produced by two types of intelligence, the human and the artificial. Exhibited for the first time in 2019 in Okayama, Japan, the “mental images” are now on the web for the first time, in a series of three videos that is also the first digital installation presented in the context of an online exhibition by did Hauser & Wirth.

The first “mental image” of Huyghe’s production, titled UUmwelt, was first exhibited at the Serpentine Galleries in London as part of one of his solo shows in 2018: to make UUmwelt, Huyghe had subjected a person to a series of descriptions and ideas to imagine (among them, biological entities, prehistoric tools, machines, instruments, codes, works of art), while subjecting her to an MRI scan. The result of the person’s imaginative activity was thus made visible through the work of the machine that reconstructs the brain’s activity as the person shapes the descriptions. Thus, the human imagination was in turn given a form, to overcome all traditional forms of expression such as language or the senses.

For Of Ideal, the process was the same, but the material to be imagined were memories and situations. Moreover, for Of Ideal the viewer does not see the end result of the machine’s work, but the process of elaboration: the object of the work is thus the very activity of the human mind. In addition, for Of Ideal Pierre Huyghe has also added images that are generated in real time and are added to those of mental activity.

Pierre Huyghe’s works are often presented as complex systems characterized by the interaction between life forms, inanimate objects, and technologies. These works, marked by uncertainty, generate immersive environments that are constantly and constantly evolving. The Paris-based artist has exhibited his work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York (2015), the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2014), and several other major museums. Awards received include the Nasher Sculpture Prize (2017), the Kurt Schwitters Prize (2015), the Smithsonian Museum’s Contemporary Artist Award (2010), and the Guggenheim Museum’s Hugo Boss Prize (2002). Also for Huyghe was the Special Jury Prize at the 2001 Venice Biennale.

Pierre Huyghe, UUmwelt (Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London, October 3, 2018 to February 10, 2019). Copyright Ola Rindal. Courtesy of the artist and Serpentine Galleries.

What form does brain activity take? Pierre Huyghe shows it in one of his works

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