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Through films and sculptures of robots indifferent to the world, the French visual artist questions the future of humanity at the Venice Biennale in a disturbing exhibition.
Plunged from start to finish in a darkness barely attenuated by the faint glow (amber, grayish or greenish) of the projected films, Pierre Huyghe’s exhibition, at Pointe de la Doua, in Venice, makes one shudder because his works are crossed by creatures or embryos of creatures who live their lives in cover, moving or thinking, remaining impenetrable, almost indifferent to the viewer. As if they did not belong to the same world or even the same era as ours.
Silent ballet
From the first room, a ghostly creature is presented on a giant screen, which the booklet defines as a “empty human form, without brain or face» – since instead there is a black hole. Against the backdrop of a dark desert, she stands still or convulses and the title, Liminal which is also that of the show, says that she is at a preliminary stage of learning or metamorphosis.
She’s not the only one. Here and there, individuals with a robotic approach wander, their faces covered by a helmet which captures information and will, over time, allow them to develop their own language and refine their sensitivity. These Idioms are akin to artificial intelligence in the flesh and the show is like an anticipatory exhibition which projects itself into a near future where human beings would no longer have their place and will, at the very least, have to
