the moment you step into the black box of the Rium Museum in Yongsan, Seoul, the familiar format of a conventional art museum disappears and a completely new sensory space unfolds. instead of a fixed form of artwork, visitors interact with the exhibition and become part of the artwork in a constantly changing and reactive environment.
since February 27, LIUM has been hosting Liminal, the first solo exhibition of French artist Pierre Huyghe (b.1962) in Asia. the exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Pinault Collection’s Punta della Dogana Museum in Venice and is supported by Italian luxury brand Bottega Veneta. the exhibition will feature 12 works, including the new works “Liminal,” “Kamata,” and “Idiom,” as well as masterpieces “Human Mask” and “Offspring.
exploringthe human, the non-human, and the boundaries between them
the title of the exhibition, “Liminal,” refers to a transitional state in which “new beings can emerge,” according to the artist. through this exhibition, he asks philosophical questions such as “How do we imagine and realize what cannot exist?” and “How can we recognize the interrelationship between humans and non-humans?” to express this, he created an environment where humans, non-humans, and various living beings coexist, and composed his works in a way that reflects real-time environmental data.
“I am intrigued when narratives escape linearity, and simulation is a tool to explore multiple possibilities in chaos.”
pierre Wiig
in the exhibition’s centerpiece, Liminal (2024-ongoing), a faceless human figure emerges. the figure responds to environmental data collected in real time by sensors installed throughout the exhibition, creating subtle movements that are constantly changing. people wearing golden masks roam the exhibition hall like ghosts, which is also part of the work. idiom (2024-ongoing) conveys an unknown voice generated from data collected through sensors attached to the masks. bottega Veneta collaborated with the artist to create the costumes for this performance.
the large-scale video work Camata (2024-ongoing) depicts a machine performing a ritual around a human skeleton found in the Atacama Desert in Chile. the video has no clear beginning or end, evoking an endless funeral ritual, and is edited in real time to reflect data from sensors, creating an ever-changing scene.
“My work is a process of asking fundamental questions about human existence and exploring its archetypes.”
pierre Huyghe
blurring the lines betweenhuman and animal, reality and fiction
the artist’s masterpiece Human Mask (2014) is set in an abandoned city after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. the video features a monkey wearing the mask of a young girl, who was actually trained to work as a waitress in a restaurant, performing the same movements she learned over and over again after the humans left. this familiar and unfamiliar scene blurs the line between human and animal, and raises questions about how we perceive humanity.
the exhibition also features three aquariums. zoodram 4 (2011), Circadien Dilemma (El Dia del Ojo) (2017), and Cambrian Explosion 16 (2018) explore the evolution of ecosystems. these aquariums are not replicas of nature, but rather constructed worlds that change autonomously in an unpredictable environment, exploring the uncertainty of life and the concept of evolution.
an exhibition that changes withthe viewer
the exhibition is organized in such a way that visitors can become part of the environment, rather than simply viewing the artworks. the artworks reflect the audience’s movements and the conditions in the exhibition hall in real time through sensors, and the exhibition space and artworks are constantly changing accordingly.
the black box and the ground gallery of the Rium Museum of Art have a circular structure where visitors descend and ascend on escalators. this spatial characteristic emphasizes the circularity and organic connectivity of the exhibition and encourages visitors to experience new sensations within the exhibition.
terminal is an experimental exhibition that explores the boundaries between human and non-human, real and virtual, and attempts to transform the exhibition space itself into an organic environment. visitors are forced to leave their familiar world and encounter new beings and concepts. until July 6, you can experience Pierre Wiig’s strange yet vibrant world for yourself at the RIUM.
about Pierre Huyghe’s ‘Terminal’ Exhibition
–Exhibition period: February 27 – July 6, 2025
–Venue: rium Museum of Art, Black Box, Ground Gallery (60-16, Itaewon-ro 55-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea)
–Organized by: rium Museum of Art
–Supported by: Bottega Veneta
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