- Dates: March 30–July 16, 2017
- Curator: Manuel Cirauqui
- Film & Video Gallery (103)
From March 30 to July 16, 2017, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao will premiere in Spain Pierre Huyghe’s Untitled (Human Mask) (2014). This is the tenth piece presented in the Film & Video Gallery since it opened in 2014 as a showcase for video art, video installations, and the moving image.
Pierre Huyghe (b. Paris, 1962) conceived Untitled (Human Mask) in 2014 after learning about two trained monkeys who served and entertained patrons at a traditional sake house in Japan. Huyghe’s film is shot in a location ravaged by the recent tsunami and ensuing nuclear disaster at Fukushima. A singular inhabitant wanders through a gloomy interior wearing a traditional Japanese theater mask, a woman’s wig, a white shirt, and a dress resembling a school uniform. We soon realize it is a monkey, although the creature’s attentive, anxious attitude and body language suggest an ambiguous humanity. Through this piece, Huyghe reflects on the paradox of observing animal behavior in a surreal setting with the intention of exploring reality—in other words, he reflects on the human condition.