Pierre Huyghe, "Name Announcer"

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

In Name Announcer, an actor positioned at the entrance of the exhibition space requests the first and last name of each visitor. As the visitor enters, the announcer loudly presents them to the room, recalling the now seemingly outmoded formalities of royal court protocols. By being publically named visitors may both feel honored by this treatment but may also experience unease at this unexpected loss of anonymity. At once a whimsical appropriation and a disruptive incursion, Name Announcer perforates the barrier between the anonymous public self and the private space of the individual.

For over 25 years, Pierre Huyghe has utilized the diverse mediums of film, photography, theater, sculpture, and puppetry to develop a creative practice in which the situation, rather than the art object, is the primary focal point. Always grounded in exhaustive research, Huyghe’s body of work pulls from historical and scientific source materials, yet remains somewhere between reality and fantasy. Living, organic materials such as bees, dogs, bacteria, spiders, and human beings are frequently deployed as part of his artistic process, at times crafting fantastical menageries while allowing events to unfold without his direct involvement and control.