MuseumMuseum: Pierre Huyghe

Undisovered Amerindians

In order to address the widespread practice of human displays, Fusco and Gomez-Peña enclosed their own bodies in a ten-by -twelve-foot cage and presented themselves as two previously unknown "specimens representative of the Guatinaui people" in the performance piece "Undiscovered Amerindians." Inside the cage Fusco and Peña outfitted themselves in outrageous costumes and preoccupied themselves with performing equally outlandish "native" tasks. Gomez-Peña was dressed in an Aztec style breastplate, complete with a leopard skin face wrestler's mask. Fusco, in some of her performances, donned a grass skirt, leopard skin bra, baseball cap, and sneakers. She also braided her hair, a readily identifiable sign of "native authenticity."

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Pierre Huyghe

"Internationally acclaimed artist Pierre Huyghe works at the intersection of fiction and reality, creating projects that point up multiple, complex narratives, often within pre-existing cultural events. In a rich body of work that includes installations, films, and sculptures, the Parisian-born Huyghe suggests the ways in which identity and subjective experience are deeply informed by particular historical moments. Huyghe's investigations into cultural production explore how media representations and social rituals shape contemporary reality."