Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Pandgt;Over the past two decades, French artist Pierre Huyghe has produced an extraordinary body of work in constant dialogue with temporality. Investigating the possibility of a hypothetical mode of timekeeping--andquot;parallel presentsandquot;-- Huyghe has researched the architecture of the incomplete, directed a puppet opera, founded a temporary school, established a pirate television station, staged celebrations, scripted scenarios, and journeyed to Antarctica in search of a mythological penguin. In this first book-length art historical examination of Huyghe and his work, Amelia Barikin traces the artist's continual negotiation with the time codes of contemporary society. Offering detailed analyses of Huyghe's works and drawing on extensive interviews with Huyghe and his associates, Barikin finds in Huyghe's projects an alternate way of thinking about history--a andquot;topological historicityandquot; that deprograms (or reprograms) temporal formats. Huyghe once said, andquot;It is through the montage, the way we combine and relate images, that we can create a representation of an event that is perhaps more precise than the event itself.andquot;Barikin offers pioneering analyses of Huyghe's lesser-known early works as well as sustained readings of later, critically acclaimed projects, including andlt;Iandgt;No Ghost Just a Shell andlt;/Iandgt;(2000), andlt;Iandgt;L'Expédition scintillante andlt;/Iandgt;(2002), and andlt;Iandgt; A Journey That Wasn't andlt;/Iandgt;(2005). She emphasizes Huyghe's concepts of andquot;freed timeandquot; and andquot;the open present,andquot; in which anything might happen. Bringing together an eclectic array of subjects and characters--from moon walking to situationist practices, from Snow White to Gilles Deleuze-- andlt;Iandgt;Parallel Presentsandlt;/Iandgt; offers a highly original account of the driving forces behind Huyghe's workandlt;/Pandgt;
Review
There is little doubt that Pierre Huyghe is one of the most important artists of the last twenty years. In this first monograph devoted to the artist, Amelia Barikin provides a striking road map through a dense oeuvre, showing Huyghe to be involved in a thorough-going reconsideration -- a reinvention -- of the problem of art's relationship to time. The MIT Press
Review
An elegant and readable road-map of the complex creative territory that is Pierre Huyghe. This no mean feat, as Amelia Barikin's subject belongs to a generation of artists whose work is protean to the extreme. As such, Parallel Presents is indispensable not only for our understanding of Huyghe, but also for the ideas and other artists on today's cutting-edge. George Baker, University of California, Los Angeles; author of < i=""> The Artwork Caught by the Tail <>
Review
andlt;Pandgt;andquot;There is little doubt that Pierre Huyghe is one of the most important artists of the last twenty years. In this first monograph devoted to the artist, Amelia Barikin provides a striking road map through a dense oeuvre, showing Huyghe to be involved in a thorough-going reconsideration--a reinvention--of the problem of art's relationship to time.andquot;andlt;Bandgt;--George Bakerandlt;/Bandgt;, University of California, Los Angeles; author of andlt;Iandgt;The Artwork Caught by the Tailandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;andquot;An elegant and readable road-map of the complex creative territory that is Pierre Huyghe. This no mean feat, as Amelia Barikin's subject belongs to a generation of artists whose work is protean to the extreme. As such, andlt;Iandgt;Parallel Presents andlt;/Iandgt;is indispensable not only for our understanding of Huyghe, but also for the ideas and other artists on today's cutting-edge.andquot;andlt;Bandgt;--Simon Morleyandlt;/Bandgt;, editor of andlt;Iandgt; The Sublimeandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Pandgt;
Review
Barikin skillfully negotiates the curious entanglements of Huyghe's positioning, rarely fixed yet frequently fascinating. Simon Morley, editor of < i=""> The Sublime <>
Synopsis
Over the past two decades, French artist Pierre Huyghe has produced an extraordinary body of work in constant dialogue with temporality. Investigating the possibility of a hypothetical mode of timekeeping -- "parallel presents" -- Huyghe has researched the architecture of the incomplete, directed a puppet opera, founded a temporary school, established a pirate television station, staged celebrations, scripted scenarios, and journeyed to Antarctica in search of a mythological penguin. In this first book-length art historical examination of Huyghe and his work, Amelia Barikin traces the artist's continual negotiation with the time codes of contemporary society. Barikin finds in Huyghe's projects an alternate way of thinking about history -- a "topological historicity" that deprograms (or reprograms) temporal formats. Barikin offers pioneering analyses of Huyghe's lesser-known early works as well as sustained readings of later, critically acclaimed projects, including
No Ghost Just a Shell (2000),
L'Expédition scintillante (2002), and
A Journey That Wasn't (2005). She emphasizes Huyghe's concepts of "freed time" and "the open present," in which anything might happen.
Bringing together an eclectic array of subjects and characters -- from moon walking to situationist practices, from Snow White to Gilles Deleuze -- Parallel Presents offers a highly original account of the driving forces behind Huyghe's work.
About the Author
Amelia Barikin, a curator, writer, and art historian, is Senior Research Associate in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne.