A Way in Untilled

Pierre Huyghe has come to stand at the forefront of the exploration of our relationship to the non-human in art. He dwells specifically on the time of the artwork and our relationship to the material. Huyghe proposes environments instead of objects, characterised by an evolution over time which resembles that of a living being.

A Way in Untilled was filmed in a park in the city of Kassel that had been abandoned, or “untilled”. This emblematic film of the artist’s oeuvre is also a highlight of the Pinault Collection. It depicts processes of organic decomposition and generation, making room for non-human actors and contingencies. The “adventures” and developments describe this micro-universe of a compost garden from the perspective of non-humans; it is their Umwelt, the world that they perceive in function of their own sensory capacities. Although we mainly see the meanderings of a dog called Human, other beings appear as well: bees, rodents, insects, forms of life on and in the soil and in the water, both animals and plants. The artist left these beings alone in this minimally prepared space. It is precisely this laissez-faire that interests Huyghe, the way in which each form of life unfolds in the context given to it. Huyghe created it only in part and does not control its potential for change.