Pierre Huyghe's Double Spectacle

Discusses the work of the French artist Pierre Huyghe. The author describes his encounter with Huyghe's work at the 2001 Venice Biennale where he viewed his film installation works 'Les grands ensembles' (2001; illus.) and 'Atari light' (1999; illus.), refers to the views of critics including Benjamin Buchloh that Huyghe's work, and that of other artists such as Bill Viola, aim at evoking traditional rather than radical responses from the viewer, and notes that Huyghe's works such as the installation 'L'expédition scincillante' (2002; illus.) reflect Huyghe's views that art works that rely on spectacle can form a valid part of an artist's work. He focuses on Huyghe's multi-part and multi-media art work 'A journey that wasn't' (2005; illus.) noting that the work incorporates a journey to Antarctica, an event and video and installation works, reports on Huyghe's exhibition of a video work incorporating footage from the journey in 2005 and 2006, and examines the relationship of the work to ecological and environmental concerns. He analyses Huyghe's use of the spectacle in his work, and posits that the artist adopts a complex but ultimately justifiable approach to spectacle in art.