This year's Frieze Art Fair in London featured an aquarium by Pierre Huyghe in which the livestock were the 'players' in his 'aquatic performance'. But is it art? Check out the video of some of Huyghe's other aquatic creations...
French artist Huyghe's aquarium, entitled 'Recollection' was a Martian landscape featuring a hermit crab with a replica of Brancusi's Sleeping Muse as its shell (made of light plaster in this case, not bronze).
The installation was designed by Huyghe and Aquarium Architecture.
According to the Frieze Foundation's website: "Pierre Huyghe’s aquarium was a live ecosystem that hosted a specific narrative created for Frieze Art Fair. This narrative was enacted by particular seawater creatures selected as the players in Huyghe’s aquatic performance. While the conditions in which the players coexisted were constructed within a fictitious narrative, the behavioural relationships between the players were real and not scripted. The aquarium created an intimate psychological world that formed a point of contrast with the atmosphere throughout the rest of the fair."
Is it art?
Huyghe has included aquariums at other exhibitions. But is it art? And if so, does it make all us fishkeepers artists? Where do you draw the line between the two? We'd be interested to see what you think. Check out the video below to see some of his other aquatic creations…
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