Cancer cells, AI, blind cavefish: Pierre Huyghe's art of ever-mutating ecosystems

By Park Han-sol

For decades, Pierre Huyghe has made art out of almost anything — hermit crabs, blind cavefish, monkeys, human skeletons, brain scans and even cancer cells.

Armed with such an uncanny array of materials, the acclaimed French artist constructs ever-mutating ecosystems, where the living and nonliving, creatures and machines, are left to behave on their own terms. Once set in motion, his works detach from their human creator and become otherworldly, self-propagating worlds.

Take “Cancer Variator,” for instance — an incubator for in vitro cancer cells. Not only does the work grow and divide on its own, quite literally, it also functions as a real-time control system for “UUmwelt-Annlee,” a project that, through artificial intelligence software, attempts to translate human brain activity into shape-shifting images. As the cells metastasize in different rhythms, they influence the visuals emerging on screen, forming an eerily self-perpetuating feedback loop between the organic and the digital.

And then there are Huyghe’s surreal aquariums. The environments within his vivarium tanks neither fully replicate natural ecosystems nor are precisely controlled sets. While the artist predetermines certain conditions, what unfolds inside is an unpredictable reality that deviates from our conventional understanding of evolution.

“Circadien Dilemma, (El Dia del Ojo),” inspired by a Mexican water cave, houses tetra fish — some born with vision, others blind after millennia of adapting to pitch-black caverns. The tank itself is a dynamic environment: its glass surface shifts from opaque to transparent, and LED lighting turns on and off, all triggered by sensors that respond to surrounding changes in temperature and humidity. By placing both types of fish within this ever-fluctuating setting, the piece presents an unexpected juxtaposition between two circadian rhythms: those still governed by the 24-hour cycle of light and dark and those that have abandoned it entirely.

Such works that exist in an unnerving state of transition and flux are at the heart of Huyghe’s aptly titled exhibition, “Liminal,” now on view at the Leeum Museum of Art in central Seoul. First staged last year at the Pinault Collection’s Punta della Dogana in Venice, the show marks his first major survey in Asia.

“The artist poetically invites us to step beyond the constructs and concepts humans have built, transporting us into an entirely different, post-humanist world. By distancing ourselves in this way, he seems to suggest, we may gain a new perspective on our own existence,” said the museum’s deputy director, Kim Sung-won, during a press preview on Feb. 25.

At the heart of the exhibit is the notion that the space itself becomes an autonomous organism.

“My work revolves around fundamental and universal questions about human existence and the exploration of its archetypes,” Huyghe, who was unable to attend the event, later remarked in a separate statement.

Regarding the differences between the Venice and Seoul iterations of the show, he noted: “The Punta della Dogana in Venice is a long, maze-like space with staircases, which resulted in separations between the artworks. On the other hand, [the two] spaces in the Leeum Museum of Art are open and interconnected, and the experience of going down and then coming back up via the escalator creates a cyclical flow.”

This architectural layout, he explained, allowed him to design the display in a way that fosters “a sense of circulation and organic relationships between the works.”

One way the artist transforms the museum into a mutating ecosystem with a life of its own is through atmospheric devices that harvest data from the surrounding environment — temperature, pollution levels and even visitors’ breaths — and integrate it into the works via AI. Their precise inner workings remain deliberately obscure, reinforcing the idea of their self-sustaining nature.

These devices edit scenes from his new film, “Camata,” in real time, where mechanical robots perform a cryptic funerary ritual over the exposed bones of a human skeleton in Chile’s Atacama Desert. A similar process unfolds in the titular “Liminal,” in which a faceless, computer-generated human figure endlessly drifts through a void, accumulating memories based on external data.

Accompanying these visuals are performers donning golden, AI-equipped masks. Borrowing the human wearer’s vocal apparatus and neural network, the masks generate a language called “Idiom” — an incomprehensible speech that will evolve into an increasingly complex form as the exhibition unfolds.

In an era where AI in art often feels like just another pervasive trend, Huyghe continues to push the boundaries in every imaginable — and unimaginable — way. Stepping into “Liminal” isn’t merely an experience; it’s a physical immersion into liminality itself.

“Liminal” runs through July 6 at the Leeum Museum of Art.

Leeum's collection on display

Running concurrently at the museum is an exhibition spotlighting its modern and contemporary art collection, with a strong focus on sculpture.

Of the 44 works featured, 27 are making their public debut since their acquisition. The star-studded lineup includes Auguste Rodin, Alberto Giacometti, Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Nevelson and Chang Uc-chin.

Notably, this occasion marks the return of Rodin’s iconic bronze sculpture, “The Burghers of Calais,” back on public display for the first time in nine years.