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50 FOUR DEGREES OF SEPARATION B Y C H R I S T I N A G E Y E R Mariel Street THE PEER: LIAM GILLICK "I met Pierre Huyghe in the early 1990s," says English conceptual artist Liam Gillick. "He was shy but assured. I had heard about him already, and we were working in par- allel." It was also in the '90s that Huyghe and Gillick were part of the pivotal "Traffic" group exhibition, curated by Nicolas Bour- riaud and featuring artists such as Philippe Parreno and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. The experimental show would go on to shape what is now widely referred to as relational art — a movement with which Gillick and Huyghe have widely been associated. "We felt we were doing something that was completely different to the rather traditional way of ap- proaching a space," Gillick says. "'Traffic' made us all more conscious of what might be possible and how to challenge the insti- tutional flow of a museum." Gillick, who is also identified with the Young British Artists movement, has been exhibited in the Venice, Berlin, and Istanbul Biennales, and has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contempo- rary Art in Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Tate in London. His work is multifaceted, ranging from installa- tions, films, and writings to public works. He aims to question the notion of the exhibition as a form of art — and, in doing so, has been interested in how viewers engage with others within the context of his work. "I was always more interested in the way things flow and the way new ideas affect the way things look. The way the experience of an exhibition can affect the mood and shift the awareness," he says. "This is something that Pierre and I have in common — but his work is more expansive and connected to the methodology of cinema production." As of late, Gillick has HIS SCULPTURE IS CHALLENGING, EXPERIENTIAL, AND INDEFINABLE. (IS IT EVEN SCULPTURE?) HERE, WE EXAMINE THE WORK, INFLUENCE, AND RESONANCE OF NASHER PRIZE LAUREATE PIERRE HUYGHE, THROUGH THE WORKS OF FOUR ARTISTS. been looking back to the critical 1990s. He just completed a yearlong exhibition at the Museu Serralves in Porto, Por- tugal, which highlighted his key works from the last 20 years. And as he looks forward, Gillick continues to "play with institutional frameworks," particularly examining post-modern architecture and "how it has implicated us all in a new uncertain set of behaviors." THE COLLABORATOR: PIERO GOLIA When Los Angeles artist Piero Golia first debuted his experiential art speakeasy Chalet Hollywood in a 1,000-square- foot storage space belonging to the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, an anchor of the Edwin Chan-designed space was an enormous aquarium by Pierre Huyghe. This was no ordinary fish tank; its contents made up a surreal environment for large hermit crabs, complete with floating rocks. When Golia brought Chalet Dallas — his second in the Chalet series — to the Nasher Sculpture Center last year, Huyghe's conceptual aquarium made its way from Los Angeles to Dallas as well. This month, the tank "HUYGHE'S WORK IS AUTHENTIC, CHALLENGING, AND INTELLIGENT. THESE TRAITS ARE REFRESHING IN A CLIMATE THAT TENDS TO BE MARKET AND TASTE DRIVEN." — Michael Mazurek Pierre Huyghe's La déraison, 2014, on view at the Nasher Sculpture Center through April 30 THE RACHOFSKY COLLECTION, PHOTO KEVIN TODORA