Pierre Huyghe's 'The Host and the Cloud' Blurs Reality and Fiction

Key facts

• Pierre Huyghe's 'The Host and the Cloud' took place at the Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires in Paris, closed since 2005.
• The project consisted of five rendezvous, three live events and two future ones (a film and a book).
• Events occurred on October 31, 2009 (Halloween) and February 14, 2010 (Saint Valentine's Day), with a third planned for May 1.
• Visitors encountered a variety of performances: choreographies, living tableaux, a trial referencing Action Directe, a coronation of a Bokassa lookalike, a psychodrama, a pseudo-black mass, and hypnosis sessions.
• Actors played museum staff, including conservators, guards, and a director; some characters wore luminous screen masks.
• The work explored themes of childhood, fantasy, power, and repetition, with references to popular culture (E.T., Thriller) and literature (Mallarmé's 'L'Après-midi d'un faune').
• Huyghe also exhibited 'La Saison des fêtes' at the Palacio de Cristal in Madrid's Parque del Buen Retiro until May 31, 2010.
• Critic Marie Muracciole reported on the events for artpress.