Pierre Huyghe has unveiled his most ambitious project to date in Berlin, a major exhibition titled 'Liminals' staged at the cavernous Halle am Berghain. Commissioned by the LAS Art Foundation as part of its 'Sensing Quantum' program, the installation features a massive 50-minute film projected in a former electrical station, accompanied by a droning, atmospheric soundscape. The work continues Huyghe’s exploration of AI-driven systems and 'unworlding,' attempting to create a space that transcends human subjectivity through bio-technological environments.
Despite the exhibition's high-concept framing of genderlessness and quantum theory, the work has drawn critical scrutiny for its reliance on traditional tropes. While promotional materials describe the central figure as 'non-human,' the visual reality of a faceless, scarred female body evokes familiar cinematic horror motifs rather than a radical new frontier. This tension between the foundation’s intellectual ambitions and the artist's specific aesthetic choices raises questions about the effectiveness of using advanced technology to represent the 'unknown' when it remains tethered to recognizable human trauma.