In the words of his friend, Rirkrit Tiravanija, French artist Pierre Huyghe “has a talent for creating a cultural confrontation out of the most unexpected elements.” These often happen in unlikely locations.

For over a decade, Huyghe has consistently worked outside of museum and gallery structures. In 2005 his work was found on Central Park’s Wollman skating rink, in a musical performance inspired by a trip to Antarctica. In 2008, it was found “literally growing” in the Sydney Opera House for a 24-hour period, when he transformed the concert hall into a fog-filled arboretum. In 2010, Huyghe even took over gardening duties at Madrid’s Crystal Palace for the Reina Sofia, planting a calendar’s worth of flora representing different seasons and holidays throughout the year and then letting them battle for ground rights. That same year, Huyghe presented the amorphous and surprising work, "The Host in the Clouds," a year-long performative work held at the closed site of the former Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires in Paris. Working within the shuttered institution allowed Hughye the freedom that can only be borne of certain restraints, and piqued his interest to go even further afield.

As an exhibiting artist at this year's dOCUMENTA 13 — as well as a juror for the Kassel exhibition, and faculty at Banff Center for the Art’s associated residency, The Retreat — Huyghe has remarked that his most recent interests have little to do with the institution, less to do with performance, and everything to do with “presence.” “Untilled” (2011-12), Huyghe’s dOCUMENTA 13 project, is installed around a park's compost heap, although the installation's unfurling growth and insidious expansion — which includes a painted dog, a beehive-headed sculpture, poisonous fruits, and marijuana, among other natural resources — seems more predicated on the loss of artistic control.

ARTINFO Canada sat down with the artist in Banff to discuss this latest project and its implications for the art object. Touching on the work of Tino Sehgal, Jerome Bel, and the four walls of the Museum of Modern Art, the expansive Hugyhe had a lot to say.

This is your first time in Banff; how are you responding to it, and has being here changed your perception of your dOCUMENTA project?

I find it interesting that Carolyn [Christov-Bakargiev, Artistic Director] decided to initiate another stage of the dOCUMENTA exhibition, and it's particularly interesting that it should happen in North America. We are here in this remote place trying to make sense — or not — with all these thoughts. I don't know if I know Banff better now, but I like this kind of configuration, with no need for an outside resolution, no pressure, only altitude. With a suspension of resolution, we are not in the expectation of an outcome. And with this expectation removed, it's a place where exchanges are not there to be quantified. It's another modality of the exhibition. 

Has the mix of participants in this residency been a productive one?

Yes, I was just thinking about this today. We are not here in the expectation of an outcome. With this expectation removed, it's a place where we can really exchange, freely. This doesn't usually occur during exhibitions, this time given to exchange without immediate efficiency. It’s partly why this moment in Banff works. Constructive ideas appear out of a utilitarian function, and that usually only happens with close friends; it's a configuration that doesn't happen often.