BIENNALE FOCUS: PIERRE HUYGHE, A FOREST OF LINES

BIENNALE FOCUS: PIERRE HUYGHE, A FOREST OF LINES

BY AMELIA GROOM

The inaugural venue for the first Biennale of Sydney in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has accommodated thousands of diverse performers since it opened – but never before has it been taken over by a forest.

For 24 hours only, French artist Pierre Huyghe will envision the iconic edifice as a post-apocalyptic ruin, some time in the future, with the Concert Hall housing a vision of unexpected new life emerging out of the destruction and decay. Trees will spew off the stage and across the stalls and circles. A ghostly, dawn-like glow will replace the usual theatrical light and colour, and fog will hover low over the floor. By the entrance at the top of the hall will be a valley obscured by clouds. A lone figure will walk through the trees, singing, and audiences will be invited to navigate the in-between reality, with no specified direction or path to take’

Since the early 1990’s, Huyghe’s experimental films, installations, and public events have innovatively explored the intersections between reality and fantasy, and this strange, living, passing installation is a unique highlight of the Sydney Biennale.

Entry to A Forest of Lines is free and will be in sessions (check www.bos2008.com for session times). Expect queues.

Pierre Huhes: A Forest of Lines
Sydney Opera House
Midday July 9 – midday July 10

 

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