Pierre Huyghe Wins Hugo Boss Prize 2002

NEW YORK, 19 October 2002 - French artist Pierre Huyghe has been named the recipient of the Hugo Boss Prize 2002. A biennial international award administered by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Hugo Boss Prize was established in 1996 to recognize significant achievement in contemporary art. Huyghe, who will receive an award of $50,000, was selected from a group of six short-listed artists by an international jury of museum curators and directors. An exhibition of the artist's work will be on view at the Guggenheim Museum during the winter and spring of 2003.

"In Huyghe's remarkable work, which involves film, photography, video, sound, computer animation, sculpture, design, and architecture, Huyghe examines the narrative structures of popular culture, investigating the relationships between fiction and reality, and memory and history.", said Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, who announced the prize on Wednesday on behalf of the jury.

The shortlist of six finalists for the Hugo Boss Prize 2002 was announced in January. In addition to Pierre Huyghe, the artists included Francis Alÿs (b. 1959, Belgium), Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967, Denmark), Hachiya Kazuhiko (b.1966, Japan), Koo Jeong-a (b. 1967, Korea), and Anri Sala (b. 1974, Albania). According to its criteria, the Hugo Boss Prize sets no restrictions in terms of age, gender, race, nationality, or media, and the nominations included young, emerging artists, as well as established individuals whose public recognition may be long overdue.

Pierre Huyghe was born in 1962 in Paris, where he currently lives and works. The artist graduated form the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, in 1985. Huyghe's work, which has taken the form of video and installations in recent years, often uses film as a departure for his investigations of fiction versus fact. His work has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions including shows at the Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria (2002); Musée d' Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva (2001); the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Amsterdam (2001); Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montreal (2000-2001); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Renaissance Society, University of Chicago (2000); Aarhus Kunstmueum, Denmark (1999); Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1998).

Pierre Huyghe: One Million Kingdoms, 2001
Video installation with sound, 00:07:00, dimensions vary with installation. Edition 5/6.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Photo courtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York,

His work has been represented in notable group exhibitions, including Moving Pictures, currently on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (through 12 January 2003); No Ghost Just a Shell, Kunstahlle Zürich (2002); Documenta 11, Kassel (2002); Animations, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York (2001); Regarding Beauty: A View of the Late Twentieth Century, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., and Haus der Kunst, Munich (1999-2000); the Istanbul Biennial (1999); the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (1999); the Venice Biennale (1999); Premises, Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York (1998); and the second Johannesburg Biennial (1997). Additionally, Huyghe represented France at the Venice Biennale (2001) and received a special award.