Pierre Huyghe: The Host and the Cloud

The Fondation Louis Vuitton is an institution that serves the public interest dedicated exclusively to contemporary art and artists, as well as 20th century works to which their inspirations can be traced. The Fondation’s own collection and the exhibitions it organizes seek to engage a broad public. The building created by architect Frank Gehry constitutes the seminal artistic statement by the Fondation. This building is already recognized as an emblematic example of 21st century architecture. A year after its opening, the Fondation Louis Vuitton has welcomed more than a million visitors from France and around the world. From its opening in Paris, the Fondation Louis Vuitton announced that it would engage in international initiatives, both at the Fondation and in partnership with public and private institutions, including other foundations and museums. The Fondation itself has cultural spaces devoted exclusively to exhibitions of works from its collection in Munich, Venice, Beijing and Tokyo. The Fondation is responsible for the artistic direction of these Espaces Culturels Louis Vuitton. The exhibitions they organize are open to the public free of charge, and their programs are promoted through specific cultural communication.

Pierre Huyghe: The Host and the Cloud presents two video installations of prolific French artist Pierre Huyghe. The eponymous video, The Host and the Cloud (2009–10), is a tale, a journey in the mind of an absent subject, conceived as a roleplay and filmed over the course of a year in the disused building of a closed museum in Paris next to the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Alongside, A Way in Untilled (2012) follows the wandering of a dog with a fluorescent leg into a parallel world of organic decay, evolving around the well-known sculpture Untilled (Liegender Frauenakt), a half lying woman figure whose head is a swarm of bees. Through these documentary films of science fiction, the artist plunges the viewer into a visual and audio odyssey.