Liminals is a new commission by Pierre Huyghe presented by LAS Art Foundation at Halle am Berghain.

The large-scale environment at Halle am Berghain encompasses film, sound, vibration and light. Described by the artist as a “modern myth,” the film at its core follows the emergence of a faceless, human-like figure, which moves through shifting states. As the artist describes, it is “set in a realm outside time and space, where there is no beginning or end, no inside or outside, only an incessant dance of matter, in which every moment is a maybe. We witness the figure’s attempts to exist, communicate and escape a single state of reality or consciousness. We see a dissolution of boundaries between inner and outer realms, and between living and non-living matter.”

For Huyghe, uncertainty is explored through this allegory to reveal a liminal space where states are superimposed. It is analogous to how a quantum system can exist in multiple states before it is measured, when infinite possibilities collapse into a single version of reality. Huyghe spoke with quantum physicist Tommaso Calarco and philosopher Tobias Rees to explore these ideas. Their conversations resulted in Huyghe’s use of the logic and outputs of quantum systems, informing the final work through sound as well as image. These innovative approaches to production embody states of uncertainty, transforming quantum properties into sensory experiences.

The commission invites us into a space where the boundaries between body, matter and consciousness begin to blur. It dwells in the moment before perception becomes stable, when multiple possibilities coexist at once. With this work, Huyghe strives to give form to what he calls the “radical outside” of human subjectivity—a quantum reality of uncertainty and multiplicity. By placing a human-like body within this unstable realm, he asks whether we can relate to such a reality at all, and what conditions might allow multiple states of existence to be experienced at once.

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