The Valley Obscured by Clouds

The Valley Obscured by Clouds
Duration: 24hrs (12:00pm on 9 July — 11:59am 10 July, 2008)

Installation artwork Directed by Pierre Huyghe.
 

Adam filmed French artist Pierre Huyghe’s Biennale of Sydney 2008 installation, “The Valley Obscured by Clouds” (later renamed “A Forest of Lines”).  Shot on XDCAM HD.

For 24 hours the main Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House was transformed into a living forest.  6,000 visitors queued - sometimes for hours - to wander the interior of this magnificent building, now transmogrified into a mysterious, post-apocalyptic treescape complete with wandering forest-sprites singing deep inside its verdant folds.

The film was commissioned via the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York and Paris.  Shots from the set-up at the opera house can be seen below.  (Images must not be re-used without permission).

Concert Hall

Sydney Opera House, during installation.

Pierre Huyghe

At Sydney Opera House stage manager's desk, during installation.

SOH Venue monitor

Sydney Opera House in-house split screen monitors show the various auditoria during installation of the work. The concert hall is seen top left.

Setting light levels.

Setting up for A Forest of Lines.

A Forest of Lines

Sydney Opera House transformed into a jungle; visitors wearing miners' lights during the 24hr public installation by Pierre Huyghe.

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For the 50th birthday of Sydney Opera House (20 October 2023) they made a highlights reel but inexplicably forgot about this incredible, ephemeral installation. So I threw together a few outtakes from the filming, just so history has a record one day…
All material © Pierre Huyghe.