Satellite, a major new work by Pierre Huyghe, opens in East Williamsburg this fall.
Commissioned by Lonti Ebers, Satellite will be the centerpiece of Zoli, a new restaurant helmed by chef Ned Baldwin on the campus of Amant.
This fall, Pierre Huyghe will unveil a major, site-specific work at Zoli, a new restaurant and bar on the campus of Amant, the contemporary art center founded by Lonti Ebers in East Williamsburg. The worak extends one of his most celebrated bodies of practice, the aquariums, by generating new worlds within them.
The work, entitled Satellite (2024), is the artist’s first and only triptych of aquariums, and the largest piece of this kind he has created to date. It responds directly to the site which is adjacent to Newtown Creek, a tributary of the East River. Having historically been one of the most heavily trafficked waterways in New York City, it is consequently one of the most toxic industrial sites in the country.
Composed of three aquarium tanks in a row, perched atop the restaurant's bar and visible from the street, , the work divides the landscape into three distinct scenes. Together they create parallel narratives — moments in time coexisting simultaneously.
In the central tank, a volcanic rock floats unnaturally, a gravitational aberration above the seabed, evoking the image of an abiogenesis.
Just below it, and in all three tanks an unidentifiable waste objects, a reconstruction of debris found in the creeks and canals of Brooklyn, cast their profiles on the glass. Living organisms hide and grow on these fragments, in filtered sand deposited over the objects.
The tank on the left contains living fossils, including horseshoe crabs, preserved in their form for half a billion years. A stellar LED soft light appear. The water rises and falls with symbolic tides, as the glass turns transparent or opaque, evoking a clock-like rhythm without measuring time. The tank on the right contains genetically modified organisms—bio-engineered, designed living products created for ornamental purposes. These are trademarked under the brand GloFish and are sold as branded packages.
The front and back glass panels of the three tanks made of smart glasse, on the contrary, shift from transparent to opaque, revealing or concealing what occurs inside. This switching produces a rhythm evoking a measuring instrument, the passage of time, or something more elusive, like separating one large event into various scenes – moment in times within the same origin.
This aquarium unfolds like a fictional narrative, composed of diverse sensibilities. Living organisms, from ancient living fossils to genetically modified Glofish, inhabit each tank, seamlessly combining past and future and questioning presupposed notions of evolution.
Lonti Ebers, a distinguished collector and longtime supporter of the artist, spoke about commissioning the work for Zoli at Amant’s East Williamsburg campus: “Pierre Huyghe’s vision engages profoundly with the ecological and historical transformation of neighboring Newtown Creek—from its pastoral, agricultural beginnings to its current state as a toxic waterway. The installation of Satellite conjures an eerie ecosystem that reflects persistence and adaptation over time. It acts as a kind of telescope, offering glimpses into both the past and the future. My asking Pierre to consider an ambitious aquarium piece for the interior of a restaurant was inherently subversive. The tanks' presence here become distant mutations of Illuminated bar bottles and edible fish displays. At first glance, the lit ruins and debris resting in the tanks suggest a barren excavation. Yet within this site dwell organisms that are small, slow, and delicate. Discovering them amid the lively rhythms of a social setting makes their quiet existence—and their contrast with human activity—all the more striking, engaging and unsettling.”
About Pierre Huyghe
Pierre Huyghe (born in 1962, Paris) lives and works in Santiago, Chile. His work is internationally known and presented in various exhibitions around the world. Huyghe conceives exhibitions as fictions—living situations that unfold over time—rather than fixed displays. He is known for his innovative and interdisciplinary approach that blends biology, technology, and narrative and his work often involves a wide range of intelligent forms that learn, modify and evolve. Huyghe challenges traditional boundaries of art by creating dynamic worlds rather than static installations, inviting viewers to consider notions of time, consciousness, and the interdependence of life forms.
Recent exhibitions include Liminal, Punta della Dogana, Venice (2024); Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2025), Variants, Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker (2022), After UUmwelt, Luma Foundation, Arles (2021); UUmwelt, Serpentine Gallery, London (2018); The Roof Garden, Metropolitan Museum, New York (2015). After ALife Aheadin SkulpturProjekte Münster (2017. In 2012 -2014, a major retrospective of Huyghe’s work traveled from the Centre Pompidou (France) to the Ludwig Museum (Germany) and to Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA).
August 2025
Client
Pierre Huyghe Studio / Lonti Ebers
Role
Creative Technologist
Tech
Python, Raspberry Pi, DMX, Gauzy Smartglass Controller