(Image: Pierre Huyghe, Recollection, 2011; Commissioned and produced by Frieze Foundation for Frieze Projects 2011; Frieze Art Fair 2011; Photo by Polly Braden; Courtesy of Polly Braden/Frieze)
Meandering through giant glittering sculptures, terrifying animals with bulging eyes and a model of a collapsed, mummified artist covered in what's meant to be semen, I'm left thinking I could spend a lifetime exploring the entirety of this year's Frieze Art Fair. But I'm here to find Recollection - a commissioned art project that takes the form of an aquarium.
The project space is located towards the back of the Frieze gallery. Around a white-walled corner, through a curtain and down a black corridor is a small dark room with a single fish tank located at its centre. My eyes are immediately drawn to the star attraction of the aquarium - a giant hermit crab.
This hermit crab was brought in at the last minute to replace the original candidate, which was held at the US border when officials thought the shell it wore was that of an endangered species.
The new star, however, is wearing an entirely different sort of shell - the mask-like replica of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi's Sleeping Muse. Carrying a piece of art on its back, as its home, the crab takes on a curious and almost comical quality as it scurries around the tank.
Mars-like red rock comprises the entire furnishings of the tank, which makes for an alien scene as the shimmering shelled-giant hermit crab and a number of spider-like arrow crabs scuttle over every crevice. Perhaps it's the thought of the red planet, but the more I watch these creatures with their long triangular heads, the more extraterrestrial they seem. Even the water's cloudiness gives the scene an eerie, otherworldly feel.
Pierre Huyghe, the French artist behind the project, aims to host a narrative within the aquarium. The idea is that the natural interactions between the creatures - or performers - will create a story for viewers. While I sat watching the scene, I did see what looked like a brief tussle between two arrow crabs - a struggle for alien territory, perhaps? Or maybe an attempt to impress the regal, art-adorned crab king?
As other visitors joined me in the room, they became equally enamoured with the scene. One pair tried to come up with a fitting name for the crab, while others attempted to find a meaning behind the mask-like shell.
Recollection appeared to be a big hit at the fair, although the sheer scale of the festival provided fodder for hours of thought-provoking exploration. There was something of a medical theme in a few of the installations, such as the morbid "dead body" poking out from an open morgue container, and a series of X-ray images of everyday items. And for anyone who has ever wondered about the internal anatomy of a cartoon mouse, there's an 8-foot model with half its innards exposed - shiny blue colon and pink and yellow heart included.
The Frieze Art Fair ran in Regents Park, London, last weekend.
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