{"id":3779,"title":"Extra Terrestrial (Shadow of an Extraterrestrial Man)","dimensions":"","date_begin":"1976-01-01","material":"ink, paper","art_status_id":48,"legal_status_id":47,"category_id":23,"platform_id":1,"deleted":false,"asset_count":2,"stream_count":0,"collection":"Collection M HKA, Antwerp","cached_tag_list":"photo documentation ICC","publishing_process_id":1,"annotation":"","date_end":null,"reference":"UFO_0098","stream_count_app":34,"permalink":"extra-terrestrial-shadow-of-an-extraterrestrial-man--4","description_ca":"","short_description_ca":"","description_it":"","short_description_it":"","cached_primary_asset_url":null,"cached_actor_names":"James Lee Byars","hide_from_json":false,"prev_platform_id":null,"description_uk":"","short_description_uk":"","description_tr":null,"short_description_tr":null,"mhka_works":true,"category":{"en":"Photography","nl":"Fotografie","fr":"Photographie"},"poster_image":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/mhka_ensembles_production/assets/public/000/017/454/large/Byars_Essen_2.jpg?1369333235","poster_credits":null,"translations":[{"locale":"en","short_description":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eJames Lee Byars was intensely occupied with raising philosophical questions and addressing them in his work, but without ever providing any pat answers. In works such as \u003cem\u003eExtra Terrestrial\u003c/em\u003e, also known as \u003cem\u003eThe Antwerp Giant\u003c/em\u003e, he does however provide viewers with a few suggestions. This piece is inspired by the Antwerp folk-legend, the giant called Lange Wapper. Byars represents him as an endlessly long, primitive human figure in black tulle. In something of a ritual during the opening of his 1976 exhibition at Antwerp\u0026rsquo;s Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, he had those present help unfurl the transparent dark figure on the Meir (the adjacent thoroughfare). W. Van Mulders described this act as a procession where the participating public warily unfolded the black tulle like an immense reliquary. Afterwards, the giant was included in the \u0026lsquo;inside\u0026rsquo; exhibition as an airy black mass.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe act of unfolding, in the presence of the public, was essential for Byars. It was only during this act that the \u0026lsquo;Antwerp Giant\u0026rsquo; really became present again. Once back in the exhibition, the viewer is again consigned to a certain distance, and what remains is a pile of black tulle. Byars was fascinated by paradoxes: the giant versus a mass of black cloth, the material quality of the tulle versus the immateriality of the Lange Wapper folk-figure. The artist admired enduring continuity and immutability, but his works tended to go \u0026lsquo;lost\u0026rsquo; (among other reasons, due to the fragility of materials used) or remain to us only as fragments of their former selves.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n"},{"locale":"nl","short_description":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eJames Lee Byars houdt zich zeer intens bezig met filosofische vraagstellingen, zonder echter antwoorden te formuleren. In zijn werk, zoals \u003cem\u003eExtra Terrestria\u003c/em\u003el, ook wel \u003cem\u003eThe Antwerp Giant\u003c/em\u003e\u0026nbsp;genoemd, reikt hij de toeschouwer enkel suggesties aan. Het werk is ge\u0026iuml;nspireerd op de Antwerpse volkslegende van de reus Lange Wapper. Byars stelt hem voor als een eindeloos lange primitieve menselijke figuur in zwarte tule. Als een ritueel laat hij de doorschijnende zwarte figuur door de aanwezigen op de opening van zijn tentoonstelling in het Antwerpse Internationaal Cultureel Centrum (1976) openplooien op de Meir. W. van Mulders omschrijft deze actie als een processie waar de processiegangers de zwarte tule als een immense relikwie behoedzaam openplooien. Daarna is de reus als een luchtige zwarte massa in de tentoonstelling opgenomen.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eDe handeling van het openvouwen, in aanwezigheid van het publiek, is essentieel voor Byars. Enkel op het moment van de actie was de \u0026lsquo;Antwerpse reus\u0026rsquo; even echt aanwezig. Eens terug in de tentoonstelling is de toeschouwer opnieuw op een afstand geplaatst, wat overblijft is een hoopje zwarte tule. Byars is gefascineerd door paradoxen: de reus versus het hoopje zwarte stof, het materi\u0026euml;le van de tulen figuur versus het immateri\u0026euml;le van de sprookjesfiguur Lange Wapper. De kunstenaar heeft bewondering voor duurzame continu\u0026iuml;teit en onbeweeglijkheid, maar zijn werken gaan verloren (onder andere omwille van de fragiliteit van het gebruikte materiaal) of blijven slechts fragmentarisch bestaan.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n"},{"locale":"fr","short_description":"","description":""},{"locale":"ru","short_description":"","description":""},{"locale":"de","short_description":"","description":""},{"locale":"es","short_description":"","description":""},{"locale":"el","short_description":"","description":""}],"actors":[{"id":100,"name":"James Lee Byars","category":{"en":"Other","nl":"Andere","fr":"Autre"}}]}