On the Spirituality of Questioning: James Lee Byars's The White Mass (1995) at the Kunst-Station Sankt Peter Cologne
Author: Mennekes, Friedhelm1
Source: Religion and the Arts, Volume 13, Number 3, 2009 , pp. 358-375(18)
Publisher: BRILL
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Abstract:
In his exhibition The White Mass (1995), the American James Lee Byars (1932-1997) encircled the empty center of a church by a marble Ring and a square of four marble Figures as variations of questions. The dynamic void was its center, filled with the celebration of the mass. This paper examines the relationships among the exhibition, its audience, Catholic tradition, and the phenomenology of art.Keywords: JAMES LEE BYARS; EMPTINESS; ROOM; QUESTION; SACRED; DEATH; WHITE; MASS
Document Type: Research article
DOI: 10.1163/156852909X460456
Affiliations: 1: Kunsthistorisches Institut der Universität Bonn
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