Travis’ Encounter, 2013
Mixed Media Installation
Six men saw it. One man became a prisoner inside it. But who will believe them? In 1975, logger Travis Walton and his co-workers discovered a hovering UFO. Walton’s pals fled, but Walton was not so fortunate. Whisked aboard the strange craft, he was subjected to a painful, unearthly medical study. Fire in the Sky is the amazing tale of that ordeal… and of the contempt and ridicule endured by his co-workers as they try to explain Walton’s mysterious disappearance.
The text above is the synopsis to be found at the back of the dvd-cover of the Hollywood version of this story, which is ‘based on true events’. This story, however, has many versions. For this project, ThomK investigated all these versions of the story and it’s flaws. We see Travis tell his own story, we see Hollywood tell the story, we see the newspapers bringing the story. We see the government trying to figure out what happened by putting the group of co-workers to a lie-detector test (which they pass), and TV-shows like Jerry Springer ridiculing his story.
Looking at this story from different angles, zooming in on details of this story and the way it’s told by different groups of people, Travis’ Encounter gives us an insight in how the same story can be told in many ways, and how the ‘truth’ is brought from a different perspective all the time.
Mixed Media Installation
Six men saw it. One man became a prisoner inside it. But who will believe them? In 1975, logger Travis Walton and his co-workers discovered a hovering UFO. Walton’s pals fled, but Walton was not so fortunate. Whisked aboard the strange craft, he was subjected to a painful, unearthly medical study. Fire in the Sky is the amazing tale of that ordeal… and of the contempt and ridicule endured by his co-workers as they try to explain Walton’s mysterious disappearance.
The text above is the synopsis to be found at the back of the dvd-cover of the Hollywood version of this story, which is ‘based on true events’. This story, however, has many versions. For this project, ThomK investigated all these versions of the story and it’s flaws. We see Travis tell his own story, we see Hollywood tell the story, we see the newspapers bringing the story. We see the government trying to figure out what happened by putting the group of co-workers to a lie-detector test (which they pass), and TV-shows like Jerry Springer ridiculing his story.
Looking at this story from different angles, zooming in on details of this story and the way it’s told by different groups of people, Travis’ Encounter gives us an insight in how the same story can be told in many ways, and how the ‘truth’ is brought from a different perspective all the time.
Exhibitions:
Sign (Groningen, NL)
LhGWR (The Hague, NL)
State of Mind Gallery (Utrecht, NL)
Reviews:
Trendbeheer (NL)
Sign (Groningen, NL)
LhGWR (The Hague, NL)
State of Mind Gallery (Utrecht, NL)
Reviews:
Trendbeheer (NL)