The starting point of the exhibition, the poster for the famous series The X-Files, conceals a whole other story, that of a photograph taken in 1975 by the Swiss Eduard Albert “Billy” Meier. Renowned for his numerous books, he claimed, with supporting images, to show evidence of contact with inhabitants of other planets. More than just a poster, Meier’s photograph belongs to a little‑known category of such, taken during UFO sightings, which Ufologists have used to conduct research.
Long before the era of fake news and AI‑generated images, UFO photography shook our relationship with visual evidence. As early as the late 19th century, these blurry and often unsettling images instilled a “culture of visual doubt” in our societies, foreshadowing contemporary questions about the reliability of images. Concurrently, there opened up a dizzying realm of speculation, where the eye struggles to find its
usual bearings. These images are more than mere anomalies: they constantly encourage us to test the boundaries of reality. Faced with the vastness of the cosmos to which they allude, they also invite us to humble ourselves by embracing the unexplained and enigmatic facets of our world.
Echoing these questions, the We Are Not Alone exhibition sets out to explore the visual world of UFOs and, more broadly, that of “unidentified aerospace phenomena” (UAP). Never fully
identifiable yet always imposing themselves on our perception, these objects proffer a unique aesthetic experience, drawing their power from the visual indeterminacy that characterizes them. Their presence in the sky isolates them from any context, thereby transforming them into pure, almost ideal forms.
Upon encountering these phenomena, witnesses relay all sorts of images—imagined or real—which in turn nurture beliefs that many artists are now exploring. Through a rich selection
of archival documents and contemporary works, the exhibition aims to navigate the mysterious realm of “alien images”,
where fiction and reality are intertwined at will.
Philippe Baudouin
Silas Bahr (1992), David de Beyter (1985), Caryline Boreham (1974), Yves Bosson (1959), Érik Bullot (1963), Jean-Yves Casgha (1952), Gui Christ (1980), Douglas Curran (1952), Sébastien Duijndam (1980), Sacha Goldberger (1968), Eduard Albert “Billy” Meier (1937), Archives for the Unexplained (AFU, Suède), Centre d’Archives et de Recherches Exotiques (CARE), Collection Agence Martienne, Collection Philippe Baudouin, Collection Allis Druffel, Collection François Louange, Collection Gordon MacDonald, NASA, Sauvegarde et Conservation des Études et Archives Ufologiques (SCEAU), Service historique de la Défense (Vincennes)
Venue
Croisière
Curation
Philippe Baudouin
Exhibition produced by the Rencontres d’Arles.
The Rencontres d’Arles Curatorial Research Grant receives generous support from Jean-François Dubos.
Prints
Processus, Paris
Wallpapers
Atelier SHL, Arles
Mounting
Atelier Image Collée, Montreuil
Framing
Circad, Paris
Publication
O.V.N.I., une histoire photographique, Hoëbeke, 2026
Practical Information
Festival dates: July 6 July – October 4, 2026
Opening Week: 6–12 July, 2026
All-exhibitions pass: €42 (reduced: €33)
www.rencontres-arles.com/en
