>1997
>Heaven's
Gate
1997 200x600x80 cm
air extractores, Satin, sneakers, 2 gray doors, motion detector , walkman, speakers,
motorized projector (JBSystems Techno).
Jamba, Sala do Veado, Museu Nacional de História Natural, Lisbon
Heaven's Gate 1997 Heaven's Gate was made as a reaction to the mass suicide of the Heaven's Gate
cult members in the Santa Fe Ranch, California, on March 26th, 1997.
The members believed they would take a ride on a spaceship that was coming right behind the
passing-by Hale-Bopp comet. The spaceship would transport them into another planet.
The bodies were found with ready-to-go packed luggage. But what intrigued me was that all the corpses
were covered with sheets of purple satin fabric, and were wearing the same
model of Nike sneakers (the "Just do it!" brand).
In the Heavens Gate installation, I tried to re-create the moment in which the bodies are teleported to
the spaceship. Two air extractors with motion detectors give the effect of disappearing bodies by
inflating and de-inflating the two satin sheets. Due to the East Timor issues, Portugal was not importing
"Made in Indonesia" products at the time, so I was not able to get the Nike sneakers. Instead, I bought
two pairs made in the north of Portugal, that imitated Adidas (the stripes) and with a puma printed
i n the back.
Two light-gray doors (gates) were used as beds.
Heaven's Gate was made for the Jamba exhibition, May 1997 in Lisbon
OTHER VERSIONS of Heaven's Gate were made:
1998 >Heavens Gate (Project Room) ARCO'98, Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I, Madrid
2001 >321m2 CAPC, Coimbra, Portugal (curated by Paulo Mendes)
