James Lee Byars Retrospective Opens at HangarBicocca

HangarBicocca in Milan presents the first Italian retrospective of James Lee Byars (1932–1997), curated by Vicente Todolí. The exhibition spans the artist's career, featuring works in gold leaf, crystal, marble, velvet, silk, paper, ink paintings, film, and correspondence, many never before shown in Italy. Byars, born in Detroit and died in Cairo, spent most of his career in Europe, influencing conceptual and performance art. He lived in Kyoto for nearly a decade from 1958, absorbing Noh theater and Zen Buddhism. The show includes 'The Golden Tower,' a 21.25-meter gold-leaf-covered tower originally conceived as a 300-meter public sculpture; it was first realized in 1990 at Berlin's Martin-Gropius-Bau and installed in Venice's Campo San Vito in 2017 posthumously. Also featured are 'Red Angels of Marseille' (1993), 1,000 red glass spheres assembled into an angel figure. A 1967 New York Times article documented 100 people led by feminist scholar Shere Hite walking through New York wearing a single red scarf nearly 1.5 kilometers long. The exhibition is organized chronologically and is site-specific, as are all HangarBicocca shows.