We Are Not Alone - Images of Extraterrestrials.

"We Are Not Alone - Images of Extraterrestrials."

from Monday, July 6, 2026 to Sunday, October 4, 2026

Arles, les rencontres de la photographie, Espace Croisière (Edition 2026).

"The starting point of the exhibition, the poster from the famous X-Files series, actually conceals a completely different story: that of a mysterious photograph taken in 1975. Its creator, the Swiss Eduard Albert “Billy” Meier, is known for numerous books in which he claims, with supporting images, to have succeeded in making contact with inhabitants of other planets. More than just a poster, Meier’s photograph belongs to a little-known category of images taken during UFO sightings, which ufologists—scholars of UFOs—rely on to conduct their research.

The exhibition *We Are Not Alone* is divided into three sections: the first, “Forms,” is dedicated to the visual appearance of the observed phenomena; the second focuses on the perspectives of witnesses to “close encounters”; while the third examines the cults and beliefs that such experiences can give rise to within spiritual communities. Through a rich selection of archival documents and contemporary works, the exhibition seeks to explore the visual imagination of extraterrestrial worlds, where fiction and reality, science and belief intermingle freely."
Philippe Baudouin

On this occasion, works by the artist Sacha Goldberger's works "Alien Love" from the series I Want to Believe and Extra Not so Terrestre will be exhibited alongside those by Silas Bahr (1992), David de Beyter (1985), Caryline Boreham (1974), Yves Bosson (1959), Erik 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 Allis Druffel, Collection François Louange, Collection Gordon Macdonald, Collection Philippe Baudouin, NASA, Sauvegarde et Conservation des Études et Archives Ufologiques (SCEAU), Service historique de la Défense (Vincennes).

This exhibition is curated by Philippe Baudouin and produced by the Rencontres d’Arles, with the support of the Rencontres d’Arles Curatorial Research Grant (with the support of Jean-François Dubos).
It will be the subject of a publication: O.V.N.I, a photographic history, Hoëbeke (to be published in October 2026).