Sculpture, 355 x 63 cm, 300 x 140 cm.
© M HKA
Collection: De Vleeshal Collection, Middelburg (The Netherlands) (Inv. no. VH0248).
Jimmie Durham made *Gilgamesh* for Antwerp 93 – European Capital of Culture. On that occasion, several artists were asked to produce a work with 'the city' as subject. Durham's starting point was the ancient epic of Gilgamesh, the mighty king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk. He retells a part of the story in the [text](http://ensembles.mhka.be/items/3158) which he wrote to present alongside the sculpture. For Durham, Gilgamesh is a symbol of city, culture and civilization - the sculpture summarizes various aspects of this story. The materials, wood and plastic, stand for nature and culture. The impressive door symbolizes the opening to the city, but both lock and door handle are on the wrong side. In his work, the artist shows an opening, a possibility for symbiosis between nature and culture, but also the vulnerable balance between the two.
Add to your list>Gilgamesh
>Gilgamesh
> Jimmie Durham.
> Exhibition: EURASIA − A Landscape of Mutability. M HKA, Antwerp, 08 October 2021 - 23 January 2022.
> Exhibition: Jimmie Durham - Pierres rejetées.... Musée D'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 30 January 2009 - 12 April 2009.
> Exhibition: On Taking a Normal Situation and Retranslating it into Overlapping and Multiple Readings of Conditions Past and Present. MuHKA, Antwerpen, 19 September 1993 - 28 November 1993.
No image
> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_WORKS.
> Ensemble: Objects.
> Ensemble: SBKM - Stichting Beeldende Kunst Middelburg.
> Ensemble: JIMMIE DURHAM ENSEMBLE.
> Ensemble: NUCLEUS.
> Ensemble: Jimmie Durham 1980 - 1993.
No image
> Ensemble: EURASIA − A Landscape of Mutability.
No image
> Ensemble: Against Belief, Against Architecture.
No image
> Ensemble: An Architecture for Art - Jimmie Durham.
> Ensemble: Jimmie Durham @M HKA.
No image
>Jimmie Durham, Gilgamesh and Me, 1993.Text.