List of invisible artworks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of invisible artworks; that is, works of art that cannot be seen and, in many cases, touched.
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| Artist | Title | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alphone Allais | “Premières communions de jeunes filles chlorotiques par un temps de neige” (First Communion of Anaemic Young Girls in the Snow) | 1883 | This work consisted of a sheet of plain white paper. The joke: the “scene” was entirely invisible, leaving it to the imagination of the viewer. It’s one of the earliest examples of invisible art, predating 20th-century conceptual art.[1] |
| Yves Klein | "Zone de Sensibilité Picturale Immatérielle" (Zone of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility) | 1959 | Consists of the sale of documentation of ownership of empty space; the piece was born in a ritual in which the buyers would burn said documentation. Later, in 2022, an unburned receipt for these ‘works of art’ was sold at auction for £1.2m.[2] |
| Marinus Boezem | "Show V: Immateriële ruimte" (Immaterial space) | 1965 | Consists of three "air doors" made from currents of cold and warm air blown into the room.[3] |
| Michael Asher | "Vertical Column of Accelerated Air" | 1966 | Drafts of pressurized air.[4] |
| Art & Language (group) | "Air-Conditioning Show" or "Air Show" | 1967 | An empty room with two air conditioning units; the artwork is "what is felt and said about it", and not anything tangible.[5] |
| James Lee Byars | "The Ghost of James Lee Byars" | 1969 | The artwork itself is the emptiness and darkness of a pitch-black room.[6][7] |
| Robert Barry | "Telepathic Piece" | 1969 | An artwork "the nature of which is a series of thoughts that are not applicable to language or image", which Barry would communicate telepathically to visitors during the exhibit.[8] |
| Yoko Ono | "One-Woman-Show" | 1971 | Announcement in the December 2 issue of the Village Voice of non-existent exhibition at MoMA in New York.[9] |
| Chris Burden | "White Light/White Heat" | 1975 | A 22-day performance at Ronald Feldman Gallery in which the artist lay on a high platform just below the ceiling, remaining out of sight.[10] |
| Ed Ruscha | "Rocky II" | c. 1979 | Sculpture positioned by the artist at an unknown location in the Mojave Desert, Nevada.[11] |
| Andy Warhol | "Invisible Sculpture" | 1985 | Consists of an invisible, intangible sculpture atop a white pedestal.[5] |
| Gianni Motti | "Magic Ink" | 1989 | A series of drawings sketched with a special ink that was visible only for a brief instant before vanishing.[12] |
| Maurizio Cattelan | "Untitled" | 1991 | Police report of stolen invisible artwork.[13] |
| Tom Friedman | "Untitled (A Curse)" | 1992 | Similar to Warhol's sculpture, but a witch was reportedly hired to curse the space immediately above the pedestal.[5] |
| Martin Creed | "Work No. 227: The lights going on and off" | 2000 | Empty gallery room in which the lights are switched on and off every five seconds, periodically rendering the space fully dark and empty.[14] |
| Teresa Margolles | "Aire" (Air) | 2003 | Similar to Air Show, the artwork consists of a room with air humidified with water used to wash corpses before autopsy.[15] |
| Jeppe Hein | "Invisible Labyrinth" | 2005 | A maze with invisible and intangible walls; visitors are given headphones that vibrate when they "touch" a wall.[4] |
| Roman Ondak | "More Silent Than Ever" | 2006 | The artwork consists of a covert listening device supposedly hidden somewhere in the (empty) exhibition room: visitors are told they are being eavesdropped. The device itself cannot be seen, and no evidence is given that it really exists.[16] |
| Salvatore Garau | "Buddha in Contemplazione" (Buddha in Contemplation) | 2021 | An invisible, intangible sculpture.[17] |
| Salvatore Garau | "Io Sono" (I am) | 2021 | Another invisible, intangible sculpture, that occupies a square area with side of 5 ft (1.5 m).[17] |
| Ruben Gutierrez | "This Sculpture Makes Me Cry (A Spell)" | 2022 | An immaterial, invisible sculpture atop a small white pedestal, displayed as part of a bigger exhibit. It is said to represent what the artist cannot see, but which affects him emotionally, making him feel invisible and insignificant.[18][19] |
See also
References
- ↑ Kerr, Greg (2022-04-03). "Drawing Blanks: Word and Image at the Expositions des Incohérents". Dix-Neuf. 26 (2): 57–73. doi:10.1080/14787318.2022.2083924. ISSN 1478-7318.
- ↑ Yang, Maya (2022-04-14). "Money for nothing: receipt for 'invisible art' sells for $1.2m". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-10-26.
- ↑ "Marinus Boezem Solo Exhibition 'All Shows' at Kröller Müller Museum". Upstream Gallery. Amsterdam. 1 May 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- 1 2 Rugoff, Ralph (10 June 2012). "The 10 best… invisible artworks". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- 1 2 3 Blake, Robin (27 July 2012). "The power of sights unseen". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ↑ White, Lindsey; Stein, Jordan; Kasprzak, David (eds.). "The Ghost of James Lee Byars: A Retrospective". Will Brown. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- ↑ Budick, Ariella (25 June 2014). "James Lee Byars: 1/2 an Autobiography, MoMA PS1, New York – review". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- ↑ Drinkall, Jacquelene; Neidich, Warren (2016). "Immaterial Technologies of Mindedness". Journal of Neuroaesthetics. Telepathy and Art. Artbrain.org. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- ↑ "Yoko Ono". 13 May 2015.
- ↑ "White Light/White Heat". Ronald Feldman Gallery. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
- ↑ Campion, Chris (11 February 2015). "Where is Rocky II? The 10-year desert hunt for ed Ruscha's missing boulder". The Guardian.
- ↑ "Magic Ink".
- ↑ "Untitled | Maurizio CATTELAN (1991) | PERROTIN".
- ↑ Tate. "'Work No. 227: The lights going on and off', Martin Creed, 2000". Tate. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
- ↑ "TERESA MARGOLLES - Muerte sin fin". Museum für Moderne Kunst. 2004. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ↑ Grúň, Daniel (19 March 2009). "Roman Ondák: More Silent Than Ever". SME (in Slovak). Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- 1 2 Santora, Sara (1 June 2021). "Italian Artist Sells Invisible Sculpture for More Than $18,000". Newsweek. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ↑ "Forzar la puerta del presente". Colector Gallery. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ↑ Gutierrez, Ruben [@rubeneitor]; (7 February 2022). "This Sculpture Makes Me Cry (A Spell) 2022" (in Spanish). Mexico City. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022 – via Instagram.