Björn Puhr

In this paper we present an interrogation on absence in the artist's space as it is explored notably by Yves Klein in the framework of his exhibition on the immaterial at the Galerie Iris Clert in 1958. For Klein, this is by no means an exhibition of an empty space, but rather a research of sensitivity in a pure state, a question we will approach by examining the conditions of the representation of this sensitivity and by highlighting not only the importance of the material and conceptual frame of this representation, but also the conflict between sensitivity and imagination it encompasses. We will then compare it to the relation to space of another colorist painter, Vincent van Gogh, who does not seek emptiness, but is consumed by the overwhelming presence of the sensuous and who leaves his workshop in favor of the outside world. Ultimately, he leaves us the very different empty space of his room, be it the one in Arles - a place of peace and quiet - or the one in Auvers - the place of his demise. This way, we can access an absence that is in no way a representation, nor a memory, but the artist's definitive silence.

While this is not the first attempt at drawing a parallel between the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the writings and musical experimentations of John Cage pertaining to silence, we try to further develop this fortunate example of synchronous investigations into the subject matter by pointing out the analogous transformations in their thought, leading from a silence that can be qualified as “mystical” or “spiritual” to an experience that confronts the listener with the very real contingency of their grammar itself, all the while basing ourselves on previous arguments and contributions. In the context of western classical music, we will show that by circumventing a conventional use of musical silence in which it is treated as an ordinary language-game, the authors discover an extramusical experience of silence that they will first explore by the means of spirituality before making the remarkable turn towards an understanding of silence as that which founds our every experience, be it at the cost of silence itself.