Le Vide Performance

Yves Klein - Le Vide Performance (The Void), 1957 Galerie Iris Clert, Paris "At 8 P.M. I go to La Coupole to get the blue cocktail prepared especially for the exhibition. At 9 P.M. Arrival of the members of the Garde Republicans, in full dress uniform arrive. I immediately offer them a Blue cocktail. They take up their post under the canopy at the entrance, standing at attention. At 9:30 P.M. The place is jammed. Outside, the growing crowd begins to have difficulty getting inside. At 9:45 P.M. Restany arrives, accompanied by his wife. At 9:50 P.M. Inside the gallery, I notice a young man drawing on one of the walls. I rush over to him, stop him, and politely but firmly ask him to leave. He is literally uprooted and disappears in the clutches of the guards. At 10:00 P.M. The police arrive in 3 wagons. At 10:10 P.M. Twenty-five hundred to 3,000 people are in the street; the police are trying to push back the crowd. The police demand and explanation as to why $3.oo is being charged to see nothing. (some people, furious at having paid the $3.oo went to complain to the police) At 10:20 P.M. Arrival of the representative of the Order of Saint Sebastian in full regalia arrive. At 10:30 P.M. The Gardes Republicans leave in disgust; for an hour students from the Beaux-Arts have been tapping them familiarly on the shoulder and asking them where they rented their costumes, and if they are movie extras! At 10:50 P.M. The supply of blue cocktail now having been all consumed, cause a rush to La Coupole to get more. Arrival of two pretty Japanese girls in extraordinary kimonos. At 11:00 P.M. The mob, which had been dispersed by the police and the firemen returns, in little exasperated groups. Inside everything is still swarming. Half past midnight. We close and leave for La Coupole. At 1:00 P.M. Trembling with fatigue, I deliver my revolutionary speech. At 1:15 P.M. Iris conks out! Planned for eight days, the exhibition has to be extended for an additional week. Every day, more than 200 visitors rush to the interior of the century. The human experience is one of a vast and almost indescribable scope. Some cannot enter, as if prevented by an invisible wall. One of the visitors yells to me one day from the door, I will be back when this void is full....I reply, When it is full you will not be able to come in. Frequently people remain inside for hours without saying a word, and some tremble or begin to cry. The day after the opening everyone that drank the blue cocktail urinates blue."