List of invisible artworks

This is a list of invisible artworks; that is, works of art that cannot be seen and, in many cases, touched.

Invisible artworks

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

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ "Marinus Boezem Solo Exhibition 'All Shows' at Kröller Müller Museum". Upstream Gallery. Amsterdam. 1 May 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b Rugoff, Ralph (10 June 2012). "The 10 best… invisible artworks". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Blake, Robin (27 July 2012). "The power of sights unseen". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  6. ^ White, Lindsey; Stein, Jordan; Kasprzak, David (eds.). "The Ghost of James Lee Byars: A Retrospective". Will Brown. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  7. ^ Budick, Ariella (25 June 2014). "James Lee Byars: 1/2 an Autobiography, MoMA PS1, New York – review". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  8. ^ Drinkall, Jacquelene; Neidich, Warren (2016). "Immaterial Technologies of Mindedness". Journal of Neuroaesthetics. Telepathy and Art. Artbrain.org. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Yoko Ono". 13 May 2015.
  10. ^ "White Light/White Heat". Ronald Feldman Gallery. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  11. ^ Campion, Chris (11 February 2015). "Where is Rocky II? The 10-year desert hunt for ed Ruscha's missing boulder". The Guardian.
  12. ^ "Magic Ink".
  13. ^ "Untitled | Maurizio CATTELAN (1991) | PERROTIN".
  14. ^ Tate. "'Work No. 227: The lights going on and off', Martin Creed, 2000". Tate. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  15. ^ "TERESA MARGOLLES - Muerte sin fin". Museum für Moderne Kunst. 2004. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  16. ^ Grúň, Daniel (19 March 2009). "Roman Ondák: More Silent Than Ever". SME (in Slovak). Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  17. ^ a b Santora, Sara (1 June 2021). "Italian Artist Sells Invisible Sculpture for More Than $18,000". Newsweek. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Forzar la puerta del presente". Colector Gallery. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  19. ^ Gutierrez, Ruben [@rubeneitor]; (7 February 2022). "This Sculpture Makes Me Cry (A Spell) 2022" (in Spanish). Mexico City. Retrieved 25 February 2022 – via Instagram.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
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