James Lee Byars "Exhibition JLB"

On January 1, 1981, at 1 a.m. James Lee Byars and Foundation De Appel held a celebration in the Palmhouse of the Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, honoring the beginning of the exhibition JLB. Each guest was presented with a glass of champagne, accompanied by the words: "This is a toast to the opening of the exhibition JLB which starts at the first moment and ends at the last moment of this year". Fortune cookies were served containing texts about absence and presence. Some of these texts were: 'I dote on his very absence' (Shakespeare), 'A tinkling piano in the next apartment. . . These foolish things remind me of you' (Cole Porter), 'The absence is only present in hiding itself...' (M. Duras), 'Een mens is nooit te ver om te bellen' (PTT), 'Absent in body, but present in spirit (Romans 5:3), 'Absence has placed her in a faster light' (Young), 'Door afwezigheid schitteren', 'Proxy: The authority to act for another', 'We look at it (Tao) and do not see it; Its name is the Invisible (Lao-tzu)', 'Vision is the art of seeing things invisible' (J. Swift), 'Schilderkunst maakt de afwezige aanwezig ' (Alberti, De la Pittura) and 'The perfect presence' (JLB). The artist also performed The perfect kiss, The perfect cheek and The perfect fragrance. During the exhibition JLB (January 1 through December 31 1981), James Lee Byars submitted several proposals to De Appel, of which the foundation executed as many as possible. (Invitation De Appel, January 1981; De Appel, 1 (1981) 1, p. 4.)