Audible Presence: Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Cy Twombly (2013) was the inaugural exhibition of Dominique Lévy at 909 Madison Avenue, New York. The exhibition explored the relationship between the time-based procedures employed by three of the most influential artists of the twentieth century and the auditory experiences of music, sound, and silence. In conjunction with the exhibition, Dominique Lévy presented New York City’s first public performance of Yves Klein’s Monotone-Silence Symphony, which was performed only once during the artist’s brief lifetime, on the night of March 9, 1960, as one part of the happening Anthropometries de l’époque bleue at the Galerie Internationale d’Art Contemporain in Paris. This powerful perceptual encounter unfolds over 40 minutes. Seventy musicians and singers hold a single continuous tone for 20 minutes. The performers remain frozen and motionless in observance of 20 minutes of absolute silence.

While the monochromatic surfaces on view—cut, pressed, burned, inscribed, or otherwise violated—reflect distinct dynamic, sensual, and romantic approaches to abstraction, they emerged from a shared Mediterranean climate and engagement with an international community of influential dealers and critics. Curated by Dominique Lévy and Jennifer G. Buonocore, and organized with support from the Yves Klein Archives, Paris, and the Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milan, Audible Presence presented more than 30 paintings and sculptures. Among these are rare masterworks loaned by the Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Menil Collection, Houston; and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York.