In the first room of the gallery, painted entirely black, at the exact center of the front wall, the letters IS were painted in gold. Was this tangible and absolute affirmation a question or a mere redundancy—a tautology in the question: is IS IS? Or was it a paradox in that the present affirmation of IS cannot be affirmed or defined, because it is indefinable?

The vernissage was officiated by James Lee Byars (who on another occasion wrote “I am an am”), dressed in a suit of gold, his head covered in black scarf and top hat, positioned between the IS and the end of the room. This entrance opens