Yves Klein – Conference A La Sorbonne 1959


Edition limitee numero 448/500 no label but marked R.P.M. Paris in tiny print on the inner of the beautiful blue gatefold. Spoken word pressure direct from the sweat lodge of the Sorbonne June ’59. The anthropologists who recorded this go uncredited but no doubt they will have canoed up the Boulevard St. Michel and negotiated a perilous passage through the hallowed halls using a rigourous dialectical smokescreen and the odd bone thrown to the rude waiters. Klein is pumped up and telling it to his tribe. They are voracious and devour everything he dishes into his conceptual cauldron. Sadly the xylophone orchestra and the nose flute guy flaked and never showed up. The recording suffers but this is still an essential purchase for those needing up a level in monochromatics and folks desiring a psychic passport to the contemplative state experienced in “Le Monde Du Bleu”.

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5 Comments

  • milan says:

    Interesting. So was this printed as a catalogue for an exibition maybe? I prefer french for spoken word records (gets away with so much more pathos) but I must admit, pfff, Klein’s voice is pretty ear piercing.

  • dr.lloyd says:

    Hi, haven’t had any time to look into this elsewhere but can tell u what the record is about from listening. Don’t think this is an exhibition item, though Klein is introduced by a woman called Iris who is also credited later as a gallery owner who has been of particular importance, putting on a 1958 show called “L’Immatérialisation du Tableau”. I think this is basically a straight recording of a university conference entitled “L’Architecture de L’Air dans l’Immatérialisation de l’Art” involving Klein and the architect Werner Ruhnau. It comes across however as a public relations exercise for the blue corner as no room is made for WR to be heard on the disc. The vocals are indeed rather jumped-up and annoying but marry well when tape-echoed into a mix vortex with this Teddy Pendergrass track I found, new mix out soon.
    See this:
    http://web.tiscali.it/nouveaurealisme/FRA/klein3.htm

  • hello Mr. Lloyd. I guess you are to keep this record in your collection but in the case you are interested into trading it please send me a note. Best Regards. S.

  • Michel says:

    Hello Mr Lloyd,
    I am a french artist, influenced by Yves Klein, and I am looking for this recording of the “Conference de la Sorbonne”.
    Please let me know if you are interested to sell it and if so, at what price ? thank you very much.
    Eric

  • dr.lloyd says:

    Hey guys, sorry for 18 months late reply..don’t check back often enough…after much deliberation the LP in question was framed and donated to a haughty but well-deserving Parisian blonde

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