What I read
In the article “The art of doing something with nothing” (2018), The Economist the writer says that there is nothing in England pavilion in Venice Architecture Biennale. The artist tries to emphasize on the meaning of nothing. Yves Klein, the well-known conceptual artist, did an exhibition about emptiness space. In addition, an exhibition by Chris Burden, the reason for doing emptiness art is focusing on the audience’s attention. This kind of art is similar to Venice, German, Romanian and British pavilion which has a different interpretation of emptiness.
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My response
It seems like we tend to judge a book by its cover. We think, weight and compare all the time. what good, what bad, what white, what black, what beauty, what ugly, what mine, what not mine. etc. We mostly think, weight and compare mostly on appearance. We prefer something rather than nothing. There is a Thai proverb: “grasp feces are better than grasp fart.” It is a bit funny, but it is true. We tend to think that nothing is nothing. It does mean anything. But, this article reminds us to think about the meaning of emptiness. Is it nothing? or Is there something in nothing?This article also reminds me of one meaningful social experiment in D.C., USA. One guy was playing his violin in the subway during rush hours. It is not far from we can expect. No one listens to him. But, he was still playing. The time flew by no one stop and listen to his song. Until one young lady stop, she stood in front of him and listened for the entire song. The minute that finished his song, young lady says to him that “I saw you at the Library of Congress” “It was fantastic.” and continue saying that “this is one of those things that could only happen in D.C.” Yes, exactly! That guy is an American world-class violinist who won Avery Fisher Prize and Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist. His name is Joshua Bell. And, the violin that he holds in his arm is more than 300 years old which cost around 15 million dollars. If we want to listen to his concert hall, it will cost at least 8,000 baht. It sounds nothing and they ignore it, but there is something.
Haft Thai-Japanese illustrator tried to remove artwork from her studio wall after completing each project. She told that “she need emptiness to think for the new idea.” If it passed, it passed. The new idea will not happen, if we live in past. One Thai writing thinks about the spacing of his book. He said that he designs spacing in between line for his reader to read comfortably. He designs emptiness. Naoto Fukazawa, a well-known Japanese designer, he once designs a chair from the atmosphere. He uses emptiness in the atmosphere to shape his design.
In the world we living in, there are a lot of emptiness around us. If we pay attention to it, we will see something.
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My question
Have you ever experienced "emptiness moment" (It is nothing in general. but, it really means to you)? Please share.
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I think the emptiness allows us to create our own imaginary. When I visited gallery or museum where they exhibit a conceptual art, which normally many people think it's nothing and didn't have any meaning to the work, but actually there're meaning behind it if you look closely to the artist's concept. Many European artists convey their messages through the space and emptiness which let the viewer interpret their critical judgement individually. On the other hand, I believe most people ,especially in Thailand, didn't understand art deeply where most people visiting museum just to take a selfie and pretend to be cool and artsy.
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ReplyDeleteThe idea of dualism came to me, when I read Boom's post. The idea is about two aspects of things, dark and bright, white and black, cold and hot, good and bad. I think it is a true nature of the world. One give the existence of another. You cannot tell good without bad as well as you cannot tell emptiness without fullness. Helplessly, human beings unavoidably run back and forth between two sides of duality.
ReplyDeleteHow much of fullness must we face to look for emptiness? I think people are more likely to look for what they are missing and once they get it, they look for the opposite. The world is so busy right now and so many conflicts happen these days, terrorist, atomic bombs, social medias,fake news, and even presumptive World War III. Unexpected matter happens, Brexit, new President of America, or right wing trend because people get bored of, hate what they have and look for something different. In the past, we had too much emptiness, not many population and having much more time. I think Orn is right that it allows us to create, to imagine and to invent many things including mess. Now we value and long for emptiness.
Thank you P'kan. Yes, most of my friend told me that I am a black and white person. They cannot find something in between of me. I tend to be extreme in something, if I am interested in it and extreme nothing in something, if I am not interested in it. It is not good the live or be that way. Sometimes, emptiness is remind me to balance between those extreme things.
DeleteIn my opinion, emptiness makes me think about myself especially when I feel alone or tired I always think who I am, what I am doing and why I do that.
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