Nothing

1

The over use of 1

The doing of 3

The science of 8

The sound of 14

The typography of 20

The conclusion of 30

3

NOTHINGthe doing of

4

WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?

5

What initially started this project was my irritation towards the over use of the word ‘nothing’. I found that people used it as an answer to what they were doing and thinking. It made me wonder what people were really doing when they say this. Are people becoming too lazy to use any other words to describe what they are doing or do they think people will not be interested? Below are the answers I recieved off anonymous people describing

why they use the word ‘nothing’. In response to this, I took photographs of objects people described as doing nothing with. I simply used the word ‘nothing’ on acetate and placed it with the object I was photographing.

6

The answers people gave

We sometimes use the word to express “not something important”. Like for example instead of saying “I’m not doing something interesting/creative/exciting”, we just say “nothing”. I usually say it when I’m at home in front of the tv switching channels and thinking about something else to do.

Naturally this question comes from a woman. Women can’t believe that anyone could do and think nothing, it is not on their intellectual radar to think this. They always think there is something else going on, but that is their problem.

7

Very rarely do I tell someone I’m doing nothing. Because if they asked me that I would have to be replying to their question (which means I would be doing something).

Sometimes I literally am doing nothing. Or I say I’m doing nothing so It gives them an opening to ask me to do something.

I would be actually doing something which I don’t want the specific person to know about. In short lying. but sometimes actually i am telling the truth as I was doing nothing.

I say “nothing” if it’s nothing important, like if I’m online, watching tv, cleaning, whatever. Just doing mundane things. I say it because I don’t think it would be interesting to the other person.

When I say “nothing”, it usually means I don’t have an interesting answer to that question because I’m just sitting around relaxing. And sometimes it means I just don’t feel like talking.

Masturbation - self explanitory.

11

NOTHINGthe doing of

12

FIVE MINUTES

Once I had pointed out the over use of the word using photography I wanted to take the idea further. I wanted people to understand that you are never doing ‘nothing’. So I asked people to sit in a chair for five minutes and do ‘nothing’ while I recorded them. Everyone reacted in different ways to my strange request which produced some amusing results. I then wrote short overly descriptive pieces of text for each person describing what they did

for five minuts. It was interesting to see people who use the word ‘nothing’ a lot not actually being able to do it. thus proving the non existence of ‘nothing’.

13

A sudden but fluid revolution of the head, Done with the look of slight gratification, given away by the slightly widened eyes. This is a gratification gain from releasing the burden that has been stored redundently, in the neck. This is Rapidly followed by the tight gathering of the lips inside the security of the mouth.

Name | Mike Glen

Age | 24

Occupation | teacher/technician

Activity | Nothing

14

Lips get thinner as a wide smile appears on the face with the realisation of the situation. A few small blinks occur as a way of gettin herself together. The chest raises up and down in a more dramatic way than is necessary simply because she is conscious of her breathing. The wide smile returns. This time it is followed by a sudden chuckle which is trying to be restrained. The eyes close tightly as she begins to shake up and down slightly with the force of her laughter wishing to escape.

Name | Jazmin

Age | 43

Occupation | Developmental psychologist

Activity | Nothing

15

Lips tightly pursed together giving the impression of indecision. Eyelids close then open in a gentle, swift movent. A heavy sigh flows from the mouth indicating ennui. Another swift blink, followed by an expressive eye roll. Lips tightly pursed together and lifted slightly to one side. An extremely indignant look emerges that shows she would rather be doing something else. A hand raises to mildly scratch a cheek with one slender finger. The head appears to get heavier as it rests upon an arm.

Name | Monet

Age | 13

Occupation | Student

Activity | Nothing

17

NOTHINGthe sound of

18

JOHN CAGE

19

The thoughts and works of John Cage have been an integral part of my research. His ideas on silence are what influenced this next chapter of experimentation. He believes that it is in these pure moments of silence that we can appreciate the things going on aroud us and that ‘nothing’ is indeed something in itself. From his lectures on nothing to his daring 9”33 he has been pushing people to acknowledge the power of nothing. Which is something

I am trying to do with my work. He has also collected mushrooms which has nothing to do with anything but is still pretty cool.

23

Leading on from John Cage I decided to focus on awkward moments of silence that i’m sure everyone has experienced. So instead of looking at moment of joyous silence when you are perhaps alone, I am focusing on the opposite. An awkward silence is defined as ‘ A pause in conversation which the participant finds uncomfortable’. So I travelled around London to try and put myself in situations that could create an awkward silence. I

then recorded those silences subtily to be used later. The following pages describe some of the places I took recordings and what the atmosphere was like at the time. It was surprisingly easy to find awkward silences in the city even though there are so many people.

24

LIFT

Location | Lift in covent garden

Number of people | 13 people

Duration | 3 minutes

25

You shuffle in hoping to get a space that doesnt involve being too close to the opening and closing door. Once the uncomfortable shuffle comes to an end people are left incommodiously close together. The only position you can stand in is perfectly straight with your arms forcefully straight by yourside for fear of touching someone else. You are engulfed by the smell of other people, trapped by their odour and unable to say anything. A few coughs and the monotone voice of the lift is the only sound heard. Even if you do know the person you are standing next to, you remain silent. Being the only person having a conversation in this situation can sometimes be worse than remaining silent. Speaking would mean that you would have 12 other pairs of ears listening as a way of distracting themselves from the awkardness that surrounds them. There is no choice but to stand and bare it until you hear the godlike beeping noise that saves you all from the dry feeling in the air. The doors open and you all flock out and immediately gain the ability to speak. A huge weight is lifted and immediately the awkwardness disappears.

26

BRAFITTING

Location | Marks & Spencers

Number of people | 2

Duration | 4 minutes

27

You ask a shop assistant for a free bra fitting which can be awkward enough in itself. You then both go into a very small changing cubicle. There is barely enough room for a single person to get changed in there. Being stood uncomfortably close to a person you don’t know is bad enough but then you have to take your top off which adds a whole new level of weird. The woman gets out her tape and starts to take measurements. You desperately try to make conversation but not a single thought of what to say to the woman enters your mind.You can usually rest assured that this woman does this a lot so is not feeling too awkward about

it. You on the other hand are

not accustomed to standing so close to a stranger in a

changing cubicle. This means that

no matter how comfortable the other person is,

you still have the overpowering

desire to run out of there. Without

conversation there is only reasurring

smiles. Smiles are not enough.

Not enough to free you from the dreaded silence. The silence that

seems to last forever. All need

is to hear a few numbers and

letters so you can get the hell out of there. You might

be able to talk about the weather

for about ten seconds but what

leads on from that? An even

bigger silence, that surprisingly is worst than the

last one.

29

NOTHINGthe typography of

30

This next chapter consists of experimenting with type. I wanted to explore how type could appear from nothing. Or type that is invisible from some angles. This page for example demonstrates some type that has been cut out of paper and stood up. You can only see this type once it has been stood up and had light hitting it in a certain way. without this light and angle the type would be illegible as it is the same colour as the paper it has been cut from.

32

DOORMAT STENCIL

33

This was my first typographic experiment. I wanted to create type from nothing so I made a stencil to put outside the front door. I had white paper under the stencil and left it there for five days. Each day I could see the type appearing.

35

Netur ad modis experspe re sum sinte parcietus re plaut qui ommodit doloremquam, nam explacerro conse omnis nobissum necusa non nos aliqui dis repuditas sersperit, consequ istibus pero ipsandipita qui bero voluptature si iliquae prorerionet arum ra volupta tionsed ut eium explitem estibusdant

36

Squeeze lemons to obtain their juice or obtain bottled lemon juice.

Use the juice as ‘ink’ by applying it to a stick or paintbrush and writing on paper.

Allow the paper to dry.

When you are ready to read your invisible message, hold the paper up to sunlight, a lightbulb (recommended), or other heat source.

The heat will cause the writing to darken to a pale brown, so your message can now be read.

INVISIBLETYPE

1

2

3

4

5

37


39


40

REVEALING THE TYPE

41


42

EXPERIMENTINEFFECTIVE

45

NOTHINGthe number

46

From what I remember from my maths lessons at school, the Placeholder (or zero) was invented by the Mayans and the Arabs independently of each other (since neither civilisation was aware the other existed) and at different times.

The Muslims and Jewish merchants used and were familier with 0 “Zero” thousands of years ago. The first recorded date of the discovery that zero existed came from India 585 BC. To find out the exact true meaning of zero ask any village idiot.

I think it was the person who didn’t know mathematics in general.

HINDUS in India in Vedic age and found in vedic mathematics.

I think it was the same guy that invented 1, 2, 3, 4 ,5 etc!

That is easy, my ancestors, the ancient people of central america... the maya, olmec, zapotecs invented the zero. It appears in our writing as a shell shape and represents “the place of the beginning”. This concept was recorded from earlier than 250 AD.

The Maya invented the number Zero for their calendars in the 3rd century AD.

It is difficult to answer the question in a satisfactory form. If someone had come up with the concept of zero which everyone then saw as a brilliant innovation to enter mathematics from that time on, the question would have a satisfactory answer even if we did not know which genius invented it. The historical record, however, shows quite a different path towards the concept. Zero makes shadowy appearances only to vanish again almost as if mathematicians were searching for it yet did not recognise its fundamental significance.

WHO INVENTEDZERO?

47

The bank man - cos thats what he leaves in my account every month......

The next few pages are based on questions that I asked anonymous people on yahooquestions.com. I wanted to see if many people knew much about this number zero and perhaps it’s significance to us.

48

I wouldn’t know what the official explanation is, but I can try to explain it in my own words.

Mathematics is all about quantities. Some, more, lots. Whatever. But we can only express those amounts as numbers, or mathematical statements, if we’re able to compare it to “nothing”

So therefore we need a way to express “nothing” in a way that fits in with our ways of expressing “something”.

It provides continuity between negative and positive numbers. Without it as a placeholder for powers, no numbering system (binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal, or others) could be used to represent values. In physics, absolute zero is a temperature that can be approached with increasing difficulty but never reached.

zero is nothing, but in math, it is something!!!

let’s try a simple one. let’s say you have $10, and I have $100. it’s only 1 zero different, but has a huge difference in value.

0 can only be in the numerator. 0 in denominator would give error. Let’s think for a second. you have 0 cookies, you want to share with your 2 other friends, oh wait you can’t because you have no cookies. Okay now, if you have 3 cookies, and you want to distribute it to no one (not even you) how can that be possible !?!

oh and another thing you should know, zero is a hero =) just a joke :P

It allows the possibility of the number system we have today, as opposed to the roman numeral system. The Arabic numeral system is much more efficient in almost every way. It’s just one small step towards what we have achieved in math, science, and engineering today.

WHY SO IMPOR-TANT?

49

ZEROTHE

HEROFirst the worst.Second the best.

Third the one with the hairy chest.

50

Once I had gathered information about the number zero, I decided to present that information somehow. I didnt really want to make a booklet because it seemed to simple for something as complex as the number zero. Instead I made this cube shown in the photograph above. I quite like how the square shape of the box goes against the generic circular shape you associate with zero. As it opens the information springs out. I started to think

that the information inside the box was too boring for the interesting way it was displayed. So I came to the conclusion that I liked the box but its contents was pretty dull. I then left this box how it was and moved on.

53

NOTHINGthe fugs

54

The fugs are a folk-rock band that began in New York in 1964. Their work is often sarcastic with political slants. This particular song used here sums up the very nature of the Fugs and their attitude. It aired during a period of war and turmoil in the US. A period where the complexities of the human intellect becme meaningless. To me, the song describes the feeling that days go by without having achieved anything. This is particularly relevant to

me at this time when I don’t always feel like I am pushing myself hard enough or achieving as much as I should.

THEFUGS

56

Monday nothing,Tuesday nothing,Wenesday, Thursday nothing.Friday for a change,a little more nothing.Saturday once more nothing.

58

January nothing,February nothing.March and April nothing.May and June a lot more nothing,July nothing.

60

Cut

Score

MAKE YOUR OWN BOX

Nothing

Documents

Transcript of Nothing