Stefano MirtiSummer’s over

No homework done and baby blue

volume 1, on nothingness

L M N O P Q R

this is a special digital copy for architecture, between the sea and the sky

community

kisskiss / lovelove

Milan, September 2014

It’s a work about space and architecture.

How do we get space, how do we get architec-ture. Indeed, quite a complex journey. If we want to make space, in the first instance, it happens in our mind. In a different way: because of maps, we have the world (and not the other way around).

The same goes for space. Because of an idea, we have a “place”. This place is then perceived in terms of space.

Without an idea, we can’t have a place. Without a place, we cant’ have space. At the opposite, when a conceptual vision takes form in our minds, a place (with its own spatial features) is born.

To start our journey, we have to deal with the absence of space and place. Something we could define: “nothingness”.

Here we are, and on we go.

@

this is the first digital edition

Stefano MirtiSummer’s over

No homework done and baby blue

volume 1, on nothingness

This book is dedicated to the people who came up with Google Images.

this is a glitch

Here we should have the table of contents, but actually, there is not. There isn’t a linear order: read the whole thing in the way you prefer. Jump, skip, go backwards. However you like.

Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die know-ing something. You are not here long.

Walker Evans

1. On Nothingness

x yz w

Before we start, please watch “Power of 10”.It’s a short movie, less than 10 minutes.

Easy to find it on YouTube.A nice way to start our journey.

...some 50.000 years ago...

earth

moon

this, we explain it later

quite empty, isn’t it?

...almost empty

little man

things we don’t get

odd creatures

now, a crossroad: sci-fi or ancient times?

cosmic diagrams (quite cool)

an abducted gent

a planet (Saturn?)

UFO

..today, we go for ancient timesa

B.C.

prehistoric croc

a

aa

a

sci-fi, we do another time...star troopers

I like comics (once in a while)

gecko

here we are: ca. 50.000 years ago

a lot of things with no name

{

bthey had to invent civilization from scratch

let’s say, not an easy task

when things have no name, they don’t exist

x

it’s like watching TV without signal

John Milton Cage

a world where things have no namea piece of music without sound

a television without signalan empty page

4’33”

in Buddhism, they call it “anātman”, the “non-self ”

अनात्मन्

In Japan, they call it “ma” (間). Not to be confused with “mu” (無, as

visualized in the previous page).

Wikipedia explains:

“In Zen Buddhism, an ensō (円相, circle) is a circle that is hand-drawn in one or two unin-

hibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create.

The ensō symbolizes absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe,

and mu (無, the void).”

I love Wikipedia!

in Japan, they know a lot about these things...

Kazuo Shinohara, House in Uehara (1975-1976).Daytime view.

Kazuo Shinohara, House in Uehara (1975-1976).Nighttime view..

Actually,to understand void and negative space,

you should play go game.

go, it’s very easy to learn, very difficult to master

Check out this “Polyfauna” application.It goes deep into nothingness

so they were: a big chaos in front of them

a world where things have no name

prehistoric couple

a big chaos and a lot of funny animals

tools

ideas

the world was in his mind, not outside

now, he is thinking hard...

a lot of ideas to do a lot of things...

they coulda hunt

they could grow stuff

they could breed animals

prehistoric turtle, a very big one

they could (try to) domesticate wild animals

...they could make clothes and jewelry

they made nice LBDs

prehistoric clothes, quite cuterious

btw, by then, they knew how to dress...

since those happy times, fashion became a tricky business.alas, that’s the way out there...

but we shouldn’t get lost in other things.let’s move back to our prehistoric friendss & their lives...

they improved their skills

here, a glamourous necklace

also,since they didn’t have steady jobs,

they could play a lot. the y loved to play all kind of games...

awele board

bottom line.they would play,they would eat,they would walk around.

in a different way:niente di meglio del lavoro di michelasss!mangià, bev e andà a spass!

now, they could even fall in love!

a prehistoric beauty from Brazil

c

b

they could make art

Asger Jorn, he was another cool chap.Quite useful to know his works...

of course, they also discovered sex.of course, they always knew about sex.but now, they were consciously liking it.

they weren’t married yet, but they were already cheating on their husbands & wives.

Betty wanted to show Fred a few tricks she’d read about.

PS I don’t believe in being politically correct.

Life is not politically correct.

An important thing!

I like to make digressions, let’s say I like to get lost while I explain various things.

I apologize. This happens because I like very much Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy”. A novel in which you constantly get lost in endless other stories. A tale working like a Russian matrioska. “he Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. A work in nine volumes, 1759 / 1767. Mr Sterne loved diversions so much that Tristram’s birth is not reached until the third volume.

Getting lost over and over, digressions and amplifications. That’s the way.

Not to mention the graphic concept of the whole thing!

Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine; —& they are the life, the soul of reading; — take them out of this book for instance, — you might as well take the book along with them.

Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.

Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Now, our little prehistoric people could do all kinds of different things. They even discovered “time”. Altogether, quite impressive. Hail to our faraway ancestors!

sun

moon

(moving) dinner

here I am, now

all kinds of different “places” where I could be

finally, they could do a lot of things.from “nothingness” they were ready to discover

places and to live a new life...

PS

Readers like to have a caption next to each image. I am not so sure about it. It’s more interesting to keep the image open and vague. Let’s say, I can give you some hints.

Most of the pictograms are Gerd Arntz’s mesmerizing visuals for the Isotype collection. There is one subway portrait by Walker Evans and one Crystal Palace Dinosaur. One portrait of Ludwig Wittgenstein and one of John Cage.

Kazuo Shinhara has two houses, while Joseph Beuys has one portrait with wolf. One sketch by Oscar Niemeyer, one image of Barbarella’s (aka Jane Fonda). Burda provides one sheet of sewing patterns, another image refers to Cueva de las Manos (Cave of the Hands) somewhere in Patagonia.

Going on, with have some drawings by Lau-rence Sterne and we pay homage to Robert Fludd as well as to Yukio Mishima.

What else? We can’t forget the Venus of Willen-dorf and the Easter Island statues.

The rest, dear reader, is for you to discover.

Volume 1 is over.Now, let’s move to volume 2...

This is the first digital version of this book.

Milan, fall 2014.

It’s a series about nothingness, space, place and other various interesting (and odd) things.