what happens to me when the intensive duration in the creating process eludes me? is it taken away from me by technology to feel something? does anything new emerge at all, since the technology is subjected to a program that follows fixed procedures? if we can no longer control all the variables, are we still free to act? all these questions led me to my master thesis design for nothing.
through pure experience (an intense confrontation), without giving preference to the material over thoughts and other avoidably important things, a high resonance arises immediately followed by a personal inner conflict, which throws the self back and thereby distances him from what is given and what the self considers adequate. something arises, something that stands out from the regular convergent way, at the same time something new emerges for the self. a pure duration, only for the self. for this, everything and nothing is equally significant. even if this is evaluated by the self or other individuals. what is important here is a neutral and indifferent attitude in order to absorb and process things in their relative short time span. this happens, without coming to a conclusion. far away from being manifested (artefacts) from which a reference to design can be derived. beyond egocentricity, polemic, naivety, nihilism and delusion, the self falls into an abyss.
what remains is pure nothingness. in this abyss, without the possibility of navigation, the self seeks something. something that could free the self from this situation. which, paradoxically, removes the self again from its goal. but the possibility arises, precisely through this paradoxical situation, to complement the goal and to develop further. at the same time, any foreign individual can also become part of this situation, both in case of acceptance and in case of refusal.
what remains is pure nothingness. in this abyss, without the possibility of navigation, the self seeks something. something that could free the self from this situation. which, paradoxically, removes the self again from its goal. but the possibility arises, precisely through this paradoxical situation, to complement the goal and to develop further. at the same time, any foreign individual can also become part of this situation, both in case of acceptance and in case of refusal.
the practical approach, which lead the thesis, was an artefact, that was formed just by hand with the material clay. this i documented in several videos, which i further transcribed right afterwards. in return this lead to a deconstructive duration.
from hartmut rosa‘s technologically critical theory of acceleration, which states that everything is accelerating (socially, technologically, and societally) and humans are alienating themselves as a result, to henri bergson‘s pure duration, which sees pure duration as when humans surrender to life, to nishida kitaro‘s pure nothingness, which results from being and nothingness, the combination of the practical and theoretical approach, moved me from the manifest artefact to myself.
in the end, nothing was more important than myself at the moment i created an artefact. but i couldn’t come to an end. because otherwise i would contradict myself and nishida‘s view of pure nothingness. only through being and nothingness, through the constant maintenance of these two states, without focusing on one side, the pure nothingness arises. in this i found a spark which was only meant for me and nobody else. thus, i did not complete the thesis, but i did not abandon it either. the written work stops abruptly, without a conclusion.
towards the end of the semester, everything became more intense. i lost myself in the process due to the intense confrontation with him. the constant thinking in the now, not least by listening again to the recorded videos, created a strong resonance that distanced me from the manifest (artefacts, questionnaires, videos). detaching, almost like a meditative state, leads to a different way of looking at things.
the colloquium i held for 45 minutes sitting in front of the professors and students, saying, „i have nothing, no presentation, no artefacts. the whole thing will now take 45 minutes“. whereupon the spark i had just described reappeared as a free and, to my understanding, completely new situation. something new emerged. an engagement with the people in the room, the duration of which was no more and no less important to me than my artefacts, my videos, et cetera. the work was now as it should be at this point. in pure nothingness. everyone could be a part of it. there was no valuation like manifest before something not manifest. the new design for nothing was no longer a nihilistic nothingness, but everything. nothingness was now a possibility in which everything could emerge, since it escaped any valuation and was in a state between two variables, the already mentioned being and nothingness. i would like to quote the final sentence of a participant: „...nothing stands between us [...] and that is something new for me.“
from hartmut rosa‘s technologically critical theory of acceleration, which states that everything is accelerating (socially, technologically, and societally) and humans are alienating themselves as a result, to henri bergson‘s pure duration, which sees pure duration as when humans surrender to life, to nishida kitaro‘s pure nothingness, which results from being and nothingness, the combination of the practical and theoretical approach, moved me from the manifest artefact to myself.
in the end, nothing was more important than myself at the moment i created an artefact. but i couldn’t come to an end. because otherwise i would contradict myself and nishida‘s view of pure nothingness. only through being and nothingness, through the constant maintenance of these two states, without focusing on one side, the pure nothingness arises. in this i found a spark which was only meant for me and nobody else. thus, i did not complete the thesis, but i did not abandon it either. the written work stops abruptly, without a conclusion.
towards the end of the semester, everything became more intense. i lost myself in the process due to the intense confrontation with him. the constant thinking in the now, not least by listening again to the recorded videos, created a strong resonance that distanced me from the manifest (artefacts, questionnaires, videos). detaching, almost like a meditative state, leads to a different way of looking at things.
the colloquium i held for 45 minutes sitting in front of the professors and students, saying, „i have nothing, no presentation, no artefacts. the whole thing will now take 45 minutes“. whereupon the spark i had just described reappeared as a free and, to my understanding, completely new situation. something new emerged. an engagement with the people in the room, the duration of which was no more and no less important to me than my artefacts, my videos, et cetera. the work was now as it should be at this point. in pure nothingness. everyone could be a part of it. there was no valuation like manifest before something not manifest. the new design for nothing was no longer a nihilistic nothingness, but everything. nothingness was now a possibility in which everything could emerge, since it escaped any valuation and was in a state between two variables, the already mentioned being and nothingness. i would like to quote the final sentence of a participant: „...nothing stands between us [...] and that is something new for me.“