CREATING NOTHING

“The Chinese character wu indicates the absence of something. The meaning of denying, of not doing, in ancient times, was connoted with the act of dancing.”

In the Japanese alphabet there is a character, mu, which means 'no' or 'without', and can also mean 'nothing', 'not having', 'not being'. The Chinese character wu, which also indicates the absence of something, originally meant 'dance'. The sense of denying, of not doing, of having nothing to do, was connoted with the act of dancing.

Is a programme that emerges from the urgency of imagining a new paradigm for rebalancing artistic production. In a context of social and political impasse, shaped by the relentless demands of economic growth and a consumerist capitalist logic that keeps us captive to immediate stimuli and fleeting needs, we propose a space for thought and reflection.

It invites us to step away from the imperative to produce and to explore what we can still do without feeding circuits of excessive production; to rediscover curiosity and an interest in others, driven by genuine motivation rather than the demands of relentless productivity.

At its core is a renewal of searching and sharing as a radical challenge: disconnecting from the channels usually activated to develop projects and becoming available for forms of work that remain open to change, uncertainty and risk.

To this end, we call on artists, institutions, researchers and knowledge professionals, regardless of the area in which they work, to question this acceleration and its impacts.