CC BY
1Urbis et Orbis. 2024. 4 (2)
https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2024-4(2)-154-168
On minimalism in architecture: Emptiness, semiosphere, and culture
Dragana Vasilski
University "Union - Nikola Tesla", Belgrade, Serbia [email protected]
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
minimalism
architecture
emptiness
semiosphere
culture
The concept of essence develops as a prominent creative trend through the theme of emptiness seen in minimalism in architecture. To highlight a few experiences of the emptiness created by the function of space, this topic is examined in the juxtaposition of two cultures: Western as temporal and Eastern as spatial. This article focuses on the metaphorical connotations of space, on Lotman's semiosphere, which is a space with the included area serving as a symbol of the included space. Lotman describes the semiosphere, based on dualisms, levels, and spatial oppo-sites that represent the Tartu semiotician's thesis. This case study examines the research's initial hypothesis of emptiness being a metaphor that appears in the semantics of connotation - in connection between Eastern and Western culture - and provides a spatial model for cultural interpretation.
For citation:
Vasilski, D. (2024). On minimalism in architecture: Emptiness, semiosphere, and culture. Urbis et Orbis. Microhistory and Semiotics of the City, 4(2), 154-168. https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2024-4(2)-154-168
© Vasilski D., 2024
Introduction
If you give people nothingness, they can ponder what can be achieved from that nothingness
Tadao Ando
Orientation towards emptiness has always been an object of interest in both art and architecture. With its powerful symbolism and subjective experience, it reflects the desire to return to essential qualities and the original state. There exists a value beyond the symbol of the minimum. So, emptiness is a powerful and necessary factor in the process of creation and sensation.
Emptiness necessitates a greater grasp of space and human experience. It is a complex space that can be intimate or exalted, and the events that take place there face the greatest problems since it is a formless field that permits things to be preserved in the same position or located. The space between these items, as well as the void contained within many things, is referred to as emptiness. As a result, the emphasis is on creating and linking something and nothing, dynamic and static, dark and light. Void connotes both absence and presence, as well as the negation process - to nothing, zero, entropy and tabula rasa. Space on which nothing is built can still be permeated with the perceptual forces and filled with density, which can be called the visual substance (Arnheim, 1977, p. 26).
The concept of zero is discovered in ancient India. It was similarly taken over by scientists and philosophers, as an ingredient for all, which speaks of a deficiency as opposed to excess - darkness as a difference from light, silence versus sound. In other words, in order to describe the void (in the sense of nothing, infinite, senor, vacuum, darkness, space), it must be seen in the range between science, theology, and philosophy.
In the figurative sense, as the poets and mystics accept it, simplicity means to make a void inside itself. It means to be free in the vortex of images, desires, and feelings, and to avoid the point of transient existences in order to feel only the thirst for the absolute. According to Novalis (Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, Novalis, 17721801), this is the path that goes into the inside, the path of real life. In the philosophical sense, Jacques Maritain (1882-1973), specifies words of emptiness, completion, negation, indolence, signifies some reality at work, still very vital, as the last embodiment through which and in which the emptiness is executed. Emptiness is energy, an utterly immanent act, an act of the abolition of every act. It is fruitful foreplay (an act that follows some gentleness) of the experience of the Self (Chevalier & Gheerbrant, 2009, p. 742).
Juxtaposition of western (spatial) and eastern (temporal) cultures
Vasa vacua maxime sonant (Empty bowls are the strongest bells)
Minimalism in architecture contains the theme of emptiness, through which the concept of essence emerges as a leading creative tendency. The relationship between emptiness and essence indicate dichotomy between Eastern and Western cultures. In linguistic and Western philosophy codes, concepts of emptiness and essence could not stand together, except as opposites. On the other hand, there is a strong connection between
emptiness and essence in Eastern Buddhism, reaching the level of identification (Pasqualotto, 2007).
The void connotes absence and presence, density and well-being, as well as a negation-based process - such as nothing, zero, entropy, deletion, and tabula rasa. In art and architecture, negative orientation has been explored, mainly through strong symbolism and subjective experience. There is a need to get back to the core quality and state of things. It is a crucial aspect of the process of production through feeling as a practical value beyond the symbol of minimal. As a result, the emphasis is on mutual and nothing.
Over millennia, philosophers, scientists, and artists have debated over the concept of emptiness (in terms of zero). Thoughts and attitudes regarding it have a considerable impact, and concepts - both empirical and speculative - still need to be studied. The emptiness, according to Pasqualotto, can never exist in pure perception, absolute and limitless. Distinguish the void from the brightness. Although light is a universal prerequisite for the visibility of certain objects, it is conditioned by shadows. So, while void is a general requirement for forming fullness, it is also conditioned by it. Before or after their definitions, emptiness and light do not exist. In addition, what they determine does not disclose itself later or separately from what they determine. The metaphysics of emptiness cannot be valid. Nor in a spatial or in the temporal sense (Pasqualotto, 2007, p. 11).
According to Pasqualotto (2007), essence and empty could not stand together except as opposites in linguistic and Western philosophical codes, words and concepts, and essence and empty could not stand together except as opposites. Essence has traditionally stood for the smallest and most genuine core of an entity in ontological traditions dating back to Aristotle. While emptiness has traditionally been associated with something nonexistent and contradictory in Western mystical tradition. Emptiness was a phrase used by Pythagoreans to describe the darkness in which the souls of the deceased resided, and it was assimilated with the term nothingness. Zarko Korac (KoraC, 1985) investigates the suitability of consistently white walls in rooms in a current psychological examination of the influence of the environment on the development of children. He emphasizes that visual limitation in a space devoid of stimuli is detrimental to growth.
Pasqualotto, on the other hand, sees a strong bond between essence and emptiness in Eastern Buddhism, even to the point of identity. Emptiness, according to Eastern logical thought, is impossible to understand without its complimentary opposite, fullness. Without participation in fullness, emptiness cannot manifest and act. It is vital to comprehend emptiness as an integral part of fullness in order to experience it. We conclude that in the inner space, the hollow (space, emptiness, volume) is more essential than material barriers, based on the philosophical view: Existence is the ground of possession, and nonexistence is the basis (VeljaciC, 1983, p. 138). The Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu claimed that a house is made up of more than just a roof and walls. However, there is an empty interior space where human life occurs in unrestricted and changing freedom.
There are significant cultural distinctions. In Karl Gustav Jung's examination of the distinction between Eastern and Western perspectives, we find the psychological justification for opposing viewpoints. Because an inner man has always had such power over an exterior man in the East, the real world will never be able to shake man from his inner roots. Unlike in the West, where an external man has come to the foreground in order to get rid of his inner self, in the East, an internal man has risen to the foreground in order to get rid of his inner self (Jung, 1977b, p. 78). As an East Asian man, he desires to return to himself first, which requires him to know the cosmos and discover it within himself.
This cosmos is neither eternal nor immutable, nor is it an ideal divorced from reality. It is the environment that has matured, and there is no beginning or end to it. The world was not made for man, but rather came from eternity and will return to it. Life and death happen at the same moment, one after the other, this and that, and they both apply in the same way (VeljaCic, 1983, p. 334).
The theme of emptiness is examined in this paper in the context of two cultures: Western as spatial and Eastern as temporal, in order to draw attention to a sequence of experiences of emptiness generated by the function of space, whereby it transforms from notion to productive activity (Table 1).
Table 1. Emptiness as a cultural meaning in eastern (temporal) and western (spatial) culture
EMPTINES Cultural meaning EASTERN Temporal culture WESTERN Spatial culture
Phenomenon Part of physical world (earth, water, fire, air, void), yet immaterial Only physical, called empty space, absolutely nothing found in (Aristotle)
Space Space neglected - it creates an illusion of being in man. Present as a proces and as aesthetic object Mass, volume. Philosophical ideas about emptiness that support architecture
Interdisciplinarity The interdisciplinarity of emptiness in terms of presence in everything that exists Works of silence are interdisciplinary in art
Sign Tao and emptiness form one dominant sign (all other signs are articulated in relation to it) In the 20th century, there was a reversal in the constitution of emptiness as a sign
Identity No word corresponding to "individual" or "privacy" in the Western sense Human as perfect and self-contained individuum, "Superman"
Object / process Things are process (static approach) The work-object passes into the work-process events (dynamic approach)
Freedom "Freedom from" (surrounding) and "freedom for" (concrete experience) According by Fromm: positive ("freedom for") and negative ("freedom from")
Spirit, soul Metaphysical (by Jung) Physical function (by Jung)
Complete freedom Implies freedom from the Buddha In art, this striving means freedom from one's own intention, intellect, history ...
Philosophy & religion Enlightenment, tents satori Cognition
The corresponding social ideas The eternal conflict of individual interests One is always together with other humans
Art -the highest degree Intellectuality The mind touches the unconscious through the negation of own personality
Temporal determination Philosophy and religion dating back to the new era Theories of the 20th century
Emptiness is a concept that has long been present in Oriental philosophy (China and Japan). It is a major subject in Taoist ontology, and it can be found in the earliest writings like the Book of Changes. The origins of the aesthetics of emptiness, also known as wabi-
sabi culture, date from the late Muromachi era (15th-16th centuries) and represent what you could think of as Zen-inspired minimalism, such as the stone garden at Zen or the tea ceremony. It occurs as a phenomenon that, like all other physical elements, is an intrinsic part of the experience. Earth, water, fire, air, and void, which are intangible but part of the physical world, are the five elements in Japanese philosophy. As a result, it's understandable that the evolution of art in Japanese culture was based on emptiness. Tea ceremony - chanozu, painting shower - sucks, poetic form of haiku, flower distribution art - ikebana, dry landscape gardens - karesansui, no theater, and sukiya architectural style are all examples of art in which emptiness is present and valid through the creative act and sensory forms, that is, it is realized as a process and an aesthetic object (Pasqualotto, 2007, p. 13).
To feel void in the above sense, some extremely sophisticated set of form and nonform is required, such as architecture, gardening, art, or poetry. This paradox can only be expressed by a poet: I dove into the depths of the ocean of forms, expecting to find the perfect pearl of the formless (Tagore, 1914). Meditation and the sensation of emptiness are mentioned in Taoist and Buddhist literature, as well as their influence on artistic production (Table. 2). Every notion in Japanese philosophy is already active, and every action has spiritual vitality and significance in and of itself (Kato, 1971). As a result, Japanese civilisation is a melting pot of hues and overflows. Many arts that do not strive for an aesthetic output, but rather an act that strengthens the relationship, can be enjoyed in empty rooms as they are. In interactions with people, nature, and objects (Tanizaki, 1977, p. 109). After all, the East Asian smile expresses an underlying desire to comprehend the interlocutor without having to say anything.
Table 2. Diagram: Influence of emptiness on the formation of Japanese culture
Meditation
1 r
Taoism/Buddhism EMPTINESS
J n \
Artistic creativity / Aesthetic experience
I
Experience of emptiness
CULTURE and its
expression
Architecture (sikiya style) - simplicity
The tea ceremony -simplicity and rigour
Painting with the
shower - an emphasized line
Poetic form (haiku) -stingy words
Art of flower arrangement (ikebana) - image of
Theatre (no drama) ! tense mimic
Courts of dry
landscapes (karesansui) -image of the universe
Nothing and zero are ancient concepts in the East, and they have their place alongside any other physical elements. Earth, water, fire, air, and vacuum are the five elements of Japanese philosophy. They are both physical and intangible aspect of the world. They exist as phenomena that are parts of the overall experience. Also, there are other aspects - void in which there is nothing but something - brimming with possibilities and imagination. Eastern Asia is unconcerned about personal space, ownership, or design. Starting with time, space, and persistence are overlooked. Junyu Kitayama argues, that Space is neglected in Eastern Asia because it produces the illusion of being in man." Because a person with a spatial sense is readily tempted to devote the nighttime ideal (Kitayama, 1954, pp. 15-26). Because there is no such thing as passing, Lao Tse's sacred world and human destiny are referred to as tao (the way).
Eastern man prefers to return to himself rather than displaying his significance spatially. He must comprehend the universe and discover it inside himself. Because it emerges from the veil and returns to it, this cosmos reflects the time it is asleep, which has no beginning nor end (Veljacic, 1983, p. 334). Void does not manifest and does not work without Fullness. As a result, East Asian art focuses on the concepts of being and space. It aspires to be a part of the cosmic whole. As a result, it is stated that Eastern culture is temporal rather than spatial.
The strong conviction in the eternity of the being and the autonomy of one's own self accounts for the vastness of European culture and civilization. That is the great optimism of space, ownership, and design (Veljacic, 1983, p. 334). Emptiness is frequently regarded as unfavorable in contemporary Western philosophy. According to popular belief, there is an empty place in which no one exists. Because they believe there is just physical reality, it is referred to as empty space, where nothing can be found. Nothing that is so often taken for granted does often inherit the concept of emptiness. Emptiness that is so easily associated with non-being, with nothingness. Beings and non-beings are taken as elements by Leukip and Demokrit.
There will not be such thing as being, while void exists as body (Aristotle, 1932). The architectural building body in Ancient Greece was shaped by emptiness noticed within the form of a plane surface. Considering the definitions of space and their relationships to empty space in the works of Descartes, Leibniz, and Kant, it is obvious that there was no one relationship to emptiness in the early modern period. Nonetheless, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with the rise of science and the scientific perspective of the universe, Newtonian, indifferent emptiness, absolute, homogenous, and limitless space became the primary spatial paradigm.
Emptiness as metaphor / A semiotic space
The Greek verb Metaphero, (to carry over) or (to transfer), is consisted of two words. They are meta (between) and phero (to bear) or (to carry) (Davidson, 1978). According to Aristotle (1932), the metaphor works by giving something a name that belongs to something else, if language and the world have a referential relationship. As a result, the metaphor does not disrupt the correspondence's logical order. Beginning with Nietzsche, the
metaphor took on a philosophical significance as the implied disclosure of reality, because he maintains that conceptions are metaphorical constructs.
Ricoeur's multiple view of metaphors, on the other hand, requires a new meaning for metaphor's objects that can't be stated through the object's traditional name (Ricoeur, 1983). In this way, a metaphor serves as an ontological equal to architecture in the imagination of the narrative space. Ricoeur assigns the metaphor the function of passing over to the object domain, alluding to Husserl's phenomenological core ideas.
There is a metaphorical relationship between space (emptiness) and meaning. Metaphors are more than just name substitutions; they are gateway to a new world of otherwise unfathomable layers of reality. In this article, the metaphorical connotations of space are examined in relation to Lotman's semiosphere, which is defined as a place that can include itself in some ways, with the included space serving as a symbol of the included space (Table 3). Lotman defines the semiosphere in terms of dualisms, levels, and spatial opposites, which are exemplified by the Tartu semiotician's idea of the duality of semiotic spaces and their language representations versus the continuity of physical space and pictorial representation.
Table 3. Lotman's semiosphere vs. relation between emptiness and minimal architecture
Included space as an icon
Lotman invented the word semiosphere as a complement to and expansion of Ver-nadsky's biosphere notion. The biosphere, according to Vernadsky and Lotman (Lotman, 1990, p. 125), is the totality of and the organic whole of living matter and the condition for the continuation of life, on the other hand, the semiosphere is the result and the condition for the development of culture (Lotman, 1990, p. 125). According to Lotman, a semiosphere as the unifying mechanism (if not organism) <...> outside of which semiosis cannot exist (Lotman & Clark, 2005, p. 208) is the semiotic space necessary for the existence and functioning of languages' (Lotman, 1990, p. 123). Because all levels of the semiosphere -from human personality to global semiotic unity - appear to be interconnected, each of them is simultaneously both a participant in the dialogue (as a part of the semiosphere) and a dialogue space (the semiosphere as a whole) (Lotman & Clark, 2005, p. 225).
The theory of semiosphere, on a semiotic basis, demonstrates and conceptually develops a deep connection between culture and other forms of life (Kalevi & Wang, 2012).
Culture is a system of two spaces that correspond to two levels of cultural semiosis:
- The textual space - which is created in the arts, myths, social codes, or ideologies,
- The meta-textual space - which is created in the form of cultural self-descriptions.
Any description of culture, according to Lotman (Lotman, 1990, p. 37, 134), is a
meta-cultural structure, that is, a text in the system of self-descriptions which form the metacultural level (Lotman, 1990, p. 46).
As developed by Lotman in his theory of semiosphere (Lotman & Clark, 2005), we could point out the existence of even two important principles for general semiotics:
(1) Principle of semiotic inheritance - The semiotic sphere is causally self-dependent, meaning that every sign comes from another sign - omne signum ex signum - and that semiosis assumes earlier semiosis.
(2) Principle of semiosphere - The semiosphere principle asserts that the qualitative variety that is entirely due to semiosis is also a general condition for semiosis, or, alternatively, that the meaningful forms a region in space (which covers the sphere around the Earth) (Table 4).
Table 4. Lotman's semiospheres in the framework of his Universe of the Mind
Sphere Phenomena How phenomena are perceived
(several) secondary semiospheres culture (metaphors, myth, art, religion) supplementary superstructure; second level of meaning; communication
primary semiosphere (nonmetaphorical) gestures, language the signs represent the world and have a primary meaning; there is communication
(nonsemiotic) biosphere living beings objects life, symptoms, but no communication
(nonsemiotic) sphere of objects objects objects are as they are, without semiotization, without cultural meaning
Source: (Noth, 2006, p. 257)
Real space is an iconic image of the semiosphere, a language in which various non-spatial meanings can be expressed, while the semiosphere in its turn transforms the real world of space in which we live in its image and likeness (Lotman, 1990, p. 191). In contrast to physical space, which is homogeneous, the semiosphere is thus characterized by the heterogeneity of its loci (Lotman, 1990, p. 125). The discontinuity and heterogeneity of the semiosphere is particularly apparent whenever its loci are described by means of complementary opposites. Such opposites do not admit grading but require either/or decisions (Noth, 1997); something is either inside or outside, above or below; there is no in/between, nor is there a gradual transition between the two opposites. As Lotman expressed it: We are both part and a likeness of a vast intellectual mechanism <... > We are within it, but it - all of it - is within us. We are at the same time like matryoshkas <...> and the likeness of everything <...> We are both a planet in the intellectual galaxy and the image of its universum (Lotman, 1990, p. 223).
Case study: minimalism in architecture - emptiness as a theme
Every idea needs its form to be effective, to be meaningfully stated
(Zumthor, 2003, p. 54)
Emptiness is a concept separate from and beyond the experience of the physical world (Vasilski, 2015a), but it does not deny it. It is founded on the reversal of natural energy flow, and it is projected upon the experience itself - consciousness. In minimalism, the meaning and function of something is determined by its emptiness. It takes on the role of an expressive language (Vasilski, 2012) and a building material (Vasilski, 2013).
The key qualities of emptiness as a motif in minimalism are as follows:
- Simplicity - It examines how people see space and how it tries to present itself as a complete and defined part. Internal openness is the result of many variations: the practice of hiding some functions in the thickness of the walls (setting up the closet), within the careful Adolf Loos learning, as well as the use of low walls to close other entities (kitchen or office desks), or, most importantly, grouping of other bodies within geometric bodies.
- Generativity - One of the themes in traditional Japanese architecture is emptiness, where space is not only empty in the physical sense but above all, in a mental shadow (Bertoni, 2002. p. 43). A schematic foundation provides a base for the design. To do so, shadows must observe and experience emptiness and light. Tanizaki says that the beauty of a Japanese space is determined by the diversity of shadows. Nothing else can be recognized as a prototype of minimal architecture than strong shadows against light shadows (Tanizaki, 1977).
- Symbolic schemes - They originate from the collective unconscious - archetypal - and because they acquire physical forms - architectural forms - they serve as a requirement for thinking and creative processes. The structure defines and configures space in such a way that gaps are perceived as whole spaces. As John Powson explains it the thing I am looking for is the excitement of empty space. It allows making architecture alive, as does the Chinese drawing on the scroll. Emptiness allows us to see the space as it is, and to look at the architecture in the way it is (Powson, 1996, p. 15). Space is never empty in Robert Wilson's work as the guru of experimental theatre, as well as in minimal architecture. Emptiness never exists. It is unlimited freedom. Thus, ideas created beforehand eliminate all forms of perception and reasoning. What I intend to do, what I am trying to do is to preserve this space, emptiness (Bertoni, 2002, p. 186). Claudio Sylvestrin describes the concept of ma in Japanese architectural theory as an anti-intellectual argument, A space that is not empty only in physical terms, but primarily in the mental sphere used for experimental procedures and the manifestation of the occurrence (Bertoni, 2002, p. 43).
When there are too many things to choose from, none of them will stand out. Even important items lose their worth in that chaos. In Japanese culture, there is a separate phrase for emptiness that refers to a complete lack of clutter: ma. It is the carrier of the ability for things to exist, stand out, and have meaning within it. That is a space
brimming with potential as if it were a promise that has yet to be fulfilled. This notion encapsulates the essence of Japanese aesthetics.
Patrizia Ranzo's assessment of ma as a phenomenon in contemporary (minimal) architecture is an acceptable one. Nothing better (than the Japanese concept of ma, an empty space in which phenomena manifest or a gap between phenomena) can today describe the period in which we live and an idea that inspires many modern architects. This is the moment when the passing of time no longer seems to be linear but unexpectedly traces an almost circular diagram - retracing its tracks, returning to some moments of the past, offering space and pauses for reflection. A stream of thoughts that do not intend to reduce complexity, but rather to explore the most essential, absolute idea of architecture in its scarcity and ambiguity (Ranzo, 1996, p. 147).
Fletcher writes about space as a substance. Paul Cezanne designed and painted the space. By removing fat from outer space, Alberto Giacometti sculpted. Stéphane Mallarmé began singing with both words and spaces. According to Ralph Richardson, the acting is on hold. According to Isaac Stern, music is characterized by the space between each note. The Japanese have a word for this interval that gives the entire thing structure, but the English-speaking world has neither a word nor a term for it. On a grand scale, there has been a failure (Fletcher, 2001). Ma is the serene mood and quiet reflection originating from the tactility of the material and the softness of natural light, the pauses that allow meditation, whereas minimalism refers to the physical shape and space. A ma-shaped space in architecture and art both work to emphasize emptiness. Several projects have been introduced to highlight these phenomena as a sign of the contemporary world (Vasilski, 2015b).
Case study 1: Kengo Kuma
Noh is the apex of ma art, combining all of the previously stated aspects into a great symphony. It exemplifies traditional Japanese aesthetic concerns with object and space, action and inaction, sound and silence, movement and repose. If the form taken by traditional architecture is an object, then this is a void or the exact reverse of an object. An architectural form has been erased. The void, however, embraces a sequence of human experiences. I thus discovered the potential of architecture to act as an experience or phenomenon rather than as an object, Kengo Kuma (Bognar, 2005, p. 14). Kengo Kuma's approach to architecture could be summarized as constructing the emptiness. His façades are notable for their seeming fragility and daring, but it is the space between these playful tectonics that is most significant (fig. 1, 2). Kuma is particularly fascinated by the empty, intangible space that can be infused with meaning. The empty space is a connecting space that brings people together while also bringing the structure into harmony with nature. Maybe the reason why minimalism has become the sign of our time is its endeavor to make the world a better place (Vasilski, 2016, p. 65).
Fig. 1. Kengo Kuma. No Teatar. Source: https://kkaa.co.jp/en/project/noh-stage-in-the-forest/
Fig. 2. Kengo Kuma (2018). Shiro House. Source: https://kkaa.co.jp/en/project/shiro/
Case study 2: Aires Mateus
The most striking aspect of Aires Mateus' work (fig. 3, 4) is that emptiness is recognized and experienced as a positive space with defined shape, dimensions, and lighting conditions, rather than a negative space. As a result, it's correct to say that their major focus is the space that this framework establishes, rather than what they construct physically. The Mateus brothers' architecture can be described as the desire to transform space into something physical, the void becoming raw material for architecture (Byrne, 2002, p. 30). This void endowed with spatial qualities, makes the voids experienced as spaces. This is the feature that distinguishes their design.
Fig. 3. Aires Mateus (2017). Architecture Faculty, Tournai, Belgium. Source: https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/facultad-de-arquitectura-en-tournai-3/
Fig. 4. Aires Mateus (2016). Olivier Debre Contemporary Art Center, Tours, France. Source: https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/centro-de-arte-contemporaneo-olivier-debre-tours
Conclusion
Do we ever know what we're talking about? We only understand that opinion, which is nothing more than a set of equations, from which nothing more than what is invested emerges. It's all about the mind
(Jung, 1977a, p. 101)
Semiotics, according to Umberto Eco (Eco, 1972), is a research program that examines all cultural activities as communication processes through a reader's eyes. In this article, the metaphorical connotations of space are examined in relation to Lotman's
semiosphere, which is defined as a place that can include itself in some ways, with the included space serving as a symbol of the included space. Lotman defines the semiosphere in terms of dualisms, levels, and spatial opposites, which are exemplified by the Tartu semiotician's idea of the duality of semiotic spaces and their language representations versus the continuity of physical environment and pictorial representation.
In relation to the dichotomy between Eastern (temporal) and Western (spatial) cultures, this study examines the starting hypothesis of the research by which emptiness is a metaphor that belongs to the semantics of connotation. The emotional meaning of emptiness, as well as the ideas and associations that are associated with it, provide a spatial model for cultural interpretation. New types of sight and vision can be tested in a minimalist emptiness. Each determination requires presence of emptiness as precondition.
It is a space full of differentiation possibilities and capable of containing an almost infinite number of various combinations, rather than a space that can be filled in any way. There is a gap in everything. In a speech, it is the significant breaks between the words that make the words stand out, and in music, it is the quiet between the notes that make up the music that makes the music stand out. It is a peaceful period in which we must all find purpose in our fast-paced existence. It provides everyone with the peace of mind they require, allowing our thoughts to be correct and progress. In essence, this is what allows simplicity to exist. It's a creative act and the proper form, not an indefinable void. It's not an empty space that can be filled in any way, but rather a space rich in differentiation possibilities and capable of storing an almost infinite number of possible combinations. It is a physical state that allows the manifestation of the idea of essence as irreducible minimum.
Multum in parvo (a lot of small, in small amounts), said the ancient Romans. The concept of emptiness places the human-space interplay at the center of architectural manifestation. When one unleashes his own creativity and imagination to fill the void, what emerges is powerful and abundant. It is an allegory in which human is shown as principal protagonist in the conquest of space: as dominant spatial agency. This notion has been developed in a variety of ethnic groups, with a variety of applications. The understanding is in the same tone, despite being perceived as establishing tacit order in a specific area and time. Emptiness combines sensory experience and spirituality as a paradigm for the creation of minimalism in architecture. At the same time, it is a process of reconciling differences and establishing a new global culture.
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Information about the author
Dragana S. Vasilski
PhD in Architecture / Technical and Technological Sciences
Full Professor of Architecture and Urbanism Department
University "Union - Nikola Tesla"
62-64, Cara Dusana St., Belgrade, 11158, Serbia
ORCID: 0000-0001-5068-1500
Scopus AuthorID: 57193379249
Web of Science ResearcherID: CAH-1517-2022
e-mail: [email protected]
Материал поступил в редакцию / Received 02.09.2024 Принят к публикации / Accepted 14.10.2024
