Nothing Matters
Seoyeon (Selina) Cho
In my thesis research, I examined how nothingness can act as a visual communication tool to express feelings,
meaninglessness, way of living, and absence. I focused on about 50 works of other artists and designers from different
countries that convey nothingness and reinterpreted them in my own versions, through graphics, p5js, and physical
making. By doing so, I developed my own approach of using nothingness as a theme to communicate different emotions to
the audience.
Snapchat
I collected snapchat images (ordinary images that disappear within 3-5 seconds) from friends and concealed the content with vellum paper.
Swimming Pool
I visualized my personal experience of nothingness from living with the constant sound of the swimming pool in the apartment.
Naked Places
Inspired by Guy Debord’s dérive, I collected places in New York that I no longer feel connected to.
50 iterations of nothingness
For my Proof of Concept, I created 50 different iterations of nothingness expressed by artists, philosophers, and writers. I printed my makings of nothingness on fabric cloth, as cloth is used as a metaphor for eastern nothingness. Nothingness is versatile and formless like a cloth, and it embodies any shape of an object when used as a carrier.
Black Sand
The formlessness of nothingness is also displayed as black sand on the floor.
Rake
I laser-cut thin woodblocks and made a long rake so that the visitors can make patterns and feel the black sand.
Experiencing nothingness
Thesis Book
I used a soft gradient to represent nothingness for my thesis book.