{"id":555,"date":"2017-12-14T09:33:30","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T09:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/liipetti.net\/erratic\/?p=555"},"modified":"2018-05-07T10:08:17","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T10:08:17","slug":"void-world-elements-and-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liipetti.net\/erratic\/2017\/12\/14\/void-world-elements-and-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Void, world, elements and art"},"content":{"rendered":"

In May 2000 I participated, as an outsider to the field, a conference in Jewish Studies, with a presentation called “Slimy stones and philosophy”. It looks like the title drew quite an audience and the room was fully packed with people. This started my decade and a half as a student and researcher in Jewish Studies.<\/p>\n

But slimy stones? Philosophy? The story is linked to how the Jews have, during centuries, sought to interpret and apply the biblical texts. Whereas we read from a ready-made translation something like “the earth was empty\u00a0and void”, the original text is much more open to interpretation. Instead of empty and void, we have\u00a0tohu<\/em> and\u00a0bohu<\/em>, words whose meaning is not at all evident. What do they mean, actually? Furthermore, is it a statement about the world before or after creation? In my presentation, I traced a particular chain\u00a0of\u00a0interpretations across centuries, including how their path crossed the borders between myth and the scientific world-view of the their time. Towards the end of the year 2000, I wrote an extended paper on this topic, which can be obtained from here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recently I discovered a Brasilian Ph.D\u00a0thesis<\/a>\u00a0in visual arts citing my paper. The author had discovered in it an almost 2000 year old rabbinic mythical dictum according to which\u00a0tohu<\/em> is the green line encircling the entire world out of which darkness emanated, and found the dictum fascinating in its visuality. From this citation, the thesis moves on to Kazimir Malevich in his attempt to represent what lies beyond objects and appearances (if I understand the text correctly, I don’t really understand Portuguese).<\/p>\n

This connection is also makes sense to me personally. Fifteen years ago I was fascinated by\u00a0tohu<\/em> and\u00a0bohu<\/em>, whether they are an emptiness behind existence or elements (arche<\/a>)<\/em> out of which this existence is composed. Then, two and half years ago I visited a small exhibition in Tallinn, Estonia, focusing on the repercussions of Malevich’ Black Square in Estonian art. It may be that many of the works on display were more interesting as being from the Soviet era, but the exhibition itself had\u00a0a strong effect on me. It also somehow started a completely new process within me. The next day I found in my phone a picture that I had not knowing taken. Almost a black square with a slightly lighter shape faintly visible. Perception happens between the extremes, I found myself thinking.<\/p>\n

\"mn3\"<\/p>\n

The Black Square started a process withing me, I experimented with the idea until I finally left it behind:\u00a0how long can one try to catch or grasp it?<\/p>\n