This is a cute present for all the people who took part to "Architecture between the Sea and the Sky" workshop. Here you have the first part.

1. Stefano Mirti
Summer’s over
No homework done and baby blue
volume 1, on nothingness

2. L M N O P Q R

3. this is a special digital copy for
architecture, between the sea and the sky
community
kisskiss / lovelove
Milan, September 2014

4. It’s a work about space and architecture.
How do we get space, how do we get architec-ture.
Indeed, quite a complex journey.
If we want to make space, in the first instance,
it happens in our mind.
In a different way: because of maps, we have
the world (and not the other way around).
The same goes for space. Because of an idea, we
have a “place”. This place is then perceived in
terms of space.
Without an idea, we can’t have a place.
Without a place, we cant’ have space. At the
opposite, when a conceptual vision takes form
in our minds, a place (with its own spatial
features) is born.
To start our journey, we have to deal with
the absence of space and place. Something we
could define: “nothingness”.
Here we are, and on we go.
@

5. this is the first digital edition
Stefano Mirti
Summer’s over
No homework done and baby blue
volume 1, on nothingness

6. this is a glitch
This book is dedicated to the people who came
up with Google Images.

7. Here we should have the table of contents, but
actually, there is not. There isn’t a linear order:
read the whole thing in the way you prefer.
Jump, skip, go backwards. However you like.

8. Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and
more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die know-ing
something. You are not here long.
Walker Evans

9. 1. On Nothingness
x yz w

11. Before we start, please watch “Power of 10”.
It’s a short movie, less than 10 minutes.
Easy to find it on YouTube.
A nice way to start our journey.

12. ...some 50.000 years ago...
earth
moon
this, we explain it later

13. quite empty, isn’t it?

14. ...almost empty
little man
things we don’t get
odd creatures

15. now, a crossroad: sci-fi or ancient times?
cosmic diagrams (quite cool)
a planet (Saturn?)
an abducted gent
UFO

16. ..today, we go for ancient times
a
B.C.
prehistoric croc
a
a a
a

17. sci-fi, we do another time...
star troopers
I like comics (once in a while)
gecko

18. here we are: ca. 50.000 years ago
a lot of things with no name
{

19. b
they had to invent civilization from scratch
let’s say, not an easy task

20. when things have no name, they don’t exist
x

21. it’s like watching TV without signal

25. John Milton Cage
a world where things have no name
a piece of music without sound
a television without signal
an empty page
4’33”

29. in Buddhism, they call it “anātman”, the “non-self ”
अनात्मन्

31. In Japan, they call it “ma” (間).
Not to be confused with “mu” (無, as
visualized in the previous page).
Wikipedia explains:
“In Zen Buddhism, an ensō (円相, circle) is a
circle that is hand-drawn in one or two unin-hibited
brushstrokes to express a moment when
the mind is free to let the body create.
The ensō symbolizes absolute enlightenment,
strength, elegance, the universe,
and mu (無, the void).”
I love Wikipedia!

32. in Japan,
they know a lot about these things...

36. Kazuo Shinohara, House in Uehara (1975-1976).
Daytime view.

37. Kazuo Shinohara, House in Uehara (1975-1976).
Nighttime view..

38. Actually,
to understand void and negative space,
you should play go game.

39. go, it’s very easy to learn, very difficult to master

42. Check out this “Polyfauna” application.
It goes deep into nothingness

43. so they were: a big chaos in front of them
a world where things have no name
prehistoric couple

44. a big chaos and a lot of funny animals

45. tools
ideas

46. the world was in his mind, not outside
now, he is thinking hard...

47. a lot of ideas to do a lot of things...

48. they coulda hunt
they could grow stuff

49. they could breed animals
prehistoric turtle, a very big one

50. they could (try to) domesticate wild animals

51. ...they could make clothes and jewelry
they made nice LBDs
prehistoric clothes, quite cuterious

52. btw, by then, they knew how to dress...

53. since those happy times, fashion became a tricky business.
alas, that’s the way out there...
but we shouldn’t get lost in other things.
let’s move back to our prehistoric friendss & their lives...

54. they improved their skills
here, a glamourous necklace

55. also,
since they didn’t have steady jobs,
they could play a lot.
the y loved to play all kind of games...
awele board

56. bottom line.
they would play,
they would eat,
they would walk around.
in a different way:
niente di meglio del lavoro di michelasss!
mangià, bev e andà a spass!

57. now, they could even fall in love!
a prehistoric beauty from Brazil
c
b

58. they could make art

60. Asger Jorn, he was another cool chap.
Quite useful to know his works...

61. of course, they also discovered sex.
of course, they always knew about sex.
but now, they were consciously liking it.
they weren’t married yet, but they were
already cheating on their husbands & wives.
Betty wanted to show Fred a few tricks she’d read about.

62. PS
I don’t believe in being politically correct.
Life is not politically correct.

63. An important thing!
I like to make digressions, let’s say I like to get
lost while I explain various things.
I apologize. This happens because I like very
much Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy”.
A novel in which you constantly get lost in
endless other stories. A tale working like a
Russian matrioska.
“he Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,
Gentleman. A work in nine volumes, 1759 /
1767. Mr Sterne loved diversions so much that
Tristram’s birth is not reached until the third
volume.
Getting lost over and over, digressions and
amplifications. That’s the way.
Not to mention the graphic concept of the
whole thing!

64. Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine; —& they
are the life, the soul of reading; — take them out of this
book for instance, — you might as well take the book
along with them.

65. Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I
think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.
Laurence Sterne,
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

66. Now, our little prehistoric people could do all
kinds of different things. They even discovered
“time”. Altogether, quite impressive. Hail to
our faraway ancestors!

67. sun
moon
(moving) dinner
all kinds of different “places” where I could be
here I am, now

68. finally, they could do a lot of things.
from “nothingness” they were ready to discover
places and to live a new life...

69. PS
Readers like to have a caption next to each
image. I am not so sure about it. It’s more
interesting to keep the image open and vague.
Let’s say, I can give you some hints.
Most of the pictograms are Gerd Arntz’s
mesmerizing visuals for the Isotype collection.
There is one subway portrait by Walker Evans
and one Crystal Palace Dinosaur. One portrait
of Ludwig Wittgenstein and one of John Cage.
Kazuo Shinhara has two houses, while Joseph
Beuys has one portrait with wolf. One sketch
by Oscar Niemeyer, one image of Barbarella’s
(aka Jane Fonda). Burda provides one sheet of
sewing patterns, another image refers to Cueva
de las Manos (Cave of the Hands) somewhere
in Patagonia.
Going on, with have some drawings by Lau-rence
Sterne and we pay homage to Robert
Fludd as well as to Yukio Mishima.
What else? We can’t forget the Venus of Willen-dorf
and the Easter Island statues.
The rest, dear reader, is for you to discover.

70. Volume 1 is over.
Now, let’s move to volume 2...

71. This is the first digital version of this book.
Milan, fall 2014.

72. It’s a series about nothingness, space, place and
other various interesting (and odd) things.