empty

After I handed Dr. Gary Genosko a copy of my thesis titled 'Failure in the frostbelt: the city in winter,' FULL/empty ended up on my desk. Gary thought I may like to take a look at it. In all honesty my intent was to turn in a thesis that had a heavy bent towards visual studies and would bear many images. My textual result is a document that spans some 130 pages and contains a paltry 7 images, 8 including the cover. At this point in time I am also pondering heavily my next steps, academic and other. Phd applications will need to be completed soon. I think of the UofA, Waterloo and Concordia as places in Canada that I would like to spend some time. The conundrum at the moment: how to literally, with words, convey a conceptual project to committees of admittance folks, when I am unsure as to 'what project I want to do next.' In a sense I am feeling FULL/empty as the title suggests, my mind is awash with numbness from months of writing, light from accomplishing a goal, and clouded as to what to focus on next.

I digress, this post is really dedicated and motivated by the following:

In 1999 Gary Genosko, my current academic supervisor, developed a concept of FULL/empty while spending a one month writers residency at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

The purpose of the residency was to follow suit with the WAG's commitment to "engaging and meaningful interpretations to our collections" (3).

FULL/empty
Superficial Abundance and Profound Loss
June 16 to September 24, 2000

Since this curated collection of images was mounted in frames bearing 'glass,' the show has never traveled outside of Winnipeg and has likely found its way to the bottom of the basement among countless other 'treasures' and 'archival' artifacts. In this post and the following I attempt to cast a light into the dark recesses of hollowed out corners to illuminate a conceptually captivating essay.

This following image is by David McMillan
Rehabilitation pool, children's hospital, October 1998
Although this image is not in the WAG collection, it may contain traces of similacrum reminiscent of the described images.





















"empty is a photographic invitation to sadness. emptiness is not a thing but an emotional texture into which viewers are enticed through complicity; a shared complicity in which there is a desire to explore a profound emptiness as long as it is bearable" (26).

"empty is really deeply empty, but never vacant" (27).

"unintended desolation... we are in need of a new word, a variation on nowhere: perhaps 'newhere' will suffice... 'Newhere' is diametrically opposed to real estate because it contradicts the law of location. It is where you end up in the course of being rendered redundant by change, the result of which is that you can no longer find your way around. Tuck yourself into an interminable holding pattern. Out here, there is simply nowhere to go: and such newness is an aggravation some people apparently enjoy" (31).