24^th Apr 2009

Nothing

NOTHING. The Nothingists was a group created at the end of 1919 in Moscow echoing the internationalisation of the Dada movement although they didn’t use that word because in Russian Dada means “yes yes” contradicting their nihilism. They stopped all activity in 1923; Manifesto From Nothingism 1920, and Decree About the Nothingists of The Poetry 1920, both from CDs accompanying the book Baku: Symphony of Sirens.
A Colour named Nothing by Contraption 37 from A Consonant Vowel, anthology of audio art and sound poetry recorded in 1988. 3’34” by Pavel Buchler; transparent vinyl single lasting 3’34” and issued in an edition of 334 copies; compilation of unrecorded parts and transitions between tracks of 10 John Cage records from the collection of Pavel Buchler, 2006.
Perhaps the ultimate Nothingness record was produced by Yves Klein in 1959 with the LP Prince of Space which is entirely silent; the only sound being the contact between the stylus and the vinyl record, unlike Buchler’s record which is a recording of stylus meeting vinyl and therefore a recording unlike Klein’s which is actually an object… but this leads to comparing silence with nothingness and as apparently there is no such thing as silence I’ll get on with the next track:
Nothing by The Fugs from The Fugs First Album ESP 1965.
Outer Nothingness by Sun Ra from The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Volume 1 ESP 1965.