1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: today we're gonna be starting up a series on the 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 1: subject of horror vakui, which can be translated directly as 6 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: fear of the void, but has also been paraphrased in 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: the form of the statement nature of horrors of vacuum. Now, 8 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: I think this is gonna be a great subject for us, 9 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: because this principle has facets that appear in art, psychology, 10 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,879 Speaker 1: and all kinds of other domains. But it's often traced 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: all the way back in its origin to the scientific 12 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: writings of Aristotle in the fourth century b CE. Though 13 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: Aristotle did not use exactly this phrase, of course, how 14 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: could he. It's latin um. But he did argue in 15 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: his book on Physics that the con incept of a 16 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: vacuum in nature was implausible and in fact even worthy 17 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: of ridicule. Uh So this occurs in Aristotle's famous Physics. 18 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 1: This is book for part eight, though his attempted refutation 19 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: of vacuum physics spans several sections. I think it's like 20 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: parts six through nine of the book or so. And 21 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: it's interesting that Aristotle does not approach this subject from 22 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: kind of from first principles, but instead he approaches it 23 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: by entering an ongoing debate among other philosophers where there's 24 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: a camp arguing against the existence of empty space, and 25 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: that apparently contains figures like Anexagoras, and then there's a 26 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: camp that argues for the existence of empty space, and 27 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,919 Speaker 1: that contains the Pythagorean school and others. So, in trying 28 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: to stake his own claim in this controversy, Aristotle makes 29 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: the argument that the existence of empty space is logically incoherent, 30 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: and this leads to a harsh joke at the expense 31 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: of space it's self. He writes, but even if we 32 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: consider it on its own merits, the so called vacuum 33 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: will be found to be really vacuous. Huh. That might 34 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: be funny or in ancient Greek. I'm not sure. So. 35 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: I think we'll come back specifically to the history of 36 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: horror vakay in physics in a subsequent part in this series. 37 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: But I thought this was a good place to start 38 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: because a lot of people seem to trace this general 39 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: idea back to Aristotle, and they often identify him as 40 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: sort of the grandfather of this tradition of being intolerant 41 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:39,680 Speaker 1: of empty space or of the very idea of emptiness. Yeah, 42 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: and just the whole idea that nature of whore is 43 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: a vacuum like it's you could you could also kind 44 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: of translated as, hey, anytime there's a place where stuff 45 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: isn't but stuff could be, well, guess where you're gonna 46 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: eventually find stuff right there? Um, And you know, you could. 47 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: You can apply that to economics, you can apply it 48 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:02,080 Speaker 1: to evolution. Um, because for the most part, like various 49 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: interpretations of that hold very true. Yeah. And of course 50 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: there are tons of examples, uh, in in physics where 51 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: you can identify the sort of phenomenonomy if, for example, uh, 52 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: interpy particle entropy. If you take a rectangular container and 53 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: half of it is filled with gas and the other 54 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: half has no gas in it, Uh, if you just 55 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: like let it go on its own and do nothing 56 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: to it, eventually the gas will even out in distribution 57 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: and fill the entire container. That something about nature seems 58 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: to reject that that arbitrary starting point of division and 59 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: interpete tends to just have everything spread out even out 60 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: it doesn't want to let that emptiness remain. Yeah, or 61 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: um on the other end of the spectrum, if you 62 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: have an empty drawer or cabinet in your kitchen, um, 63 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: see how long that lasts. Because eventually, eventually something's gonna 64 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: come along and it's going to be the perfect place 65 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: to stick it. Right. But one big place where where 66 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: horror akui has been recognized throughout the years is in 67 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: the world of art, that's right. Yeah, And in this 68 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: we get into you have this softer treatment of the 69 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: vacuum of empty spaces and also a lot of I 70 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: think ultimately discussions are arguments over like what what constitutes 71 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: an empty space and so forth. But um, yeah, and 72 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 1: within the worlds of art and design, horror vacuate basically 73 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,719 Speaker 1: comes down to a tendency to fill blank spaces instead 74 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 1: of leaving them empty. I've also seen it argued as 75 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: a kind of maximalism opposing minimalism. So you know, it's 76 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: like like I'm gonna I'm gonna create this painting or look, 77 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: you know, think of it. I guess from like like 78 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: a street art graffiti kind of standpoint, What am I 79 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 1: going to paint on this wall? And how much of 80 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:50,279 Speaker 1: this wall am I going to paint? Well, I'm going 81 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:52,280 Speaker 1: to paint all of it, and I'm gonna fill it 82 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: with with just so many things? Or are you is 83 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:57,919 Speaker 1: it going to be mostly sort of a blank canvas 84 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: drawing your attention to the one I a songbird that 85 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: you've created at the middle of this uh street campus. Yeah. Now, 86 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: for for my own part, and I imagine everyone out 87 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: there has some version of this, But for my own part, 88 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: my mind quickly goes to a few different handy examples. 89 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: Some of my favorite artists do seem to abhor the 90 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: vacuum on some level. For instance, I've I've long been 91 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: a fan of the dark surrealism of of Irving Norman, 92 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,720 Speaker 1: and his work tended to consist of very complex, crowded, 93 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: dynamic expanses that had a lot of like urban and 94 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: industrial energy to them, um and and and so. It 95 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: has a lot of chaos, it has a lot of 96 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: soul listeness, and a lot of it is about sort 97 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: of capturing the spirit as he saw it of the 98 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: modern world. Oh, that's interesting that the connection to modernity, 99 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: because I think a lot of people over the years 100 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: have made this argument that something about how how culture 101 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: changes over time. Maybe a lot of this is driven 102 00:05:55,560 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: by technology results in the constant sort of ingress of 103 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: stuff into more and more uh previously unfilled spaces of 104 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: your your attentional life. So whereas life used to, at 105 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: least according to this argument, involve a lot more kind 106 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,280 Speaker 1: of boredom and idleness and sort of sitting around with 107 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: your own thoughts, not having anything to do and and 108 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: things like that. Uh, now there's just like always something 109 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: to occupy you and occupy your attention. Yeah, and his 110 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: works in particular, they do have this feeling to them. Um. 111 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: The one I included for you to look at here, 112 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: and certainly listeners can look this piece up as well. 113 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: This is war and Peace. It's a triptych. And this 114 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: is a piece that I've gotten to see in person 115 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: that was on display in San Francisco at least for 116 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: a while. Big piece, and a piece like this is 117 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: great to see in person as well, because you get 118 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: to sort of get a little closer and check out 119 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 1: some of the many details that make it up. For instance, 120 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 1: one of the pieces here, you see all these buildings 121 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:02,479 Speaker 1: and it like a a realistic view of skyscrapers in 122 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: each little window has somebody inside with like some sort 123 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: of paint or horrific or board expression on their face. Um. 124 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: So yeah, he he really seems to fill every available 125 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: space with some sort of detail. Mm hmm. Now they're 126 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: plently of older artists that come to mind. Uh, you know, 127 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: pre modern artist like Hieronymous Bosh comes to mind. Peter Brugal, 128 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: the Elder Um. Another contemporary example that I instantly think 129 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: of would be the visionary art of of Alex Gray. 130 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: You know, very psychedelic but also just filled with flow 131 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: and color, and there's just this sense of every available 132 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: space has been sort of engulfed by uh, energies that 133 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: cannot normally be viewed with the naked eye. Yeah. Now 134 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: you you raise Hieronymous Bosh, and that really got my 135 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:56,239 Speaker 1: gears cranking because when it comes to horror Vakawy and Bosh. 136 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: I could be wrong, but I sense a trend in 137 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: his religious paintings where there's an association of business with 138 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: bad things, with chaos and sin, whereas empty space seems 139 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: to be more associated with order and godliness and righteousness. 140 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: So you know, hell is bustling and full and just 141 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: teeming with activity, whereas heaven or maybe the Garden of 142 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: Eden before the Fall is orderly and clean and has 143 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: plenty of empty space, plenty floor space. One example, of course, 144 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 1: I think of here is the Triptic The Last Judgment, 145 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: where if you see, you know, the Garden of Eden, 146 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: apparently a a time before sin, there's just a lot 147 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: of kind of empty ground, is like not a lot 148 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: going on. There's there's plenty of expanses that have yet 149 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: to be filled with anything. And also if you look 150 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: at the middle panel of the Triptic, there is war 151 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: and chaos and suffering and disease and violence and stuff 152 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,440 Speaker 1: taking place down on Earth, and it's a very busy seen. 153 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:02,839 Speaker 1: But up above you see Christ and the angels and 154 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: everything is very clean, and there's like not a whole 155 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: lot going on. There's a lot of empty space up 156 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,200 Speaker 1: in the sky. Yeah, this is a great point. So 157 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: in a way, I wonder if that's kind of an 158 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: inverse horror vakawee where you know that that, like the 159 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:19,559 Speaker 1: the vakawi is actually the indicator of goodness and orderliness, 160 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: and and you know, when there's too much stuff going on, 161 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: that's a sign that something has gone wrong, that that 162 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: order has broken down. But clearly this is not a 163 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: universal association within art or even within religious art. For example, 164 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: Dante's Paradiso seems to be anything but empty. You know, 165 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: the heavens in that vision are crammed with overwhelming, incomprehensibly 166 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: busy stimuli. There's you know, a lot of things where 167 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,119 Speaker 1: He's just like, there was so much I couldn't understand 168 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: what I was looking at. Um. And in some versions 169 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: of gnosticism also the sort of ultimate ideal plane of 170 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: reality and the sum of all divine potential is called 171 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 1: the clear roma, which in Greek means fullness, the opposite 172 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 1: of emptiness or void, your example of here from the 173 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,000 Speaker 1: last judgment, this this made me think about okay, and 174 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 1: at least in the middle part of it, you're talking about, 175 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 1: you know, here we have a Christ appearing in the 176 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: sky and everything is a little more open, and we 177 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:22,960 Speaker 1: see the blue and ultimately the white of of naked 178 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,199 Speaker 1: sky there. And I was comparing this to some other 179 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: words that I'll mention a second. But it made me wonder, like, 180 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: when is the sky full and when is the sky empty? Um? 181 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: Because it seems like on some level a blue or 182 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: white sky in a painting is certainly a different animal 183 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: compared to say, a red sky, in the same way 184 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: that the standard wall color for a museum is usually, 185 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:47,679 Speaker 1: at least today not black or red, but a nice 186 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 1: white or a muted gray. But on the other hand, 187 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: like a night sky is not necessarily like the darkness 188 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: of space is not necessarily understood to be uh full, 189 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:02,440 Speaker 1: but I guess it could be depending on how you're looking. 190 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: It's certainly full of stars. Yeah, and specifically, I mean 191 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,440 Speaker 1: the skies are, yeah, they're They're rendered in very different ways. 192 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: I mean sometimes the stars themselves are very busy. I 193 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: think of, I guess this is obvious to go to. 194 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: But the starry night yeah, yeah. Uh. And as as 195 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,680 Speaker 1: far as Dante goes, I I instantly thought back to 196 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 1: Gustav dres Later so much later illustrations of the Divine Comedy. 197 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: And sometimes those do and sometimes they don't match up 198 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 1: with this general idea. Like there's one particularly famous image 199 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 1: from Dore's illustrations where we see um let's let see 200 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: um Dante and his his guy. Who's this guy in Paradisio. 201 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: It's uh in the Paradiso It's it's Beatrice. It's Beatrix. Yes, 202 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 1: that's right. So it's it's Dante and Beatrice, and here 203 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: in front of them is just this incomprehensible. Uh. It's 204 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: almost like the eye of Sauron with with just multitudes 205 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,320 Speaker 1: of swirling angelic beings all around it. Yeah, it's all 206 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:04,080 Speaker 1: you're looking into, just a tunnel made of like nanotechnology, 207 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 1: except it's it's all angel wings. Yeah. And then there's 208 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,559 Speaker 1: another one of Dora's illustrations where we see Dante and 209 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:14,960 Speaker 1: b standing here on a cloud and we see multiple 210 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: rings of angels, And certainly there are a lot of 211 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: angels in each ring, but there's a lot more open space, 212 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 1: particularly above them, and there's an openness to that image 213 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: that you don't see in a lot of the Doray 214 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:31,680 Speaker 1: illustrations of any of the three realms of the Divine Comedy. Agreed, 215 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:34,680 Speaker 1: And so that that division, uh seems to be a 216 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: you know, whether you want to represent beauty and holiness 217 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 1: as as a kind of incredibly busy phenomenon or as 218 00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: something with a lot of empty space in it. I 219 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,839 Speaker 1: don't see an overwhelming trend one way or the other. 220 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: I mean, it seems like a sort of a pretty 221 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:53,160 Speaker 1: evenly divided issue of preference, because I think of tons 222 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,000 Speaker 1: of paintings from all throughout history and all throughout different 223 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 1: cultures where empty space is clearly the thing that makes 224 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:04,200 Speaker 1: the painting so beautiful or the art so beautiful. One 225 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: that came to my mind while we were getting ready 226 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,439 Speaker 1: for this episode was there's a Chinese work of art 227 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: from I think the thirteenth century called on a Mountain 228 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 1: Path in Spring by Ma Yuan. Do you know that one? 229 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 1: Rob I have just pulled it up in front of me. Oh, yeah, 230 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: this is beautiful, and I'm not familiar with this piece. Yeah. 231 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: One thing I really like about it, so to try 232 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: to describe it, shows like a man on a path 233 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: and there are sort of like some trees drooping over 234 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: around him, and there's a bird in flight up ahead 235 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: of him. Uh, and you see the ridges of some 236 00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 1: mountains in in the background in one half of the painting. 237 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:42,840 Speaker 1: But one thing I really love about this painting is 238 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:46,199 Speaker 1: that essentially only half of it is filled in. So 239 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: behind the man you see the outlines of all these forms. 240 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 1: There are tree trunks, and uh, there's the path. You 241 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 1: see a little you know, ridges and indentations in the 242 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,840 Speaker 1: ground and tree roots and shrubs, and you see the 243 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: mountains in the background, and then in the they're half 244 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 1: of the painting. Essentially all the forms just disappear and 245 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: it's almost entirely empty space except for a little suggestion 246 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: of the path continuing along on the ground and a bird. 247 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. Yeah. Yeah, it's a beautiful piece, you know. 248 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 1: And I also want to mention that many of the 249 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:19,800 Speaker 1: artists that one might point to and say, Okay, this 250 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: is someone who definitely abhors the vacuum. Uh, they're they're 251 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: definitely a maximalist. You can also find plenty of examples 252 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: where they play with opening things up a little bit, 253 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 1: like even just uh, looking back through some of Irving 254 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: Norman's works, like, there are of some pieces where you 255 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: have fairly sizeable expanses of say sky, sometimes blue sky, 256 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:45,240 Speaker 1: other times extremely blood red skies, but sky. Nonetheless, I 257 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: don't know what this is. So my my ruined, vulgar 258 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: mind looks at one of these paintings, the one with 259 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: the red sky, and I just think hell razor too. Yeah, 260 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 1: I mean, it is a it is a hellish image. 261 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: M have some of those vibes to it, for sure. 262 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: I think it's that the red sky and then the 263 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: sort of like maze of walls beneath that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 264 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,680 Speaker 1: this one is called war Wounded Ends. That's another one 265 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,440 Speaker 1: of my favorite pieces by Irving Norman. It is beautiful. 266 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: I apologize for the Barker comparison. No, no, no, I 267 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: mean I think it's happening. Thank, thank thank. I mentioned 268 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,440 Speaker 1: the walls of of a museum earlier because I think 269 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: this is also key as well, because when you think 270 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: of gallery walls and even picture frames in a modern sense, 271 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:45,360 Speaker 1: and we tend to think of a very minimalist um features, right. 272 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: The trend nowadays at least is, of course, the display 273 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,920 Speaker 1: works of art in unassuming frames on largely blank walls, 274 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: with at least some amount of space between each work, 275 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 1: sort of give allow each work a little room to breathe. 276 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: But this was of course not always the fashion, and 277 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: isn't always the fashion. Maximalist and minimalist approaches are just 278 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: trends and ensure that the complex wallpaper may be pulled 279 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: away in the geometric wall to wall carpeting, maybe ripped 280 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 1: up from space, but given enough time, these things may 281 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: come back into fashion again and you'll get even crazier 282 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 1: wallpaper plastered back up and even more complex carpet installed 283 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: wall to wall. But there are some interesting properties involved, 284 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:30,080 Speaker 1: like what does it do when you have something worth 285 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: looking at in the midst of white space? Uh? You know, 286 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: what does emptiness? What does the void do? And there's 287 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 1: an offsided quote from art historian Ernst Gombric of nineteen nine, 288 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: two thousand and one uh, in which he stated, quote, 289 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,440 Speaker 1: the richer the elements of the frame, the more the 290 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: center will gain in dignity. I believe this is a 291 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: part of his theory of perception, and I think I 292 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: think it's a pretty insightful statement, and we can we 293 00:16:56,800 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 1: can apply it to the blank walls behind a canvas, 294 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: to the assuming picture frame, or even elements within a 295 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 1: given work where the busy aspects of a piece focus 296 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: our attention towards something more open, like for instance, Christ 297 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: floating in the sky above. Uh, this otherwise chaotic scene 298 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: and painting by Bosh. Oh, that's kind of interesting. So 299 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: that might explain the popularity of these very ornate, highly 300 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: textured you know, frames around paintings with all these ridges 301 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:30,040 Speaker 1: and swirls and so forth. Yeah, and certainly you will 302 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: you will often encounter, even in modern museums, sometimes these 303 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 1: older pieces that are still in very ornate frames. And 304 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:39,639 Speaker 1: I'm always interested in that because, I guess because it 305 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 1: kind of throws me for a curve comparing it to 306 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,640 Speaker 1: more modern works and modern framing. UM. And then you'll 307 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,160 Speaker 1: encounter this piece that has some sort of picture frame 308 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,640 Speaker 1: that I mean could arguably be seen as distracting from 309 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: the piece itself, but but maybe not maybe guiding you 310 00:17:54,840 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: in now. As far as the term horror vacuie goes, 311 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: depending on tastes and trends, you'll see it in the 312 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 1: art world, sometimes invoked as praise, other times invoked as criticism. UM. 313 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: Take the the often dizzy art of Jackson Pollock of 314 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,480 Speaker 1: nineteen twelve through nineteen fifty six. UM. It's kind of 315 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: a prime example of this duality. Even though not all 316 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: of his works abhore the vacuum, you'll find you'll find 317 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 1: a little space in some of his pieces, and I 318 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: think maybe those are the ones that I I may 319 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: be a little more drawn to. Oh, but you mean that, 320 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:33,880 Speaker 1: Like critics have described it in terms of horror vakay 321 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 1: both positively and negatively, like this is good because it 322 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: sates my horror vakawee, or this is bad because it's 323 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:44,919 Speaker 1: just a product of horror Vaki. Yeah, yeah, and I 324 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,679 Speaker 1: think and I think in the case of of of Pollock, 325 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:49,879 Speaker 1: and people are more familiar with art criticism out there 326 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: that make and can chime in on this. But it 327 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,320 Speaker 1: seems like you see it invoked more as a criticism, 328 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:57,680 Speaker 1: you know, almost like, well, there's clearly this artist is 329 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: afraid of the vacuum. Other Wise they would have given 330 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 1: us a little more space. But I don't know, even 331 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:06,199 Speaker 1: the really busy Jackson polite pieces, which which I think 332 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,280 Speaker 1: I have also had the chance to see in person, 333 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:11,640 Speaker 1: some of these pieces like they really need to see 334 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: in person, because you do get it's a similar situation. 335 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 1: You can take it all in, but you can step 336 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,960 Speaker 1: a little closer and sort of look at just some 337 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: of the closer details, and it's really enthralling. Now. The 338 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: term has also been used to describe cultural artistic traditions. 339 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 1: I've seen it used to describe the work of the 340 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: ancient Egyptians, as well as the trend in Islamic art 341 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,479 Speaker 1: towards the expansive use of geometric patterns. Apparently, however, the 342 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: originator of the term in art criticism itself was Italian 343 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,240 Speaker 1: born art and literature critic Mario praz Who of eighteen 344 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 1: ninety six through two, who used it mostly to slam 345 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: the cluttered visual interior design one sees particularly of in 346 00:19:55,440 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: Victorian households. Victorian design. Uh Joe I included a uh 347 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,440 Speaker 1: sort of stereotypical image of a victor, of a rich 348 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: Victorian sitting room here, and I think it raises the 349 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 1: question is this too busy? Or is this just comfy? 350 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: Is this? Is this like hoarded fancy items? Or is 351 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: this somebody who want to do surround themselves with the 352 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:20,879 Speaker 1: things they like and sort of warm themselves in the 353 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,120 Speaker 1: glow of those things. So so the critical idea here 354 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:27,360 Speaker 1: could be, yeah, like is there too much patterned wallpaper, 355 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,120 Speaker 1: too much patterned upholstery on the furniture, too many little 356 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: do d ads all over the place. It's just the 357 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: room is too busy. You should live in a roth coo. Yeah. 358 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:40,200 Speaker 1: And I guess one of the things that really comes 359 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:42,399 Speaker 1: out and thinking about in terms of art is, of course, 360 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:48,520 Speaker 1: art criticism is generally highly subjective, and so also is 361 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,440 Speaker 1: the the use of a term like horror of vacuie 362 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:53,959 Speaker 1: in terms of of art and design, or any kind 363 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: of creative endeavor and uh in film is not immune 364 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,600 Speaker 1: to this. Um. I was really excited by this because 365 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,440 Speaker 1: I was looking around for I don't think I was 366 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,920 Speaker 1: even particularly looking for something about film, but I ran 367 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:13,879 Speaker 1: across discussion of horror vacuie in Jollo films. Yes, Vangoria Magazines. 368 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:18,159 Speaker 1: Alexandra Helen Nicholas has written film criticism discussing the subject 369 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:22,920 Speaker 1: of horror vacuie in Jollo films. The book in question, 370 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 1: which I haven't had time to read in full yet, 371 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 1: but what I've read so far is is quite good. 372 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 1: It's the Jollo canvas art excess and horror cinema shallow 373 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: is absolutely a genre of excess, and that is part 374 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,880 Speaker 1: of what makes it so enticing. Is it's just unrestrained 375 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: expressiveness and gaudiness. Yeah, yeah, it's Um, it's this of course, 376 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,200 Speaker 1: largely we're dealing with the tag in cinema here, though 377 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,960 Speaker 1: though it's influence becomes such that it spills out into 378 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: European cinema in general and also has a big influence 379 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:01,800 Speaker 1: on the global slasher genre. Uh yeah, it's generally stylish 380 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: to some degree gratuitous. Uh you know, it's flashy and 381 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: uh so Hella Nicholas here points out that naturally, uh 382 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:14,639 Speaker 1: horror vacaie doesn't just apply to highbrow art. She cites 383 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: the illustrations of Robert Crumb as an example, and then 384 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,320 Speaker 1: points to a couple of other horror cinema examples possible 385 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: examples such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Uh, particularly than the 386 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Particularly I believe she was pointing out, uh, 387 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:32,680 Speaker 1: these some of these early scenes where we're not even 388 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: getting into the blood and the excess um, but just 389 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: like scenes where the the inside of the Chainsaw Massacre 390 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: household is just cluttered with all sorts of of you know, 391 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 1: uncanny items like skulls and bird bones and knickknacks. And 392 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: she also points to some other examples where there's like 393 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:52,439 Speaker 1: just where it's a similar situation where a lot of 394 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 1: disturbing stuff sort of thrown at you so fast and 395 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:58,760 Speaker 1: and and you don't general rule in in the horror, 396 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: you know, don't don't show the monster too long, don't 397 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: show the gore effect too long, and it can kind 398 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: of overpower you like, overpowers the circuits with unease or revulsion. 399 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: But to read a quick quote here quote in Jallo cinema. 400 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:19,439 Speaker 1: While certainly not lacking in moments of excessive blood and guts, 401 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: excessive nudity, etcetera, it is also just as much frequently 402 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: marked by an excess of style through color, music, nis 403 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:33,400 Speaker 1: on sin and even performance styles. These films, too, are 404 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: marked by a sense of too muchness, an excess we 405 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 1: can loosely align with this tradition of horror vacoe. That 406 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 1: is an excellent description of Jalo and what makes it 407 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 1: so special that the core stylistic feature of it is 408 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:54,520 Speaker 1: too muchness. It's just a lot in every possible way. Yeah, 409 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: And I don't know about you, but even just thinking 410 00:23:56,359 --> 00:24:00,240 Speaker 1: about this made me think of various stills from any 411 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: Seven Suspiria by a Dario Argento where there's just there's 412 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:07,400 Speaker 1: a lot of too muchness in in the film, even 413 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: the shots that are not bloody shots. There are several 414 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,879 Speaker 1: really bloody shots that are just overpowering the senses. But 415 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: also other scenes that have like a Mario Bava hyper 416 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 1: color realm sensibility to it, or just like a lot 417 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: of a lot of lines and shapes thrown at you. Yeah, 418 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:27,399 Speaker 1: a lot of interior designs. Wall. I don't know if 419 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:31,760 Speaker 1: it's wallpaper, but painted walls with busy designs, you know, 420 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 1: just fixtures and artworks and just stuff everywhere. It is 421 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: not a minimalist looking film. Yeah. Now, now speaking of film, 422 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:44,640 Speaker 1: I also and looking at all this, I couldn't help 423 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: but think of movie posters as well. Uh, sort of 424 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: the difference between it and an exciting pact maximalist a 425 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: movie poster versus the minimalist movie poster, which was certainly 426 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,679 Speaker 1: a design trend not too long ago, maybe in the 427 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 1: last ten years. And I guess there's still a lot 428 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,720 Speaker 1: of it going on, maybe not at the professional level, 429 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,240 Speaker 1: but sort of as a design exercise and art exercise 430 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: among other folks. Yeah. Like like you know, I think 431 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:17,159 Speaker 1: of posters by American artist Drew Strussan, who did uh 432 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 1: poster art for Blade Runner, various Star Wars films, also 433 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:28,200 Speaker 1: the N seven Killer Worm movie Squirm. Uh. These are 434 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 1: all three poster examples, and you can look these up 435 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:33,720 Speaker 1: where there's just a lot packed into the image. They're 436 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,679 Speaker 1: they're beautiful and they seem to overflow with the energy 437 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,639 Speaker 1: of those films, be at the drama, the sort of 438 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 1: neon intrigue of something like like Blade Runner, or just 439 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,680 Speaker 1: the monstrous squirminess of squirm. Yeah, well, there's a lot 440 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 1: of actors heads, so they're trying to pack actual marketing 441 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 1: information into the painting. You're gonna see here here all 442 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:57,119 Speaker 1: the actors that you know and love that are going 443 00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: to get you into the theater. But also they're trying 444 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: to give you some information about the plot, so you 445 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,439 Speaker 1: will see like moments or scenes from the movie in 446 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: the poster. But then also, yeah, like you say, they're 447 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: trying to suggest the uh, I don't know, the kind 448 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,879 Speaker 1: of like throbbing energy of the movie. Like the horror 449 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,480 Speaker 1: ones are going to have a kind of a squirm 450 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: nous to them, you know, kind of like a kind 451 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 1: of queasy light coming off of them, whereas the the 452 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:27,160 Speaker 1: sci fi action movies have this glow as if from 453 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,680 Speaker 1: stars in the background or something. Yeah, and with something 454 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,400 Speaker 1: like squirm, they're they're they're not really any big name 455 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:35,360 Speaker 1: actors in that. You're not trying to market it that way, 456 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: so you pull back on the the identifiable faces and 457 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,760 Speaker 1: heads and you just focus on the squirm nous of 458 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: the picture. Now, I really did enjoy a lot of 459 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: those recent redesigns of classic movie posters, but in minimalist form. Though, 460 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 1: I think that works a lot better for movies that 461 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:57,159 Speaker 1: people already know and love than it does for movies 462 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,800 Speaker 1: that nobody's ever seen before. Like when when you're advertising 463 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,800 Speaker 1: a movie and you're trying to like catch people's eye 464 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,239 Speaker 1: and make them see it, that seems like when you 465 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,200 Speaker 1: really do actually want to try to cram a bunch 466 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:11,040 Speaker 1: of stuff into the poster to like cast a lot 467 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,320 Speaker 1: of lines essentially like oh do you like this actor? 468 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,399 Speaker 1: Their faces on there somewhere. Yeah. Like I was looking 469 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:18,919 Speaker 1: around for minimal examples of all three of these films 470 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: that I just mentioned. I found that, you know, there 471 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:23,159 Speaker 1: are a lot of them that have been created for 472 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,120 Speaker 1: Blade Runner in the Star Wars films. But I found 473 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: an episode three poster for Star Wars and they did 474 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:32,400 Speaker 1: the smart thing of basically invoking the shape of Darth 475 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: Vader's head. Like, that's an that's an easy one. You 476 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: can go super minimalist on that because it's a very 477 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:42,280 Speaker 1: identifiable character outline. Yes, totally. I really like this one 478 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,040 Speaker 1: for Blade Runner that is just a yellow background with 479 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: a black sort of minimalist geometric rendering of the Origami unicorn. Yeah, 480 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,199 Speaker 1: it's a it's more of I think, maybe on the 481 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,320 Speaker 1: cute level, where it's like, oh, okay, I see what 482 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:57,240 Speaker 1: they were going. Oh yeah, that's right, that's from the movie, 483 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: a little detail and kind of a wink to folks 484 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:05,199 Speaker 1: who remember it. But I also found, surprisingly, and I 485 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: got this off of the Telltale mind dot com. They 486 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: have a blog both there where it's Squirm nineteen seventy six, 487 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: Sorry I got I may have gotten that the year 488 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:16,679 Speaker 1: wrong and scoring there, but Scorm nineteen seventy six the 489 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:19,680 Speaker 1: visuals where they have a whole bunch of promotional visuals 490 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,360 Speaker 1: from the film and a lot of it's very squirmy. 491 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: Um there was one one particular international uh poster or 492 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,040 Speaker 1: one sheet or or or lobby card here this just 493 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: absolutely loaded with worm images. But then there is strangely 494 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: a single one that that has just the words squirm 495 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 1: with kind of an interesting font. I guess that looks 496 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,160 Speaker 1: like maybe it was written by a worm that had 497 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: been dipped in ink and it just says scorned. The 498 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: monster is seventy six in cursive, yeah in in in 499 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 1: worm curson. If I guess, like I said, I think 500 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,640 Speaker 1: a worm maybe is supposed to have made that s 501 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: so I don't know all of this is subjective again, 502 00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: but it it does make you think about you know what, well, 503 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,520 Speaker 1: what the difference is between cranking it up and pulling 504 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: back on it. And certainly when it comes to the 505 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: use of empty spaces or perceived empty spaces and visual 506 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:20,840 Speaker 1: design than now. I also think it's very interesting to 507 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:24,360 Speaker 1: think about this concept in UM so called visionary art 508 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: and psychedelic art and then also psychedelic cinema UM, because 509 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,840 Speaker 1: you know, think of either of these categories and you 510 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: often think of dizziness. While the psychedelic experience itself, of 511 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,520 Speaker 1: course is going to vary greatly. There is often a 512 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:41,280 Speaker 1: description of images and ideas filling the blank or the empty. 513 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: Things that don't have meaning take on heightened meaning. UM 514 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 1: surfaces crawl, move and breathe, And from an AI perspective, 515 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:52,240 Speaker 1: I suppose the now sort of out of fashion al 516 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: I don't hear as much about it. A Google Deep 517 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: dream kind of created a version of this with its 518 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 1: tendency to find dog faces in every thing. So any 519 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: given image, any even like a blank background, would suddenly 520 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: become faintly alive with intertwined cute dog faces. Yeah, like 521 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: you take a picture of a lawnmower and the you know, 522 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: the starter button is a pug's face, and the uh 523 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,240 Speaker 1: and the and the wheels will become little gold nurch 524 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 1: reever is. It's cute. Yeah, but it makes me think 525 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: too about just the human tendency to define patterns and 526 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 1: to fill emptiness with meaning and things. Even in the 527 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,840 Speaker 1: case of deprivation, you know, some sort of sensory deprivation 528 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:40,800 Speaker 1: scenario or some sort of isolation scenario, the mind eventually 529 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,720 Speaker 1: starts finding details where they are not details, you know, 530 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:47,680 Speaker 1: sometimes to harmful degrees. M And there there are a 531 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,160 Speaker 1: lot of treatments of this too in in in various 532 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: papers I was running across. You know, you get into 533 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,280 Speaker 1: whole discussions of say, marketing, Um, how do you fill 534 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 1: your show window at at a at a at a 535 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:02,239 Speaker 1: fancy of fashion store or a clothing store. Do you 536 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: just fill it up with the various items you're you're selling? Um? 537 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,600 Speaker 1: And you certainly see this approach in some shop store windows. 538 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,520 Speaker 1: Or do you have like that one piece and lots 539 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 1: of blank space, open space, or maybe you know a 540 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: few splashes of color. Uh. You know, there are arguments 541 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,680 Speaker 1: to be made for both sides. They are also a 542 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: very specific arguments about what kind of clientele are being 543 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:28,720 Speaker 1: attracted to this store window versus another. Well, yeah, and 544 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,800 Speaker 1: that's interesting because it brings us to I would say 545 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: that there is a fairly consistent thread of class association 546 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 1: with maximalist versus minimalist design um, which is that minimalist 547 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:46,880 Speaker 1: designs are more often associated with wealth. Yeah. I think 548 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: one classic example of that is, of course, the the 549 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: upscale dinner plate versus the I don't know, the comfort 550 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: food dinner plate. The comfort food dinner plates they filled 551 00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,160 Speaker 1: from an all you can eat buffet. Uh June only 552 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:03,920 Speaker 1: is a is a pretty pretty loaded dish. There's not 553 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: a lot of white space remaining on that dish. Meanwhile, 554 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 1: what do you think of when you think of of 555 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,240 Speaker 1: true upscale dining? What do you think of when you 556 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: think of, say, the recent film The Menu, which is uh, 557 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,640 Speaker 1: you know, very much a send up in parody of 558 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: the high dining experience in the business and culture surrounding it. 559 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:27,320 Speaker 1: You think of a whole bunch of of of empty 560 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: plate and like maybe like a few piles or puddings 561 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:33,840 Speaker 1: or some sort of very interesting plating of the dish 562 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: that doesn't take up too much real estate. Yeah, you 563 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: will see a lot of plate. This also made me 564 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:44,840 Speaker 1: think about something that anybody out there has any any 565 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:49,320 Speaker 1: dealings with newspaper pagination or I guess design in general, 566 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 1: any kind of like design and layout, and that is 567 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: the subject of of not only white space, but trapped 568 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 1: white space. For those of you unaware that the general 569 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,640 Speaker 1: rule has long been when it comes to a newspaper page, 570 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,320 Speaker 1: there doesn't have to be an endless cascade of text 571 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:10,239 Speaker 1: and images taking up every space on the page. You 572 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:12,520 Speaker 1: can have some white space in there, you know, give 573 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 1: your features and your images and your text a little 574 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,120 Speaker 1: room to breathe. But while you can have white space, 575 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,680 Speaker 1: you do not want to have trapped white space. So 576 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,920 Speaker 1: you can think of it this way, like your your 577 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 1: text and your images, this is all one continent or island. 578 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,560 Speaker 1: And it's okay to have inlets and harbors, uh that 579 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: have white in them, that you know, that are accessible 580 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:38,959 Speaker 1: to the outer void. But you don't want lakes and 581 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,680 Speaker 1: pools of trapped white space within the piece. And you know, 582 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 1: I think it's tempting from either side, if you're inside 583 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: the world of pagination and design or outside of it too. 584 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: On some level wonder, well, this is really makes sense 585 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 1: or is this just a standard? This is just this 586 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:55,479 Speaker 1: is just what they have told us to do, This 587 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: is just the style. But I think there is a 588 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: pretty strong argument to be made that the thing is spaces, 589 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:09,000 Speaker 1: uh draw our attention. Spaces can be used effectively if 590 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:11,600 Speaker 1: they're they're used on purpose. They can be used to 591 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:14,160 Speaker 1: sort of heighten the message of other things in the 592 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:17,960 Speaker 1: visual design. But if you include them sort of slap dash, 593 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 1: if you include them by accident, then all you're doing 594 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:25,320 Speaker 1: is drawing the eyes away from important content or content 595 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:27,719 Speaker 1: that you want to be seen is important, towards just 596 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,160 Speaker 1: absolute nothing that has no you know, it's you're not 597 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,839 Speaker 1: heightening anything. You're just drawing eyes away from what they 598 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:37,959 Speaker 1: should be looking at. By point of comparison, I would 599 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:42,800 Speaker 1: say that rests moments of silence are used on purpose 600 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:46,840 Speaker 1: and music to heighten the effect of what is there. 601 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:48,839 Speaker 1: You know, rests are one of the most important things 602 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:52,680 Speaker 1: in making music good. But you would not want blank 603 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:56,360 Speaker 1: space inserted haphazard lee without that kind of intention in 604 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,360 Speaker 1: the middle of a song might be okay. Between songs 605 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: on a record, you wouldn't want it just going in 606 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: between verses there, let's just have a break for a 607 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,120 Speaker 1: few seconds. Yeah, unless it's like the break if you're 608 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:09,839 Speaker 1: listening to some drumming bass or something and you need 609 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,200 Speaker 1: you know, everything reaches a point and then it stops. 610 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 1: Then you know what's going to happen next, a massive 611 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:17,920 Speaker 1: change and like high energy is going to occur. But 612 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,839 Speaker 1: that's meaningful white space, like it's reading your attention. Yeah, 613 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,560 Speaker 1: that's the rest, so I I yeah, I totally understand. 614 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: I think the same is true for the design layout 615 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: of of a page in a magazine or a newspaper, 616 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:32,000 Speaker 1: if you just have meaningless space in between the contents 617 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:33,879 Speaker 1: that that kind of throws you off. You're like, wait, 618 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:37,799 Speaker 1: why is that there? I imagine, Uh, maybe we can 619 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:39,799 Speaker 1: hear from from folks out in the restaurant world. I'm 620 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,800 Speaker 1: sure they're there are rules about this concerning the plating 621 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:44,960 Speaker 1: of food too, because I bet you don't want to 622 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,919 Speaker 1: have trapped white space on the plate in some form 623 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:49,640 Speaker 1: or another, Like you don't want it to look like 624 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: something goes, something has been admitted from the plate, you know, 625 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:56,799 Speaker 1: like well where did the pork chop go? Like that's 626 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: the space clearly where a pork chop could go. That's 627 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:02,440 Speaker 1: the only interpretation my mind can make of it. That's funny. 628 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:04,960 Speaker 1: I'm sure some pretentious chef has tried that. We just 629 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:09,560 Speaker 1: doughnut shaped platings of food. So that's all. I I 630 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,520 Speaker 1: feel like everything I just said maybe kind of a 631 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:13,759 Speaker 1: ramble and covered a go lot of ground. But I 632 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,799 Speaker 1: guess the the basic take home from all of this 633 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,760 Speaker 1: is the vacuum, the void and emptiness, white space, whatever 634 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:25,600 Speaker 1: however you're describing it or or encountering it, especially in 635 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,760 Speaker 1: a visual sense, like it it has, it has meaning 636 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:32,799 Speaker 1: one way or or another, like it's not a completely 637 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,799 Speaker 1: neutral thing one could even, I guess, get into the 638 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:39,479 Speaker 1: world of literature, right and printed books. You know, um 639 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: what what is the feeling of the blank space at 640 00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:47,440 Speaker 1: the end of a chapter, between chapters or it's often 641 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:51,040 Speaker 1: been discussed. Writers will discuss like the horror of the 642 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:54,200 Speaker 1: blank page when they can't think of something to write, 643 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:57,280 Speaker 1: and so forth, like the horror of that kind of void. 644 00:36:57,920 --> 00:36:59,520 Speaker 1: You know, I have a whole tangent that I want 645 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:02,960 Speaker 1: to get in to about horror akue in cartography and 646 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:05,360 Speaker 1: map making, which is very much related to fear of 647 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:08,879 Speaker 1: the void in art. But raises some fresh issues of 648 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,399 Speaker 1: its own. But looking at the time, I think we've 649 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:13,759 Speaker 1: got a cap today's episode here, and so we will 650 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 1: get into that in the next episode in the series. 651 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:19,920 Speaker 1: All right, so yes, join us for more discussions of 652 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:22,439 Speaker 1: the Void on the next episode of Stuff to Blow 653 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,239 Speaker 1: Your Mind. Reminder that two season thursdays of the days 654 00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:28,759 Speaker 1: when we publish our core episodes of the show. On 655 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:31,600 Speaker 1: Monday's we do listener mail, on Wednesday's we do a 656 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:35,000 Speaker 1: short form artifact or monster fact, and on Friday's we 657 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:37,080 Speaker 1: do Weird how Cinema. That's our time to set aside 658 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:40,440 Speaker 1: most serious concerns and just talk about a weird film. 659 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:44,480 Speaker 1: Huge thanks to our audio producer J J. Paseway. If 660 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:46,319 Speaker 1: you would like to get in touch with us with 661 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,960 Speaker 1: feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a 662 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,239 Speaker 1: topic for the future, or just to say hello, you 663 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:54,399 Speaker 1: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 664 00:37:54,440 --> 00:38:05,320 Speaker 1: Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production 665 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:07,759 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart 666 00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: Radio with the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 667 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: wherever you listen me to your favorite shows