Artist Gustav Metzger hooked his brain up to a robotic sculpting machine that carved based on his thoughts. Then he tried desperately to think about nothing.

This Is What Nothing Looks Like
This Is What Nothing Looks Like Gustav Metzger via DesignWeek

What do empty thoughts look like? According to the artist Gustav Metzger, they look like the weird blobby object above. Metzger hooked up his brain to a robotic sculpting machine that carved away at a piece of Portland Stone based on the stimuli it received from Metzger’s EEG readings as he tried to think of nothing at all. Titled “Null Object,” the work is now on display at London’s Work Gallery.

In other words, this is Gustav Metzger’s Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, empirical proof that even when we try our hardest to think of nothing, there’s always something going on up there.

[DesignWeek]

10 Comments

This is an interesting and amusing article; very fascinating, too.

"... empirical proof that even when we try our hardest to think of nothing, there’s always something going on up there."

Or that Mr.Metzger’s forgot to properly ground his EEG machine.

Clearly looks like is really thinking about golfing and flying saucers.....

I would really like to see what thinking about "something" looks like, now that I know what "nothing" looks like. My research assistant Mr. Google hasn't been much help.

The trick to thinking about nothing is to think of nothing, not even thinking about not thinking. Saves energy too, the brain consumes a third of our glucose.

Looks like golf balls and roses to me.

Here are my robotic thoughts about nothing.

First in analog:
__________________________________________

Second in binary:
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Bu bye. ;)

He had childhood trauma involving sliced golfballs... or fying saucers like gdepratt said.

"God exists since mathematics is consistent, and the Devil exists since we cannot prove it is."

Budhist months spend years and years of meditation to learn to think nothing. First try probably not quite nothing.

I hate it when that happens! Every time I try to think of nothing I always come up with something!

The closest I've gotten was while thinking of golf!


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