In praise of emptiness
Fabricio Mattos · 2024
When we think about spaces for music performance, usually the first image that comes to mind is a concert hall, with its pre-determined structures, well-defined stage, and neatly organised seats. However, in recent decades, there has been a quiet emergence of what I call empty spaces for performance, which I define as venues without pre-determined structures in which the layouts and dynamics of performance can be freely explored without the socio-historical conditions that can be imposed by architecture. I have been exploring empty spaces as part of my work as a creative director in live events and video material, experimenting with the liberation that comes with the idea of emptiness, not as the lack of content, but instead as the ‘creative receptacle’ postulated by the Japanese designer Kenya Hara. In this context, one might wonder what the function of sound is within such a performative world, in which sound is no longer the main driving factor for the design of new spaces, and in which the frontal way of consuming music is no longer the dominant one. With this chapter, I would like to help nurture the debate around how empty spaces and the events they host can allow a more intensive relationship with our current behaviours and technologies, becoming more expressive of who we are and how we live and think in our own time.