Bird Library Exhibit: The Nothing Show

When contemplating nothingness, the mind invariably wanders to things both very large and very small. The beginning of everything, the space between things, places and thoughts gone missing into voids and emptiness. An exhibit focusing on such things may seem null and void at its very outset.

Although nothing is nothing by nature, by juxtaposing nothing with something, nothing obtains meaning. For what is more useful than the zero in math, more practical than a vacuum cleaner, or more worthy of compilation than the rock-filled void that defines the space left by the antediluvian mind? Voids and spaces help define our daily lives.

Whether we come from something or nothing (and end at the same location) is open to debate; it's the journey where meaning sits. This exhibit covers a lot of nothing, both absolute and intimate. From the days of Aristotle and the horror vacui of the ancients to the culinary void that is the donut hole, we hope to show that nothing's a big deal, that sharing nothing is really saying something.

The exhibit explores the topic of nothing in eight sections.

Curated by Stephen Singer and Abagail Traska.

Note: this exhibit features a free button offer!