INTERSPACES

P E N S É E S

When, in the midst of matter, there is suddenly a rupture filled with nothing but dark air, then that is far more than what would be there if this disruption did not exist. Like a wound, this space filled with a between attracts all the attention. If the cube was complete, who would even notice it? It is only the nothing within it that makes it something, that arouses interest (interesse: Latin for “to be between”). “The between has no ‘being’, no in-itself, no essence, nothing of its own. More precisely: The between ‘is’ not. But by no means does that make it neutral or, in other words, ineffective,” says philosopher François Jullien. The between is loud, it has an effect and it confuses, it provokes and creates disquiet within the observer. It poses questions which require answers – and they are never the same.

Between: this also implies the existence of boundaries or things between which it can be and take effect. Any gap needs poles, a top and a bottom, a left and a right, a front and a back. It creates tension, and in this tension lies fecundity: something new can – or MUST – arise from nothing, because the tension is only bearable when it is temporary. If it was there all the time, not leading anywhere, if it did not provoke at all, it would not have a reason to exist at all. It wants to be heard, seen, felt; it demands the attention of someone who feels confused, to whom it whispers: Make something of me, release me. It wants to be translated, everything else is unbearable. It only becomes bearable when it is transformed into something else, for that is the reason of its existence. “By opening up, the gap gives rise to another possibility. It lets us discover resources we had not considered until now, of which we had not even suspected they exist,” Jullien says.

Recommended reading:

- Francois Jullien: Vom Sein zum Leben