Null Object

About this book

This book charts a project by London Fieldworks (Bruce Gilchrist and Jo Joelson) with the participation of internationally celebrated artist Gustav Metzger to create a sculptural work by linking a computer-brain interface with industrial manufacturing technology. Using bespoke software, London Fieldworks produced 3D shape information from EEG readings of Metzger's brainwaves as he attempted to think about nothing. This data was translated into instructions for a manufacturing robot, which carved out the shapes from the interior of a block of stone to create a void space. An introduction by the artists, a text by Gustav Metzger and four contextualising essays by writers across the fields of literature, art, science and technology explore the diverse historical and conceptual grounding for and broader implications of Null Object's production process.