Absence as potential in contemporary art

The aim of this study is to explore the concepts of absence, lack, loss and emptiness in contemporary artworks and to present its potential. At a time when developments of communication networks and globalisation allow ideas, objects and images to circulate around the world, we as modern human beings have found ourselves in a state of abundance. The ability to access almost anything as offered, not only eases our lives, but also estranges us and restricts our productivity into limited fields. This thesis also inquires into the artist-viewer relationship in contemporary art. Eastern philosophies both perceived the notion of absence as a way of life and practiced it in the arts. It influenced Western art through modernism. Furthermore, the World Wars of the 20th century, liberation movements of the 60s and socio-political transformations provoked radical ruptures in the arts and challenged the materiality of the art object. The loss of the artwork‟s autonomy and authority, lead to the transformation of the relationship between the artist as producer and the viewer as consumer. The viewer is no longer a passive consumer. With the withdrawal of the art object, the viewer is rather actively participating in producing meaning. This thesis also investigates the potential of a negative space produced by simplification, reduction, loss or extraction from the totality of the art object. Visual simplicity, scarcity and physical absences in the work allows the viewer to fill in spaces reflecting his/her intellectual, spiritual and conceptual world. Ultimately, this inquiry aims to bring a new perspective to seemingly neutral, simple or negative artworks through the concepts of absence and potential.