Creating Empty Spaces through Disoccupation: The Aesthetics Proposal of Jorge Oteiza

The development of modern sculpture can be described as a process of dematerialisation, where the solid monolithic mass of a centuries-long tradition is replaced by a new conception that places the sculptures in the interplay of materiality and virtual volumes of empty space. Similar transvaluation processes can be observed in other fields (psychology, physics, religion). All of them contribute to the transformation of the metaphysical foundations of life and thought that has had numerous implications in artistic theory and practice. The objective of this chapter is to study the implications of this process in the creation of new aesthetics concepts and new artistic forms, focusing on the aesthetics thought of the Spanish artist Jorge Oteiza (1908-2003). His sculptures developed from figurative to abstract forms in parallel to a dematerialisation process that concluded in his ‘Empty Boxes’ and ‘Metaphysical Boxes’ (1958-59). The aim of these sculptures was to ‘construct the void’ by breaking the neutrality and the indifference of space. Oteiza coined the concepts ‘disoccupation’ and ‘Negative Aesthetics, ' both related to Negative Theology, to name this process of transforming neutral space into active empty space. This aim of emptying space was the base of Oteiza’s most important architectural project, ‘The Monument to José Batlle y Ordoñez’ (Montevideo). I end up by highlighting the contribution of these new concepts for an understanding of art in relation to ‘real spaces’ and ‘places’ that goes beyond the assumption that art is only about visual perception.