Concept
Nothing is a minimalist, black and white 2D pixel art short film made with Aseprite and Unity. Created as a semester project for the Experimental Game Cultures program at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, it explores the theme of permanence through a distinct artistic lens. Its simple visuals and soundscapes draw inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi, embracing the beauty of imperfection and impermanence. The film takes the viewer on a journey to consciously experience the cyclical nature of existence: Everything either emerges from or merges into nothingness.The sound design mirrors this theme, playing with silence and white noise. Like nothingness, white noise seems empty at first, yet it holds every frequency within it, making it full of hidden potential. As shapes emerge from the black-and-white void, the viewer witnesses the rise and fall of a bird-like creature born from the ever-shifting nothingness. This fleeting existence leaves room for interpretation, inviting the audience to find their own meaning in the interplay between creation and dissolution.
Inspiration: Wabi Sabi
Everything is either evolving from or devolving toward nothingness. While the universe destructs it also constructs. New things emerge out of nothingness. And nothingness itself-instead of being empty space, is alive full of possibilities. Despite our efforts to forget, ignore, or deny it, everything eventually returns to nothing. Planets and stars fade, just as all things do. Yet, the inevitable carries a bittersweet comfort: all existence shares the same fate.
(Excerpts quoted from “Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers” by Leonard Koren)
idle
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