Ma (negative space)

"Ma" () is a Japanese word which can be roughly translated as "empty", "gap" or "space" or as "the space between two structural parts." [ [http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa082097.htm| Japanese language definition] ] [Referenced from several webpages including:
* [http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/jgard/msg100248139141.html]
* [http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/Ne.html]
* [http://www.mfj-online.org/journalPages/MFJ38/iimura.html] ] There is no equivalent single word term for "Ma" in the English language.

Usage in the West

In his 2001 book "The Art of Looking Sideways", Alan Fletcher discusses the importance of exemplifying "space" as a substance:cquote
Space is substance. Cézanne painted and modelled space. Giacometti sculpted by "taking the fat off space". Mallarmé conceived poems with absences as well as words. Ralph Richardson asserted that acting lay in pauses... Isaac Stern described music as "that little bit between each note - silences which give the form"... The Japanese have a word (ma) for this interval which gives shape to the whole. In the West we have neither word nor term. A serious omission. [*"The Art of Looking Sideways". by Alan Fletcher. Page 370. Published by Phaidon, 2001. ISBN 0714834491]

Thomas Pynchon's book "The Crying of Lot 49" stresses the concept of waste in language, in terms of negative space determining outcomes of actual events.

Usage in Eastern Philosophy

The Taoist philosopher Lao Tse wrote extensively on the concept of "Ma" including his poem "The Uses of Not" :

:Thirty spokes meet in the hub,:but the empty space between them:is the essence of the wheel.

:Pots are formed from clay,:but the empty space between it:is the essence of the pot.

:Walls with windows and doors form the house,:but the empty space within it:is the essence of the house. [*"The Art of Looking Sideways". by Alan Fletcher. Page 369. Published by Phaidon, 2001. ISBN 0714834491]

ee also

*"Mu (negative)"
*"Wu wei", a term in Chinese philosophy
*"Negative Space"

References