Universal Explanation of Nothing

How do you illustrate something that does not exist? This publication explores the philosophical idea of nothingness. Inspired by the fact that modern technology could not exist without zero, we created a fictional language based on binary code, a system that uses only two numbers, 0 and 1, to explain nothing from a scientific point of view. The project is also an ironic comment on the inefficiency of Carl Sagan's Golden Record, sent into space aboard Voyager in the 1970s.

Each symbol is built from the binary translation of a word: every 0 becomes a circle and every 1 a line. For example, "intergalactic space" translates into 82 zeros and 72 ones, so its symbol is drawn from 82 circles and 72 lines.

The result is a double-bound A5 zine, risograph-printed by hand. One side is a vocabulary that helps the reader decipher the text on the black reading pages on the other side.