This study examines the phenomenon of “emptiness” in contemporary art within the context of the information society. Despite the increasing speed and constant state of stimulation characteristic of the information society, practices of perceptible silence and slowness in contemporary art have become markedly more prevalent and noteworthy. In this regard, silence and slowness generate a form of counter-aesthetic against the dominance of intense information flow. Inviting the viewer to pause, notice, and rethink, the creation of emptiness within contemporary art practices emerges on both formal and conceptual levels as a field of sensibility. The sociological and aesthetic effects of the information society on contemporary art are investigated through qualitative research designs, specifically document analysis and art-based research. Methodologically, Jacques Rancière’s notions of the “distribution of the sensible” and “dissensus” are adopted, and evaluations are carried out within the framework of Byung-Chul Han’s approach to “privation.” The concept of emptiness in contemporary art is analyzed from a descriptive and critical perspective through selected artist examples, including the author’s own artistic productions. In doing so, the relationship between theoretical discussion and artistic practice is concretized. As a result, it is determined that silence and slowness emerge as aesthetic expressions of emptiness in contemporary art and encompass a meditative process. The research is significant in that it draws attention to art’s potential to generate resistance. Indeed, artists who choose silence against the noise of the information society interpret emptiness not as a site of conflict but as a space of resistance and critique.

Information society, Jacques Rancière, Byung-Chul Han, contemporary art practices, aesthetics of emptiness.