The first topic I’m interested in is minimalism. The reason I want to do minimalism is pretty simple: most of my favourite artists (musicians, painters, architects, etc.) are people whose work is based on minimalism. Minimalism uses the concept of simplicity to drive more effective change and structure in art, which is why I love it. Minimalism is expressed in different ways in different countries, in different art forms, and in different times, and I want to explore this and think about what the essence of minimalism is.

Minimalism is a post-World War II movement in any art form, and it can be found in most artistic disciplines, including visual art, architecture, music, and literature. In the visual arts, it seems to have arisen in response to the intuitiveness and spontaneity of Abstract Expressionism, and is expressed through the use of geometry, simple colours or shapes. In a broader sense, it influenced Neoplasticism and Russian Constructivism, and is considered to be part of them.

In the field of design and architecture, minimalism became popular in the 1980s, mainly in London and New York. This was influenced by traditional Japanese architectural design, which favoured a minimalist architectural style due to the growing population and urban chaos after industrialisation. In addition, the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis could not be ignored. In architecture, minimalism concentrates on the ‘essences’, which is the quality of what should be, such as light, form, material details, and space.

In literature, minimalism is characterised by the use of fewer words, a focus on describing what is on the surface, and the minimisation of adverbs. In minimalist literature, readers are expected to take an active role in creating the story, to ‘choose sides’ based on oblique hints and innuendo, rather than react to directions from the writer.

In music, the word ‘minimalism’ was first used by Michael Nyman in a 1968 article in The Spectator, importing the word from visual art concept to music. However, minimalist music began to be created as early as the late 1940s, with Yves Klein, La Monte Young, and John Cage being some of the earliest examples. 

I did a little research on minimalism and realised that if I were to make an audio paper on the subject, it would be interesting to incorporate minimalism into all of the elements used in it. For example, the script is also written using minimalist techniques, and I think it would be unique and interesting if the music used is also minimalist.