To sell the invisible, the nothing or the void, you must first create it

Arsen ECA

Create from nothing

I do not claim authorship of the concept of “Nothing”, because it was floating in the ether long before me. However, a question tormented me: is it possible to crystallize this “Nothing”, to give it shape and then to market it? In 2008, this land was virgin – no one had yet modeled or sold “Nothing”. I then took a bold step, by claiming ownership of this “Nothing” and of the act of its acquisition.
 
It was in 2008 that I began this adventure, bringing my first work to life. I have developed an innovative and somewhat atypical system, which allows anyone to generate “Nothing” with a simple digital pressure. This click, modest but fundamental, is the point of origin of all this “Nothing”, the seed of empty. It embodies the creative act, transforming nothingness into tangible and graspable raw material.
In the immensity of the universe, the creation of the void, of the invisible, of “Nothing”, is orchestrated around a simple but primordial gesture: a click. This gesture is the alpha of inexistence, the key opening the doors of nothingness. Without this click, the materialization of “Nothing” remains a mirage, an elusive chimera. It is this click that gives rise to the most ethereal nuance of “Nothing”, a raw material that is then measured, quantified and recorded.
 
I market this very essence of “Nothing”. A substance captured in the echo of a click, an imprint of the intangible, offered to those who seek to possess the unattainable. In this gesture of acquisition, we find the poetry of absence, the beauty of the elusive.

Selling Nothing

Once the “Nothing” production system is in place, thanks to “clic pour Rien “, it was necessary to organize the sale. However, in 2008, it was impossible to sell “Nothing” through conventional channels. Google systematically refused advertisements.
 
It was through my website chezbelette (which has since been censored) that I began to sell “Nothing”, mainly in the United States. I remember the first order in 2012, four years later. Subsequently, sales literally exploded, still in the United States. You could buy “Nothing” and receive literally nothing, in just fifteen days.

Tax control and censorship

The sale of “Rien” turned out to be a lucrative business, a reality which led me to my first tax audit in 2013. I have fond memories of this period, in particular my exchanges with the inspector Marie Christine M., who informed me that the VAT declaration was obligatory, even for the sale of “Rien”. But then, what would be the VAT rate applicable to “Nothing”? This question, as enigmatic as it may seem, has remained unanswered since 2013.
 
In 2019, an unexpected event happened. A Google employee, assisted by its algorithm, erased all of my work from the Internet and Google’s search network. The reason given was that I was posting “meaningless content”. Ironically, this justification seemed entirely appropriate, given that the very nature of my business was to sell “Nothing.”
It’s a serious censorship,

The press is talking about it

Arsen Eca, in his typically subversive way, took the notion of consumption to an unexpected extreme by selling “nothing.” The artist developed a product called “Buy Nothing,” a bold commentary on consumer culture. This innovative work of art allows people to buy “nothing”, literally paying for the absence of a physical or digital good.
 
The “Buy Nothing” concept was surprisingly successful, particularly in the United States, where people seemed to enjoy the humor and subversive nature of the idea. They were buying an idea, a statement, a piece of performance art.
 
However, this venture led to a clash with the tax authorities. Eca found himself facing a tax audit because the authorities asked him to pay value-added tax on the “nothing” he sold. This intriguing incident only added another layer to the project, reinforcing its commentary on the absurdities of consumer culture and tax systems. It’s yet another example of Eca’s talent for bending and twisting systems in humorous and thought-provoking ways.