The document discusses different types of empty spaces the author encountered while traveling in Northern regions. Some spaces were meant to be empty, others became empty over time as people moved on. The empty spaces carried stories that were not being told and were difficult to understand. Mapping empty spaces was challenging as impressions of emptiness are subjective. The author provides concepts for how spaces could be manipulated, such as making structures bigger or smaller or filling landscapes with noise, to better understand how much a space can accommodate.

1. :Empty Spaces
During our studytrip to the North, I discovered empty spaces. Empty, yes, but they were
quite different from what I had imagined. The spaces opened themselves as empty, not
only because they were left behind, or because they were industrial ruins. Some were
meant to be empty, others had absence of human scale, one was built into the building
(on purpose), others were empty because time and people had moved on. It is difficult
to say something specific about why a space is perceived as empty. I will try to point
out some of my thoughts around the empty spaces I found on our journey to the North.
The empty spaces to me, are the different spaces. The ones I can not understand. The
quiet ones. Carrying a story that is not being told. It is easy to understand spaces that
are filled up with people, with noise, with energy. What about the opposite. They are.
Something absolutely different.
:Time
The city of Hammerfest was burned by the Germans towards the end of the Second
World War. No building was left behind. 1945. Empty spaces are layers in time. They
have existed. What is left of them today. All spaces were once empty. All spaces were
once nothing.

2. :Soundscapes
The sound of place. Empty space, does not mean silence. Neither does it mean absence
of sound. Sometimes industry soundscapes, absence of nature, or human sounds, are
the most empty.

3. :Method
I found mapping empty spaces challenging. As the impressions of empty spaces are
very subjective and about sensing space. It is important to remember that the spaces
I have been mentionning, are so much more than what is given in the diagram. On the
other hand, this gives us the opportunity to see them in relation to each other, differ-
ences and similarities. And opens up for further investigations. With methods such as ex-
posing them to opposite realities. Filling up spaces, maximizing or minimizing structures,
take them as far out as you can, in order to see how much the space can take. Here are
some examples out of my head:
:Concepts
Can the Snow sheds be usefull when there is no snow? Give meaning to the big rock.
How to show that it is a big rock. Wrap it in cloth. An object this big in the landscape.
Make it bigger. Make it smaller. Vidda. Fill up the landscape with noise from a birthday-
party. And many many people. Rockconcert. Rock carvings. Graffiti and young people
hanging out in this landscape. Inbetween Kautokeino, filling up the spaces inbetween,
inside the building, and around the houses. The poles in the landscape. Fill the land-
scape with poles. Empty houses Hamningberg. If the houses could choose, what would
they do? Being empty is boring! Hjell. Use the empty structures and make something
new, maximize, minimize, or put in a new context. Hjell all over the place.
:The people of the North
How they built their settlements. The concentrated resources, the spread living. So much
land. Spread living does something to the culture. The hard and unpredictable times
does something with the way people are. Constantly being exposed to this big empty
spaces, makes it important to be close to other people. The people living in the North,
are the contrast of empty spaces. Their attitude towards life fills up spaces.