I really loved a lot of what I got out of Empty Spaces, but seeing stuff like this Twitter thread makes me feel complicated about it's legacy.
(long post incoming)
Like, don't get me wrong- Empty Spaces was always a loose association of people around mental health and trauma. And those spaces always have a tints of chaos, insanity (good), and insanity (bad) to them. IMO You must either vet people or take everything with a grain of salt. People can age like milk, and it's fair to move on.
But where I would probably defend Empty Spaces, even recently, I now feel differently
- There was definitely a lot of drama. Personally, I didn't see much of it, since I hung out with the writers and engaged less with the non-writing space. 1
- There was one person that I'd consider "in the core thought group" that aged like milk. They got really into this weird, aggressive intersection of Effective Altruism and Anarchic Veganism.2
- Most of the older writing crowd (25+) has left Twitter for tumblr, here, or stop posting. Honestly, the small writers were lifeblood of the whole endeavor. So talking about a "Twitter Empty Space scene" is moot.
- Honestly, Twitter is shit for communities, and for it to be kind of good you have to actively work against it. This seemed like a reasonable expectation before Elon's algorithmic "For You" Twitter. But seeing as Elon's Twitter still exists and hasn't crashed in burned, it's hard to deny that controversial bad actors become the face for a space.
- Frankly, the social moment and associated emotional attachment has passed for Empty Spaces. At one point (had my health and life shenanigans allowed it) I would have loved to meet up, physically, with the other writers. That doesn't seem likely anymore.
As the dust settles, even if Empty Spaces was a deeply net good for me, we're social creatures and spaces/groups have meanings/associations. I think most of these associations and meanings are somewhat unfair for Empty Spaces, but its not my place to demand people feel welcome. Shitty people, it seems, ruined the party. And it is 100% not worth my effort to resuscitate and rehabilitate a space that wants to stay dead.
I can still write about magical anarchy, deconstructing the late-capitalism frog boiler, and trauma-abandonment without slapping a title on it. Honestly my biggest writing inspirations aren't even from Empty Spaces to begin with3, Empty Spaces just showed me I could combine the themes into a package people would interact with. I can still write. I can still connect with the people I liked from the space.
Honestly, I have a lot of thoughts about this. This reply in that twitter thread fucking breaks my heart. Empty Spaces, to me, was about working through the insanity of our modern era- letting yourself embrace the darker parts of yourself, admit when you're unloved, and be recognized even if not understood.
Maybe the world will throw me a bone, and I'll be able to direct an art space not located on some hellsite.
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One example I did see: One person went from "spirituality good" to full fash once, and I blocked that fucker. Apparently, they secretly had a bunch of 4chan fashy types pals. I say apparently because I did not engage with anything with that crowd. What a shame that blocking a group can't stop them from harassing others.
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Presumably, this is where the accusations of "PNW techies" come from. This person was very big in the Seattle scene, shitty anarchism is apparently indistinguishable from tech-bro brain, and the much of the non-PNW folks openly worked in tech. FWIW, the sort of "central polycule" to the whole Empty Spaces social cliché lives around Boston.
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Yumi Nikki, Library of Ruina, Land of the Lustrous, Madoka Magica, Kino's Journey, Homestuck, just to name a few