
Norman McLaren loved interaction of abstract images. In "Rythmetic" he animated numbers, and used more zero's than other numbers. In 1968 in a class at McGill University, students hypothesized why Norman had used so many zero's - they suggested "Zero represents man's nothingness in the universe; the betweenness of green and red lights; infinite, and more". I asked Norman why he animated with so many zero's - Squeezing his thumb and index finger, he answered, "Because they squish easily".