ZERO the Hero should not be mistaken for the Big Bang or cosmogenesis. The latter may be at the origin of the universe and its evolution, but Zero the Hero is for humans. It is nothing and everything.
Before I can begin to describe the public architecture Zero the Hero has given birth to at the dawn of the third millennium, I feel obliged to cast a little light on Zero the Hero's origins. History informs us the zero was invented in India as a mathematical idea, some time around 500 AD. It is quite an extraordinary invention, for zero has value! The Arabs, having learned of its usefulness from the Indians, introduced Zero the Hero into Europe about 1,000 years ago. It is most probable the source was al-Khowrizm writings on algebra in 825 AD. It represents "placevalue" in mathematics.
It could be argued that it was the most significant European import of the past millennium. As both a tool and a figure, it was surely as useful as any pen or word, or any act in helping to create the Europe of the past 1,000 years. However, Zero the Hero gave us a problem. We decided to rewrite the calendar, starting with zero - or was it one? Without this addition to numerals, none of us would be besotted with the year 2000 and want to be somewhere (or somewhere else) when it comes to pass. Can you imagine how exciting it would be for all of us if the millennium began MM - as in Roman numerals?
Zero the Hero is not, as many have said, a religious celebration, although Rome - along with New Labour, Murdoch, and the "Times" Millennium Line - will no doubt continue to pursue its "ownership" to the very end. The Church has more than 1,000 domes beneath which to celebrate its values of the past and next millennium.
Zero the Hero is at the root of the new millennium. Without it we would be very hard-pressed to transact globally. It is at the very core of computer logic. Stretching the point (so to speak), zero is the symbol of unity, of communication (a primary sound), the trace of the infinite point, of nothing, of beginning.
If we consider the new millennium as the dawn of a new era, then, as Dickens said: "When you have nothing, you have to be bold".
Zero the Hero is confronting us with the classic question - where are we going? Not - where have we been? It is relatively easy to assemble the past but extremely difficult to construct the future if we do not know what we want.
The alleged poverty of the contents of the Millennium Dome is considered by some to be a magnificent statement of the cultural trough we are in, but it should provide us with the impetus to contemplate our future and the meaning of progress today. As Benjamin de Casseres said "progress is nothing but the victory of laughter over dogma". The magnificent design of the Dome is based upon - ah, guess what - Zero the Hero. Seen from above, zero is the plan of the main space, and of the service satellites around its perimeter. A perfect and literal architectural icon of Zero the Hero, although a little inflated. Of course, it was only to be temporary - but because of massive political fall-out and staggering marketing, it will now be a permanent blip on East London's horizon.
There was a wonderful opportunity to leave the Dome empty and to enjoy the space - or people flying around inside it. But we feel obliged to fill it with events and attractions because we cannot be seen to build something for nothing. We are consumers, after all. We are so thirsty for information we all head for a drink at Niagara Falls!
Whoever was responsible for deciding to spend whatever sum on one major splash in London for the millennium should be congratulated. It has brought into very sharp focus the need for nothing but the need for contemplation - and what better venue for collective contemplation than inside Zero the Hero?
When the first international exhibition took place in 1851, trains were new - travel for the masses was possible for the first time and the only way to be aware of what the rest of the world was doing was to bring artefacts and information together. Today we can all travel relatively cheaply, both physically and virtually. There is no need or justification for another 1851, we all info-gather on the Internet - directly or indirectly. There is no point in exploiting the Dome as an information or theme park, or as an educational arena since we have better access elsewhere.
AS a venue for the latest interpretation of the Big Bang or of cosmogenesis, it is ironically probably too big and too bright. So what are the messages?
Social "place-value" for a nation or a global community? A visit to the Dome will be worthless unless it means something. If there is a "place-value", it is the extended Meridian Line - legs apart either side of a millennium at midnight - for those who think they will be in two millennia simultaneously.
I would love us to celebrate Zero the Hero with nothing. Nothing can be the most invigorating beginning there could possibly be. All is possible from nothing. The big zero is about the rebirth of optimism in the face of nought.
Why should anyone wish to go the Dome? To go to the Dome is to share in something. What better than to share other people's thoughts of where we want to go? We could try to communicate with each other rather than be taken on a whistle-stop tour of someone's or some committee's idea of the future of education, of entertainment, of science, of economics, of spirituality. And of course, The Dome on the Greenwich Peninsula in the year 2000 will also tell us if people can get there in large numbers and if they can, the Dome's future should be assured. It could be made ready, economically, as the great national stadium for the Soccer World Cup in 2006, and for the London Olympics in 2012, and perhaps in time as a magnificent replacement for the worn out exhibition centres in west London. It should also ensure the Thames becomes a public transport artery long after the millennium event has finished.
So we find ourselves finally on the Thames, face to face with The London Eye, also known as the Millennium Wheel. And, surprise, surprise, Zero the Hero is here as well, only this time standing magnificently upright, impervious to the city context. I am Zero the Hero! You cannot possibly dislike me. I am here for you, for no other reason than for your pleasure. See me from head on and I am No 1. I am both Zero and One - I am binary. I am androgynous and you can ride me. I am loud and fun, which helps makes me popular and enjoyed by the press and not so popular with the urban aesthetes.
The London Eye is permitted no more than a few years into the next millennium on Lambeth's riverbank. Will there be a public petition to keep it? Or will it be relocated east to join the other Zero the Hero on the Greenwich Peninsula where plan and elevation come together. Zero the Hero could not possibly shape up as MM: although MM could perhaps have secured substantial beefburger or sweetie sponsorship, it somehow doesn't quite carry the same cachet as Zero the Hero.
I suspect Zero the Hero was etched into Stonehenge millennia ago, along with his alter ego, I. This pre-zero and pre-MM graffiti is suggestive of the way the black monolith appears as I in arguably the greatest millennium product of all, made in 1968 - the film 2001. As an enduring image, it is film as architecture. It represents how far removed from ourselves we have become and from others with whom we cohabit this small planet. We touch the brave new millennium through sensitised synthetic gloves. Inflated Zero the Hero will give us near futures through virtual reality, and upright Zero the Hero cocoons us in an air-conditioned bubble while we hear nothing of the sounds of the real world.
So where is Zero's real mate, the real number one - I? Could it be waiting to rise to infinity - as an endless collection of zeros - like a candle in the dark, in O'Connell Street, Dublin?
