This text considers together a number of commentaries, allusions, and critiques published by Annette Michelson, some of which resemble passing remarks, as others put forward major theoretical, interpretative, and historical assertions. Each reflects a cluster of consistent concerns of Michelson’s questions of apparent nothingness, meaninglessness, empty signification, and anti-mimesis in certain strains of art, literature, and cinema. The main topics addressed in this essay are: Theodor Adorno and the empty screen; Jules Olitski and the spray of colored paint; Ad Reinhardt and the black canvas; Claude Lévi-Strauss and the utopian ideal; Kazimir Malevich and the disdain for the mimetic; and Roland Barthes and the freedom from reference. Also discussed are films by Peter Kubelka, Michael Snow, Stan Brakhage, Hollis Frampton, and Ken Jacobs.