More Zizek
"The very fundamental matrix of sublimation, that of the central Void, the empty ('sacred') place of the Thing exempted from the circuit of everyday economy, which is then filled in by a positive object that is thereby 'elevated to the dignity of the Thing' (Lacan's definition of sublimation), seems to be increasingly under threat; what is threatened is the very gap between the empty Place and the (positive) element filling it in. If, then, the problem of the traditional (premodern) art was how to fill in the sublime Void of the Thing (the pure Place) with an adequatly beautiful object - how to succeed in elevating an ordinary object to the dignity of a Thing - the problem of modern art is, in a way, the opposite (and much more desparate) one: one can no longer count on the Void of the (Sacred) Place being there, offering itself to be occupied by human artifacts, so the task is to sustain the Place as such, to make sure that this Place will 'take place' - in other words, the problem is no longer that of the horror vacui, of filling the Void, but rather, that of creating the Void in the first place."