Cosmic Titans: Art, Science and the Quantum Universe
Art and science collide in a fascinating new exhibition exploring the quantum universe. Cosmic Titans: Art, Science and the Quantum Universe will include newly commissioned works by nine artists who have worked alongside leading University of Nottingham scientists – who are at the cutting edge of research into quantum science and have established the university as a centre of excellence in this rapidly evolving field.
The exhibition is free to the public and has been curated by Professor Silke Weinfurtner in the School of Mathematical Sciences – whose pioneering work in the field of black hole simulations remains unrivalled, Dr Ulrike Kuchner, Senior Researcher in Astronomy and Art-Science collaborations in the School of Physics and Astronomy, and Neil Walker, Head of Visual Arts Programming, Lakeside Arts.
In 2022, Professor Weinfurtner and Dr Kuchner founded the ARTlab Nottingham to enable a creative two-way exchange between artists and scientists. Its first art-science residency, completed by Royal Academician Conrad Shawcross, resulted in two commissioned works for Cosmic Titans and set the stage for future collaborations.
Conrad’s two large-scale installations are the centrepiece of the exhibition. Ringdown takes its title from the scientific term for the final phase in the merger of two black holes. In this work, two spinning and colliding bronze bells within a geodesic hemisphere provide a poetic metaphor for our attempts to visualise this cosmic phenomenon. His second installation The Blind Proliferation addresses more directly the notion of ‘blind ways of seeing,’ something Shawcross sees as common to both artists and scientists as they seek to gain insights into the abstract and sublime. Here, in a spectacle reminiscent of Plato’s Cave, the occupants of two cloned offices are treated to a shadow play that fills the gallery whilst never being able to see the source of light that creates it.
The exhibition also features new commissions from emerging artists who have each completed residencies working alongside world-leading researchers in quantum physics. Through immersive sculptural installations and photography, they give expression to the excitement, wonder and poetry of cutting-edge scientific discovery that is transforming our future.
Through art and interpretive text, audio and video, this exhibition will communicate the wonder, complexity and otherworldliness of quantum science, with the pioneering research taking place at the University of Nottingham, explained and interpreted for a general audience.