BCS Immersive Environment Award Winner 2022
Ent- - Libby Heaney (United Kingdom)
Artwork description
Quantum computers are being intensely pursued by big tech companies, but they are not yet in the public’s consciousness. They are a new type of computer processing information in parallel rather than step-by-step like on current digital computers. This means they eventually solve problems that no digital computer ever can. They will undoubtedly change the world, enabling humans to see deeper into reality than ever before. This project aims to raise awareness around quantum computing through new experiential, visual languages developed by Heaney using quantum programming.
As the first artwork using quantum computing as a functioning artistic medium, Ent- is a 360 immersive projection, drawing on surrealism to create an emotional, embodied experience for groups of people within generative 3D environments. It is a quantum reinterpretation of the central panel of Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, situated between heaven & hell, providing an analogue for the double-edged potential of quantum computing. Just as The Garden of Earthly Delights can be read as both a celebration of & warning against desire, Ent- explores the dangers implicit in our desires for new technologies. The audience replace Bosch’s naked bodies, often filming the work, they now desire content for social media platforms
On the other hand, through hybridity, I investigate the positive potential of ‘thinking quantum’. Quantum computing enables me to create patterns that could never be created on digital computing. These patterns fragment bodies and shift landscapes in strange ways. The visuals "entangle" the audience inviting them to feel quantum.
Partners and collaborators
arebyte
Nimrod Vardi, Director
Rebecca Edwards, Curator
Nimco Kulmiye, Public Programme
Schering Stiftung
Dr. Katja Naie, Managing Director
and Programme Director, Science
Christina Landbrecht, Programme Director, Art
Anna Papenburg, Project Manager Art
Artist, research, concept development, direction: Libby Heaney
Producer and experience design, sound: James B. Stringer
Lead Unreal developer: Jira Duguid
Unreal Developer: Gabriel Stones
Quantum computing developer: Libby Heaney
LAS
Dr Bettina Kames, Director
Amira Gad, Head of Programmes
Sophie Korschildgen, Assistant Curator
Nicole Wittmann, Curatorial Assistant
Harriet Collins, Exhibition Production and Design Assistant
Felix Thon, Head of Marketing and Communications
Evelyn Nossol, Communications Manager