Making quantum questions material: 'soft' textile thinking for the 'hard' questions arising from an investigation of light
Jacobs, Peta (2023) Making quantum questions material: 'soft' textile thinking for the 'hard' questions arising from an investigation of light. PhD thesis, University of the Arts London/University for the Creative Arts.
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Paradoxical 'hard' philosophical questions and themes that confound ordinary perception arise from the question "Space, time, material, are they one with light?" posed by László Moholy-Nagy in 1917. What new forms and understandings might be revealed through an art-based investigation into the nature of light by appropriating of optical laboratory apparatus as art materials? Artistic material research contributes to illuminating the nature and properties of quantum light and the philosophical themes that arise.
Investigating quantum light reveals hidden and immaterial aspects of both light and matter and exposes the indeterminate interfaces and intrinsic interconnectedness between things, thereby questioning many assumptions and perceptions about the world— dualisms, boundaries, certainty, constancy and wholeness. The appropriation and practical exploration of optical materials used as beam-splitters in the two-slit experiments (half-silvered mirrors, diffraction grating, prisms and dichroic film) visually and experientially contribute to understanding these entwined themes. The resulting playful, illusory artworks offer multiple visual encounters simultaneously, giving access to experiences of entwined dualities, quantum superposition and entanglements.
A methodology of combining applied textile thinking (a non-linear 'soft' logic) and art processes of thinking-through-making is employed to manage the 'hard' complexities under investigation. Textile thinking, with metaphors of folding, interlacing and weaving, braids together many thinkers and makers from the fields of quantum physics, philosophy, Eastern metaphysics and art, highlighting the correspondences between them and emphasising where they share common ground. David Bohm's quantum theories of the implicate/explicate orders are particularly compelling, inspiring an inclusive both/and approach and a focus beyond dualistic thinking towards wholeness.
Applying textile thinking to visualising difficult scientific ideas enables multiple elements to reside within the physicality of abstract, mixed-media artworks simultaneously. The experimental art-making processes that interrogate the apparatuses through material investigations that are experiments in perception and the artworks created not only represent but phenomenologically demonstrate the bizarre and elusive nature of the quantum world for others to experience, opening up a visual language of possibilities for novel non-linear, non-dualist thinking.
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of the Arts London / University for the Creative Arts, Farnham
Copyright statement from author:
© Peta Jacobs 2022.
All works documented in the photo essay were created by Peta Jacobs. Unless otherwise stated, all were photographed by Peta Jacobs.
All images are protected by copyright, any infringement of the creators copyright will be pursued.
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