Creating a piece of art inspired by a scientific discovery. That is a challenge embraced by Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt, a UK artist duo called Semiconductor, who spent a period of time in Finland to collaborate with the Turku Quantum Technology group led by Professor Sabrina Maniscalco. Their hope is to make science more “visible” to a lay audience.
During their six-month stay in Finland the artistic duo graphically represented the sound waves produced by the instruments during quantum system simulations. The artists think it is the sound which drives each piece of art. Without sound, there is no image.
The frequency of the sound waves creates harmonies and dissonances. Sometimes it produces large undulating waves, other times small waves, thus creating complex interference patterns.
The works of art are also aimed at graphically representing the concepts of coherence and decoherence: “Coherence is when a quantum system exists and decoherence is when you lose a quantum system”, says Ruth Jarman.
The artists consider their work as technological sublime. According to this theory, which adapts the concept of sublime expressed in Kant's Critique of Judgement to modern society, the aesthetic concept exalting the beauty is applied to technology that discloses a whole new range of sublime experiences.
Even complicated mathematical concepts can be a source of inspiration and creativity. After all science and art can overlap, since both are means of investigation.