Chris Henschke. Juried Artist
Strange Weather
University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery
Artist Statement
“Entanglements” is an interactive apparatus that explores a fundamental phenomenon which shapes our relationships with the universe, namely quantum entanglement. Through a novel interface that combines sight, sound and touch, actual quantum entanglement phenomena is created and expressed through unique sonic signatures. In incorporating precision scientific devices, this project is not simply speculative, but it is also not didactic or scientifically reductive. Two connected road-cases contain a custom built photon entanglement device comprising a laser, a Barium Borate crystal, two single photon detectors, synthesizer, and an audio-haptic interface.
When two photons of light become entangled, they are in a state where differentiation does not exist, a “primary reality”, to quote physicist Anton Zeilinger. Measurement or interaction with one particle instantaneously affects the other, breaking down classical notions of space and time. In observing entangled systems, we create their material capacity to be knowable. Interaction with entanglement experiments, including this artwork, materially entangles us with such quantum systems.
“Entanglements” liberates this compelling phenomenon from the laboratory and allow people to engage with it in an expressive way, with each entanglement event expressed through unique sonic signatures. Embracing the dynamic uncertainties and qualities of nature on its most fundamental level, the artwork seeks to manifest perhaps one of the deepest interconnections between us and the universe.
About the artists
Chris Henschke is an artist who works with analogue and digital media, using methods and materials from experimental science, and has undertaken experimental interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists since 1991. Residencies include the National Gallery of Australia, 2004; an Asialink residency at Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, 2007; two residencies at the Australian Synchrotron, 2007 and 2010; and an ANAT Synapse residency with the CSIRO in Clayton, 2018-2019. Academic qualifications include a Doctorate of Philosophy from Monash University (2013-2017), comprised of on-site research / practice at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland, as part of the ‘art@CMS’ collaboration program. Somewhat recent exhibitions include: ‘How Everything Began’ a group show at the Natural History Museum, Vienna, 2016, opened by Nobel Physics laureates Peter Higgs & Anton Zeilinger; ‘Song of the Phenomena’ and ‘Demon Core’, commissioned for DARK MOFO 2019, Hobart; and ‘Synthesism’, an in-situ installation / presentation of his CSIRO nanomaterial experiments, 2019.
Chris Henschke is an artist who works with analogue and digital media, using methods and materials from experimental science, and has undertaken interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists since 1991. Residencies include the National Gallery of Australia, 2004; an Asialink residency at Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, 2007; two residencies at the Australian Synchrotron, 2007 and 2010; and an ANAT Synapse residency with the CSIRO in Clayton, 2018-2019. Academic qualifications include a Doctorate of Philosophy from Monash University (2013-2017), comprised of on-site research / practice at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland, as part of the ‘art@CMS’ collaboration program.
Dr Toby Gifford is a designer, creative coder, and interdisciplinary media arts practitioner, with a particular interest in virtual/augmented reality and immersive installation. He has worked across industry and academia at the intersection of art and technology, with extensive professional experience in software programming and systems design. His research spans a broad range of areas including: application of artificial intelligence to the creative industries; environmental sensing for ecosystem health monitoring; and modelling and data visualisation to aid design.
Credits: Created by Chris Henschke, with programming and audio algorithms by Toby Gifford, theoretical physics by Jared Cole and metal engineering by Andrew Hustwaite.