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Plan A had been to be the very first event to take place at The Culture Hub, an old power station down close to the water front of this harbour city that is being converted to an arts centre. Things did not work out as the builders restoring the place were running behind schedule and at the last minute I was notified that the venue had been switched. I found myself instead setting up in a derelict cinema, The Helios, right in the heart of the old quarter. |
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It turned out to be a great place to work. It was large with enough space for two installations. At the end of the room, (on the left above) is Abstract Cosmology, first shown at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid in 2008. Along the side, the new installation, An Alternative Approach to Unifying String Theory with the Standard Model of Particles. I chose the name partially because I knew that with the Higgs boson now a well established fact, physicists are beginning to wonder what will come next. Finding evidence in support of String theory would be much the most exciting thing. |
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There was also a certain sense of tongue in cheek. One can draw a parallel between physics and my work. String Theory conjectures that all forms of matter are different ways that 'fundamental string' oscillates. I have long been fascinated by waves on a string and use them in some of my artworks. While elementary particles can be described by a very short list of properties, their mass, the forces by which they interact with other particles and their spin. Almost all my kinetic artworks spin. Interestingly however the Higgs is the first non spinning fundamental particle to be discovered. As it happens I am working on some non spinning art forms. One is hand held, photos below, the other exists only as software at the moment. You can view a high resolution video here. If it does not open in this window, your browser may put a copy in your download folder. It is an investigation of some curious and previously unknown properties of mirrors. |
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Many thanks to Zoot Lynam and jamwala for sound tracks. Some of the photos here by permission from Urmas Mand. Bottom right corner of this photo shows the touchscreen that allows visitors to interact the installation altering the colours displayed. For more information
on the light biennale, visit: |
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