Zero@wavefunction (2002)
Interactive video projection. In collaboration with Jim Gimzewski; software designed by Josh Nimoy.
Albert Einstein’s greatest contribution to humanity is the discovery that matter and energy are inter-convertible. Matter appears, changes, and disappears; nothing, not even a rock, is really solid. The atoms and electrons in a rock are subtle and alive, just as the ocean is. These particles are described in quantum mechanics by a complex function known as a wave function. A wave function contains all the probabilities and energetic possibilities of particles: space, energy, and sometimes time itself. These wave functions are basically connected, and when two come close, they are both changed. In fact, they have a probability to create nothing: zero.
The interactivity of Zero@wavefunction is based on the way a nanoscientist manipulates an individual molecule, billions of times smaller than common human experience but projected on a relatively monumental scale. When a person passes, they cast a larger-than-life shadow on the molecule and activate responsive buckyballs. The visualizations are of buckyballs that respond via sensors to the movement of the person’s shadow, and the possibility of manipulating the molecule emerges.
Nanomandala (2003)
Interactive video projection on a bed of sand. In collaboration with Jim Gimzewski and Tibetan monks.
Nanomandala consists of a video projected onto a disk of sand, 8 feet in diameter. Visitors touch the sand as oscillating images are projected of the molecular structure of a single grain of sand, achieved by means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM), to the recognizable image of the complete mandala, and then back again. This coming together of art, science, and technology is a modern interpretation of an ancient tradition that consecrates the planet and its inhabitants to bring about purification and healing.
Inspired by watching the nanoscientist at work, purposefully arranging atoms just as the monk laboriously creates sand images grain by grain, this work brings together the Eastern and Western minds through a shared process centered on patience. Both cultures use these bottom-up building practices to create a complex picture of the world from extremely different perspectives.