Quantum Membranes

As an artist I have explored various concepts inspired by combining science and religion in the pursuit of personal evolution. Being a conceptually based artist my concept creates the pieces, turning the physical production of the art into a meditation in which simple repetitive physical motions create complex psychological and spiritual change. My present and culminate concept deals with the perception of reality in its most minimal form of membranes.

In quantum physics membranes are objects in hyperspace that can have any number of allowed dimensions. Some physicists have proposed that our own universe is a membrane and is in fact two-dimensional and only appears three-dimensional to humans. Each work represents a universe, one of an infinite number of universes making up a multiverse. Combining the idea of membranes and animism the concept of animate membranes is created and the multiverse becomes an ecosystem inhabited by living, reproducing, and dying membranes. Each work is a representation of a membrane in a particular stage of its biological life cycle, from embryonic to adult: reproducing, dying, and decomposing. Several religions echo this animistic cosmology; the Ensō, a Zen symbol depicting the universe, takes on new meaning as the representation of living and dying adult membranes. The Hindu concept of Indra’s Net, which is used to describe the interconnectedness of universes, is reflected by the mesh pattern in the works - Hinduism created the multiverse long before quantum mechanics did. The pattern can also be seen as scales, which evoke the Ouroboros, a snake biting its own tail, an ancient Egyptian motif symbolizing a cyclic universe. Linear universes, such as our own, can be seen as fragments of dead membranes; this pandeistic concept is found in many ancient mythologies which suggest that the world was created from the physical substance of a dead deity or a being of similar power.

The works presented are static studies for an augmented reality membrane app. The membrane “sculpture organisms” in the app would be animate and have a life cycle, living in a virtual world. They would only be visible via smart phones and (eventually) smart glasses which would act as a “magic mirror” allowing us to see our most fundamental reality superimposed on our perceived reality. The initial app membranes or Ensō would, living at home, start off as small embryo's and over time - depending on how much they are interacted with - grow into adults. Ensō would then either interact and reproduce with other Ensō or die and decompose. 

My ultimate goal would be to create an augmented reality “sculpture park” that encompasses our entire globe with animate membranes living, mating, dying and decomposing within. People would be able to observe and interact with “wild”
membranes as they float from city to countryside, over oceans and mountains.