From models of astronomical objects developed from data taken by space telescopes, artists generate scientific visualisations. They give us some idea of what these mysterious objects actually look like. But what has been missing are visual representations that evoke their frightening grandeur and the poetry behind them. Towards that goal artist Fiorella Lavado and scientist Arthur I. Miller have been working together in an artist-scientist collaboration. Together they explore representations of nature that go beyond scientific visualisations.
Using stainless-steel wire, Fiorella weaves objects that evoke the basic characteristics of black holes, wormholes and planetary nebulas, bringing out their hidden aspects. Arthur creates the scientific narrative that tells the story of these objects and their relation to the cosmos.
Black holes can be huge. Every galaxy has one. They can be engines of doom, as well as sources of energy, they may even contain portals to other universes, and also even “sing”. They are a cosmic show unto themselves.
When a star similar to our sun burns out its nuclear fuel its outer layers lift off. The resulting structure is a planetary nebula. About a trillion kilometres across, the shell of gas glows. The core inside eventually cools down, becomes invisible and forms a white dwarf star. It is 80% carbon, like a diamond in the sky. When our sun enters the planetary nebula stage, the ultra-hot shell of gas will swallow up the earth. Before that happens, some four billion years into the future, our descendants will have to find another planet, in another solar system far far away. Wormholes offer a possibility for interstellar migration.
A wormhole can be constructed by burrowing through the fabric of space and time. By this means you can arrive at your destination in minutes instead of perhaps millions of years. For the artist the process of weaving a wormhole is akin to a spider spinning a web as it moves along in space and time. But she also moves backwards along the wormhole in order to reinforce its structure, thus evoking an image of space and time folding on itself. In this way the artistic creation mirrors processes occurring in the universe.
The objects on exhibition - a Black Hole, a Wormhole and a Planetary Nebula - are linked in a cosmic pattern, in a living universe. Black holes may be the end point of many stars, but they may also contain a portal to other universes - a wormhole, which may be the only way to escape from our planet when the sun becomes a planetary nebula.