“Recent discoveries in physics and astronomy point to the idea that our universe may be one of many universes populating a grander multiverse,” says Columbia University Professor Brian Greene on a recent Fresh Air interview. Because of recent progress in string theory and quantum physics, the evidence of parallel ‘multiverses’ has become more probable, based on work at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Greene has written “The Hidden Reality,” a book on the topic. Like Terry Gross, I had a tough time understanding what this could possibly mean to everyday life, but it’s interesting to think about the possibilities. Are we floating along on a carpet-like membrane that is the universe we know while other parallel universes exist alongside?
Artists sometimes take us into a new world. Saskia Olde Wolbers does this through her abstract videos with voice-overs of elaborate stories that dreamily correspond with the images displayed in the video. “Her intricate videos are driven by a combination of otherworldly imagery – meticulously handmade model worlds – and the apparent inner monologue of the voiceover in the audiobooklike soundtracks. The films are shot underwater. Miniature sets dipped in paint to create unstable imagery that abstractly illustrate the narrator’s thought process.” (www.secession.at). Hers were the first art videos that captured my imagination, transporting me into a world inside of a dream.
Cloud Cities, a new exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof by artist Tomás Saraceno, evokes another universe. Inspired by spider webs, astrophysics and Buckminster Fuller, Saraceno creates spheres hovering above the earth, inviting visitors inside their cloud-like environs.
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