6 November - 19 December 2010, Smart Project Space, Amsterdam
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Organised by: Maarten Vanden Eynde, Marjolijn Dijkman and Hilde de Bruijn.
Location: Smart Project Space, Arie Biemondstraat 105-113, Amsterdam, NL
Participating Artists: Erick Beltrán, Marjolijn Dijkman, Martijn Hendriks, Toril Johannessen, Mungo Thomson, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Rinus Vande Velde
Participating Scientist: Martin Lo, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, Pasadena, CA
The universe, most astronomers agree, is made out of three parts: normal matter-energy, dark matter and dark energy. Normal matter exists out of atoms, which form the building stones to stars, planets, human beings and all other things visible in the universe. What dark matter and dark energy exactly are, still remains one of the big problems for scientists all over the world. Its existence is a given since the discovery made by Fritz Zwicky in 1933. Its presence is necessary in order to explain various cosmological phenomena. In the concordance-model, which is generally accepted by science en which is frequently used to describe the universe, its content is for 74% made out of dark energy, for 22% out of dark matter and 4% of normal matter-energy.
Martin Lo is one of the scientists trying to find out what dark matter and dark energy is. Together with several other scientists of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Caltech and other institutions (US & EU), his group developed a new theory called the “Brans’ Conjecture” and invited Enough Room for Space (ERforS) to relate to their concept and think of possible ways to visualise the problem.
ERforS and Smart Project Space decided to develop an extensive exhibition with the question of Martin Lo in mind. The works in the exhibition will respond to the Brans’ Conjecture in various ways and shares the underlying question: How can you grasp matter described by science as ubiquitous but not directly perceivable? The questions raised by this are as pertinent for contemporary art as they are for science. How do we understand something that we can’t perceive directly? How do we speak about something that, almost by definition, is impossible to know or fully apprehend? How do you approach it anyway, and what kind of translations does this produce? And what does it mean to speak about something in a language you don’t fully understand yet, or a language that is ill equipped for its subject?
And what is the relevance of everything we can see and know about if it is only 4% of what is actually there?