“The quantum mechanics of politics, then, demands from us an understanding that flux is neither good nor bad but inevitable” (Flora Lewis, November 6, 1983, Foreign Affairs’ column for The New York Times)
We invite artists and researchers to jump collectively with us from one space of possibility – where quantum mechanics asserts, we “don’t know” and “can’t know”; to the next – in which experimental techniques such as time-resolved microscopy, ultrafast spectroscopy, single molecule spectroscopy, or even single particle imaging enable us the precision of observing and measuring infinitesimal dynamics at very small length and time scales. What does quantum biology offer us as multiplicities and alternative realities when considering the attempt to subvert and confront absolute order, stability, and control in the socio-political sphere? We offer the POM audience an immersion in live video performances speculating on quantum effects in living systems, using DIY microscopy, data visualization, machine learning, and other media art techniques.
METEORITES FROM NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM VIENNA COLLECTION
SOUTH AMERICA / ARGENTINA, CAMPO DEL CIELO
In 1576, the governor of a province in Northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a huge mass of iron, which he had heard Natives were using for their weapons. The Natives claimed that the mass had fallen from the sky, in Piguem Nonralta (which the Spanish translated as Campo del Cielo - “Field of Heaven”). The estimated age of these meteorites dates back four to five thousand years.
[Alien] refers to looking up into outer space for star dust but then turning our gaze back down to earth extending the idea that everything is interconnected, flowing, flying and mixing around our planet and beyond.
From Africa, Saharan sand dust falling on the Alps to the ash from fires in Australia landing in Europe – this dust is the earthly alien dust that mixes with the space dust.
Star dust is 1/10th of the width of a human hair and 70-100 tons of this extra-terrestrial falls on earth every single day and these invisible grains hold the mystery of our cosmic roots.
All the molecules in our bodies originate with that residual stardust that finds its way into plants, and from there into the nutrients we need to survive. Analyses of the organic matter in meteorites can provide insights into the types of chemical reactions and organic compounds providing insights into the history of our planetary system and origins of life on Planet Earth.
