Quantum Jungle
Quantum Jungle is an interactive art installation that playfully visualizes Quantum Physics concepts on a large wall filled with over 1000 novel touch-sensitive metal springs and thousands of LEDs. It calculates Schrödinger's Equation to model the movement of a quantum particle, and demonstrates concepts such as superposition, interference, wave-particle duality, and quantum waveform collapse while maintaining a playful approach that attracts children and adults alike, sparking curiosity and wonder.
As Seen In:
Quantum Jungle has been designed to be accessible and fun for all ages
The scientific layer of the installation sits behind a colorful and playful interface
A lot of work went into the color mixing - some of it has scientific meaning and some is for aesthetic reasons
The design and construction of the hardware is a deliberate choice to complement the quantum scientific content: On one hand the springs and lights correspond directly to the particle-wave duality of quantum particles, and on the other hand the immediacy and tactility of the spring input are an intentional antithesis to how mysterious and beyond human grasp quantum effects are.
The interactions have been designed from scratch over several iterations to create a positively playful audience experience drawing on Robin Baumgarten’s artistic and technical background in both game design and designing low-level hardware: satisfying and ‘juicy’ interactions meet extremely high refresh-rates and low latency inputs on bespoke hardware. Together with a scientifically accurate implementation of Schrödinger's Equation, Quantum Jungle becomes an innovative and unique art installation that makes quantum mechanics more approachable and entertaining than ever before.
Currently on show here:
Germany:
Khroma New Media Art Center
MotionLab Berlin (by appointment with me only)
Phaeno Science Center Wolfsburg
Forum Wissen Göttingen
Austria:
Khroma Ausstellung Vienna
Netherlands:
House Of Quantum Delft (by appointment)
Italy:
Pisa University Physics Dep (by appointment)
soon at a new location in Rome
USA:
MAD Arts Miami
UAE:
OliOli Dubai
The installation is designed to be modular in size and can be adapted to a range of different exhibition environments.
The Science
Scientifically speaking, Quantum Jungle visualises a concept used in quantum computing called a quantum walk on a graph with vertex degree 6 - each vertex (on Quantum Jungle a vertex is represented by a metal spring and LED ring around it) has 6 outgoing edges (connections to neighbouring springs).
A quantum walk is the quantum version of a classic random walk, where for example a bead is dropped down a board with pegs on it, but instead of choosing left or right as the bead hits a peg and looking where it drops (decided with a coin flip), in the quantum version we use a 'quantum coin flip' and do not measure the results during intermediate steps, but rather keep the resulting quantum correlations between different positions and let them interfere in subsequent steps.
In Quantum Jungle, an initial superposition of several positions (which the audience selects by touching springs) on the graph is simulated with this quantum walk, and the probability distribution (given by the squared wave function) is visualised as brightness on the LED rings of the artwork. A subsequent touch of a spring simulates a measurement, which collapses the quantum wave function to one position.
A scientific introductory paper about these concepts can be found here:
Quantum random walks - an introductory overview
Quantum Jungle Making-Of
Audio Experiments
Until recently, Quantum Jungle didn't have a dedicated audio component. Now, I'm working with Francesco Corvi, who is developing a procedurally generated audio scape that reacts to the state of the visualisations of Quantum Jungle and the interactions with the springs.
Credits
Idea, Design, Coding, Assembly: Robin Baumgarten
Quantum Algorithm: Turku Quantum Technology Team, Centre for Quantum Engineering Aalto University Helsinki
Audio Design: Francesco Corvi