SCALAR TRANSITIONS

2020 · 4K video · multi-channel audio · color · 2 min loop · English spoken, English & Dutch subtitles

Is there enough lithium in the universe? While relatively abundant on the surface of our planet, the third element created in the Big Bang, lithium, is strangely scarce in our galaxy.

In this audio-visual installation, artist Juan Arturo García reflects on the so-called cosmological lithium problem. The cosmological lithium problem is a scientific dilemma based on the difference between the observed lithium in the universe, and the much larger amount of lithium that should theoretically exist. Attempting to solve the mystery of the missing element, very large telescopes (VLTs) are relentlessly searching for its evidence in distant stars. The animation mimics spectroscopy and other sensing techniques used by scientists in their ongoing search for lithium, on both macroscopic and microscopic scales.

Commissioned for «Lithium», at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, NL.

Scalar transitions, installation view.
«Lithium», at Het Nieuwe Instituut. Rotterdam, NL.
photos: Johannes Schwartz

SCALAR TRANSITIONS
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