Exhibition: 24 Fundamental Principles that Reflect Our Current Understanding of the Physical World by Inger Cathrine Winsnes in collaboration with Allen Mincer, Professor of Physics, New York University. March 4th at Emily Harvey Foundation in New York.
Reception: March 4th 2010, 6–9pm
"I have worked with 24 karat gold leaf, using only the circle as form, for the last decade. The paradoxical quality of this materialfragile yet indisputable, complex yet obvious- is, to me, analogous to personal experience and to scientific research today" said Inger Cathrine Winsnes about the Project"
"I contacted Professor Allen Mincer, knowing his work questioned our sky, the stars, the galaxies, our universe and infinity.
I asked him to choose 24 principles he considered enabled his research today.
Desire and disaster have the same etymological origin, “the star”: waiting for, missing, being frightened by, the star. Hence, the lace-like structure inside the “principles” is a close-up of “the other’s” hair and skin."
Desire: Early 13c., from O.Fr. desirer, from L. desiderare “long for, wish for,” original sense perhaps “await what the stars will bring,” from the phrase de sidere “from the stars, ”from sidus (gen. sideris) “heavenly body, star, constellation”.
Disaster: 1580, from M.Fr. desastre (1564), from It. disastro “ill-starred,” from dis- “away, without” + astro “star, planet,” from L. astrum, from Gk. Astron.
Allen Mincer:
After much work by numerous persons over many generations, we have managed to learn much about the natural world around and inside us. Our world is complicated, and it is difficult to condense our understanding into simple phrases. Even when this can be done, the terms used are often very technical short hand which can be understood only after years of study. It is unfortunate that the beauty of these ideas, and their significance, are therefore not more widely understood and appreciated.
Cathrine’s idea, of displaying scientific principles created in something akin to an act of worship, allow the observer to share some of the awe that they inspire in those who study them. I hope that the observer is also a bit humbled by them, as I am.
The “principles” I selected to be portrayed in this manner vary from simple statements about very specific aspects of the natural world, to those presenting a fundamental “law” that gives rise to a wide variety of behaviors which might not otherwise be seen as related, to those that sum up in one general idea a great deal of our understanding of a variety of phenomena.
Some of these statements are formulated in a manner very close to that in which they were first presented by their creators or discoverers, while others are presented as they may be found in current textbooks. While I have tried to select ideas that are considered foundational or general, the choices reflect my own sense of beauty; others might certainly choose differently.
Finally, science is an ongoing process of progress in our understanding. The ethereal portrayal of these ideas may also hint at the possible ephemeral nature of some of them. Yet each represents what for us was a necessary step in the process and they will perhaps therefore not be diminished, even if superseded.
About the Show:
24 pieces +1 (21 karat gold leaf on duralar)
Video from CERN, Geneva - editing Eric Paget