2023
‘the black hole image: the picture behind the hole’
If you show images of the universe, they are often called photographs. Distant galaxies, exoplanets, black holes. There are photographs of them and so a lot of people think they know what they look like. They see a photograph as a piece of evidence. But in fact those images are artistic interpretations of scientific results. In other words, someone has made an image on the basis of data collected by scientists. So it is not a photograph in the usual sense of the word. Ian Purnell and Philine Rinnert play with that confusion. An image of the centre of a black hole is actually impossible. They see this as a symbol of the limited human perspective.
A multimedia installation on display from 17.10.2023 till 19.04.2024 as part of ‘Into the Black Hole’ at Valkhof Museum Nijmegen (NL).
Installation concept: Ian Purnell and Philine Rinnert
Sound Design: Tim Gorinski
Supported by Connect residency, a programme of Arts at CERN and Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council, in collaboration with the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). Additional thanks to Harry Enke, Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP).
