DARK DISTORTIONS

‘Dark Distortions’ is created in collaboration with cosmologist Henk Hoekstra of Leiden University, and European Space Agency. It is inspired by Euclid, a forthcoming ESA mission to study the mysterious nature of dark matter and dark energy, which is due to launch in mid-2022. Dark matter is thought to account for 85% of the matter in the universe. Visible stuff within galaxies – such as stars and planets and dust – has insufficient gravitational pull to prevent galaxies from disintegrating as they rotate. But galaxies don’t fly apart in this way, so astrophysicists proposed that they must contain “dark” matter that has sufficient mass to keep galaxies intact – but which has never been seen directly. “The work uncovers the unseeable nature of dark matter in front of your eyes. It shows how magical and powerful it is when art and science come together. Visitors experience how big scientific discoveries can be beautifully complex and simple at the same time.” — Thijs Biersteker “We go for abstraction. We have a model of the universe that is very abstract and far from how our senses experience the world. This artwork takes this abstraction and tries to make it something that connects to our senses. It is a very interesting synergy. ” — Henk Hoekstra Thijs Biersteker’s art installation consists of a constellation of moving lenses, which bend light just as large concentrations of dark matter act as gravitational lenses. The constellation is surrounded by layers of lenses on lenses, which represent the way in which dark matter is thought to accumulate in a fractal-like pattern. Henk Hoekstra of Leiden University, who is the cosmology coordinator of the Euclid mission, helped to inspire the work.