Artist  Statement

The inaugural showing of a complex work which re-images and recontextualises scientific theories and processes, shifting the empirical perspective and playing with the concept that the observer affects the observed. This affective relationship between observer and observed is, paradoxically, a cornerstone of contemporary particle physics – paradoxical because it opposes the emphasis placed on objectivity within empirical science. Using particle accelerator simulations, the work converts real synchrotron data into unique visual forms visually manifest through a combination of realtime digital 3D modelling, kinetic sculpture and projection mapping. Lightbridge was developed during a Synapse residency at the Australian Synchrotron (2010), supported by the Australia Council and the Australian Network for Art & Technology. This project was supported by the Australia Council, the Australian Network for Art & Technology, and the Australian Synchrotron, through the Synapse residency program.
Developed in collaboration with Dr Mark Boland, Accelerator Physics, Australian Synchrotron, with X3D programming by Ross Taylor. accelerators.org.au/lightbridge   topologies.com.au

• Chris Henschke is a self-taught artist who works with digital media. His practice revolves around sound and visual relationships, and collaborative art / science experiments. His work has been shown around Australia and also internationally, and he has been awarded a number of residencies in Australia and internationally. He lectures in media at RMIT University, and in Art vs Science at the Victorian College of the Arts’ Centre for Ideas. He is Director of Experimental Applications at the V-Room at RMIT University, is Artist in Residence at the Australian Synchrotron, and was organiser of Colliding Ideas – Art, Society and Physics, a satellite symposium to the 36th International Conference of High Energy Physics in 2012 (where the announcement of the discovery of the Higgs Boson was made).