Ent- (many path version), 2022

The 360-degree video installation Ent- immerses us in a potential quantum world. Inspired by the central panel of Hieronymus Bosch's triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights (ca. 1490-1510), Heaney creates a world populated by scenes and creatures inspired by Bosch's mediaeval imagery and bestiaries. The visual effects and three-dimensional abstract coloured structures are based on her own watercolour paintings, which she scanned and processed using a self-written quantum code. Referencing the non-local properties of quantum entanglement, the structures disintegrate, flow, and reassemble. Heaney deliberately chose watercolour as a medium because the flowing and merging of the colours with water reflects the ambivalence and fluidity of quantum particles. Everything is in a constant state of flux: we experience an immersive visual world, zoom into objects that reveal themselves as new worlds, dive underwater, and experience continuous fragmentation and deconstruction. Heaney whispers combinations of words in English and German that complement the title Ent- in different ways, such as «Entanglements», «entdecken» [discover], or «enter», referring to the principles of a microscopic quantum world and simultaneously expressing the open-endedness that the title suggests. Just like her use of language, the images become plural, layered, and superimposed, pulsating and indicating the simultaneous states (superposition) of a quantum world as visualised by the artist.
 
The ambivalence and belief systems surrounding quantum computers are also examined in Ent-. Hieronymus Bosch's famous triptych refers to the parallel depiction of heaven and hell, and just as the joys of life and the threat of danger lie close together in Bosch's painting, the quantum computer also symbolises a technology where the opportunities and dangers of its future development remain undefined. Accordingly, Ent- poetically meanders between creation and destruction, focusing on the fluidity and plurality of all matter.
 
While the immersive experience takes centre stage in Ent-, in Ent- (many paths version), Heaney invites you to independently explore her world using a game controller.