slimeQrawl, 2023

In the three-channel video installation slimeQrawl, Heaney uses slime as a metaphor for quantum particles, as this material is wonderfully suited to visualise the fluid and shape-shifting qualities of quantum particles. In slimeQrawl, slime is hand-kneaded and put into Heaney's mouth in close-up scenes. Slime oozes out of the rendered models of present-day quantum computers and pours over the entire screen. To create the video, Heaney worked with IBM's 5-qubit quantum computer and used a technique she developed to reveal the wave-like signature of different types of quantum entanglement. The result of the parallel, superimposed images reflects the principles of quantum states. Embodiment and physicality are thematised via the slime, which directly relates the images of the fascinating machinery of the quantum computer to images of human bodies.