Abstract

Quantum Uncertainty: Fragmentation in Art, Life and Reality

Cameron Ironside

When the Surrealists fled Paris at the beginning of World War II they took with them an account of quantum mechanics, seeking ways in which to assimilate it into their theories about art. This can be seen in their writings as early as the late 1920s. Unfortunately this never fully materialised and a second generation of surrealists struggled to articulate a new language. While quantum mechanics were still in its infancy in the 1940s, today there is an opportunity to finish what the Surrealists started.

If what our scientists are saying about the nature of the universe is true, then we stand on the verge of a new Renaissance in art. The Renaissance was a time when changes swept the Western world, initiated by things that at the time seemed relatively insignificant. Just as perspective had far-reaching consequences that no one at the beginning of the Renaissance could have imagined, it's very likely that developments in quantum mechanics will create larger consequences faster than we can imagine. We are on the brink of a new era in perception, a shift in our world-view, similar to the Renaissance. The shift in the Renaissance was largely due to the invention of perspective. Today, this shift originates from the revolution in physics started by Einstein and continued by Bohr, Planck and others. Art today largely remains a reflection or meditation on a classical understanding of the universe. This paper will examine the implications of alternative reality viewpoints: such as the impact of the Everett many-worlds interpretation on Art and New Media - where the world-lines of macroscopic objects split into branching histories, distinct universes within a greater multiverse (which may or may not be made at the level of the mind of an individual observer).