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Finding Aid for The Journey from Zero to Infinity works of art
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Table of contents
Above Reason
Science is a system of knowledge concerning the physical world and its phenomena. It is base on empirical observations of
the natural world and the conclusions drawn from those observations. Despite this rigorous process of question and analysis,
the majority of the world's populations seek answers to questions that are beyond reason or rationality. Since science cannot
provide answers to inquires of a purely philosophical nature, this quest for existential truth assumes sometimes sublime and
sometimes ridiculous proportions.
Aerial Navigation
In 1783, two brother's names Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montogolfier inaugurated the era of human flight with a 3,000-foot
high balloon ride near Paris. The following year, a fellow Frenchman name Jean-Pierre Blanchard invented the dirigible, a
steerable balloon that was a forerunner to blimps and Zeppelins. The twentieth century saw a boom in aviation, from the 1903
historic flight by the Wright brothers to the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing. The lattice of the sliver-bearing mineral stephanite,
seen here in light blue, is reminiscent of navigational maps.
Beneath the Surface
Devotees of astrology assert that our lives are governed by the positions of the planets and starts in relation to Earth.
They also believe the precise locations and time of our birth provides the key determination for many of our actions. While
scientists reject such claims, there is evidence that suggests our biology and psychology are connected to the broader environment
in ways that might seems inscrutable or illogical to our rations senses.
Diaspora
Ever since our forebears leaned to walk upright in Eastern Africa nearly four million years ago, voluntary or involuntary
migrations have been a part of our life. A population that has been separated from its ancestral homeland is considered to
have undergone a diaspora. Often these people carry their language and cultural traditions with them to their new location.
The earliest historical mention of a diaspora is found in Deuteronomy 28:25, in reference to the Jewish colonies settled outside
the holy land following the Babylonian exile.
Emanations
The universe is filled with a very faint flow of radio waves that astronomers believe are the fingerprints from the Big Bang.
For some time after the cataclysmic event, all of the space was filled with light. Over eons, these photons, while still observable,
have grown steadily fainter, leading scientists to dub them "relic radiation." Japanese tradition holds that anyone who bathes
In the energy of the multi-limbed deity Quanwon will vibrate with harmony with the universe and experience a less complicated
life.
Final Causes
The earlier illustrations by humans on cave walls were likely made from directly observable phenomena. The Egyptians made
a conceptual leap with their ability to artistically represent abstract ideas, such as their pantheon of gods. Before the
scientific revolution began around 1500, priests, astrologers, alchemists, and philosophers all claimed to have the answers
to the working of the universe. One might argue that in illustrations of real or imagine experiences one can find a broader
understanding of the natural world and the final causes of all things.
Origins
The question of how the universe came into being is addressed in nearly every world religion. Some Taoists believe a creator
god broke forth from the Cosmic Egg, spilling forth light and darkness, expressed graphically as the yin-yang symbol. Numerous
other creation narratives posit an omnipotent being as an architect of all existence. Many physicists such as Albert Einstein,
Richard Feynman, and Stephen Hawking have worked on establishing a grand theory of everything that would unify the files of
electromagnetism, space-time, the nuclear forces, and gravity.
Problema X
Much advanced scientific work in the past few decades has been focused on macrocosmic questions about the underlying structure
of the universe, such as how it all came into being and what our ultimate fate might be. While the three-dimensional world
we can observe seems governed by established physical laws, such equations break down in the face of infinitesimally small
objects like quarks or infinitely powerful ones like black holes
The Journey
In this work, a running human figure from an aboriginal petro glyph is situated within an illustration depicting planetary
phases relative to the Sun. The figure is on a journey through life, pulled along as if attached to a puppeteer's strings.
In the background can be seen characters from the language of the Micmac, a large Native American tribe that lived In Canada
and the Northeast United States. A European missionary invented the pictographic script, which is structured similarly to
Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Tree of Life
The Tree of Life is a mystical concept alluding to the interconnectedness of all life on our planet. This tree, I the form
of ten interconnected nodes, is an important part of the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah. A representation of a tree
is used in genealogy to distinguish familial relationships and in biology to group animals into related units. The scientists
who first employed this arboreal motif may have been on to something. When greatly magnified, the twisted helix structure
of DNA, which carries our genetic identity, appears to have the solidity of a tree trunk.