Light Echoes

It can be a challenge for researchers to create broad understanding of their discoveries, and this is where art can play an important role in communicating and visualizing them.

In this exhibition, artists, curators, and astrophysicists explore how the relationship between light and time influences cosmic phenomena such as the expansion of the universe, the observation of distant galaxies, the explosion of massive stars, and the gravitational lensing effect — through four installations and a soundscape.

The title of the exhibition refers to the astronomical phenomenon known as a light echo, in which light from a distant stellar explosion, initially scattered in all directions, is later reflected by interstellar dust at another time and place. This reflection of the original light wave is perceived from Earth as a mirror image of the past. At the same time, the light echo serves as a metaphor for the artists’ work and for the boundless potential of collaboration across disciplines. By reflecting scientific discoveries through artistic expression, new ways of seeing and understanding the universe emerge.

The exhibition has been created and developed in close collaboration with the newly established ArtScience Program at the Niels Bohr Institute by Irene Campolmi, Head of the ArtScience Program.