Ent- (Non Earthly Delights)

Libby Heaney’s Ent- (non-earthly delights) is a large-scale sculptural installation and augmented reality (AR) experience which highlights the transformative potential of our forthcoming quantum future. A new iteration of the artist’s multimedia project Ent- (2022–ongoing), the work extends Heaney’s meditation on Hieronymus Bosch’s painted triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490–1500) and raises questions about the potentials and pitfalls of quantum technologies.

“This new installation thinks about life in the parallel realities predicted by quantum physics. It continues my exploration of quantum hybrid creatures; strange entanglements of human, animal and machine. It’s so great for the work to be outside in Regent’s Park, connecting with the unruliness of nature.” – Libby Heaney

Visitors to Regent’s Park encounter a hybrid body without a head which appears to be creeping and sliding across the grass. Heaney describes the creature as a quantum cyborg or ‘Q-borg’. An amalgamation of bodies, it combines queered references to sculptural depictions from antiquity such as the Laocoön group, and the Paleolithic fertility figure Venus of Willendorf. Biomorphic blue flesh oozes from the industrial chamber of a machine, and metallic tentacles which reference the gold plating in real present-day quantum computers writhe and entangle the breathing and pulsating Q-borg. The reflective and transparent surfaces of the sculpture physically connect the audience and the object to the surrounding environment.

Visitors are also invited to interact with two AR experiences using their own smartphones or tablets, accessed via QR codes on two additional sculptural forms. These digitally animated scenes developed from the Ent- project overlay the physical sculpture and the park environment, further transporting the viewer inside an entangled quantum space populated by Heaney’s take on  Bosch’s medieval monsters and fantastical floating structures.  To produce the AR experiences, Heaney uses her self-written quantum computing code to manipulate and animate her own watercolour paintings. For Heaney the bleeding of painted forms into one another reflects the magical merging and blurring of the quantum world. 

The AR experiences highlight the inherent non-binary logic of quantum, which Heaney argues queers a classical Newtonian model of the world.  Quantum computing holds the promise of unparalleled computing power, yet it also brings forth concerns about surveillance capitalism and the disruption of existing methods of data protection. Heaney draws parallels between Bosch’s depictions of heaven and hell and this double-edged potential of quantum computing. Just as Bosch’s masterpiece seems to contain both celebration and caution regarding human desire, Ent- (non-earthly delights) similarly explores the dualities inherent in our pursuit of technological progress. The act of audience members using their phones to directly entangle with the installation offers a contemporary twist on Bosch’s original – in place of the naked bodies symbolising temptation,  Heaney draws attention to our own bodily entanglement with the addictive properties of networked digital technology, and underscores the intersections of art, technology, and desire.  

The first iteration of Ent- was commissioned by LAS Art Foundation in 2022 and has been presented at prestigious museums such as HEK Basel and ZKM Karlsruhe, and various galleries and fairs across Europe and US. The playable computer game version, Ent- (many paths version) (2022), which was first presented alongside Alexander Calder’s mobiles in Calder and the 21st Century at Nahmad Contemporary, NYC, will be on view at Gazelli Art House, London for the duration of Frieze Sculpture 2024, alongside other significant works by Heaney including the VR piece Heartbreak and Magic (2024) commissioned by VIVE Arts.