Ent-

Ent-  is a 360-degree immersive installation taking quantum computing as both medium and subject matter.  Quantum computing is a new type of non-binary computer that will offer unparalleled  speeds and the potential to delve deeper into the mysterious workings of the universe than ever before

The artwork is a quantum interpretation of the central panel of Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights (c.1490–1510).  Heaney uses self-written quantum code to distort and animate her own scanned watercolour paintings, which are then embedded within the virtual environment. The newly (de)formed images transform, explode and restructure this reimagined “garden”.

Bosch’s painting and its interpretations is seen by Heaney as analogous to the ambivalence of future quantum technology. Just as The Garden of Earthly Delights wavers between the virtues and vices of desire, quantum technology will significantly enhance our lives for better or for worse. 

At the same time, the work’s visual language helps the viewer to “think & feel quantum”.  The movement of the animation across the walls and floor destabilize the audience – who now replace Bosch’s naked bodies – inviting them to feel indeterminate like a quantum entity. The pluralities and instabilities of quantum are also suggested visually through the blurred boundaries created by the watercolour medium and the unfixed nature of the video installation. 

Quantum acts as a new paradigm through which to consider our material world that refuses binaries and polarization. In the same spirit, the work’s title is incomplete, and suggests a new future, open to the viewer’s interpretations.  

Ent- was commissioned by LAS Art Foundation.

In 2022, Ent- won the Lumen Prize Immersive Award, the Falling Walls Art-Science Prize and a S+T+ARTS Prize Nomination.

It has been exhibited with LAS at Schering Stiftung, Berlin, 2022; Biomedia, ZKM, Karlsruhe, 2022; arebyte Gallery, London, 2022; as a full dome projection at Deutsches Museum, Munich,  2022; Ars Electronica, Linz, 2022; as a public space projection in Gwangwahum Square, Seoul,  2022; CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, 2023; Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara, 2023; BETA Festival, Dublin and in Quantum Soup, HEK, Basel, 2024.