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| Time of residency | May 2025 |
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| Contact info | -- |
| Definition of artistic practice? | Robert B. Lisek is an artist, mathematician, and composer who explores the intersections of systems, networks, and processes—computational, biological, and social. His art delves into themes such as artificial intelligence, bioengineering, information theory, and quantum physics, incorporating elements like computer code, algorithms, artificial neural networks, and genetic sequences to investigate randomness and order. Lisek is a pioneer in art based on machine learning and artificial intelligence, prompting critical reflection on AI’s implications for privacy, agency, trust, creativity, and culture. Additionally, he is a composer of contemporary music, authoring numerous projects and scores at the intersection of spectral, stochastic, concrete music, and noise. Lisek is also a scientist conducting research in the foundations of science, particularly mathematics and computer science. He is the founder of Fundamental Research Lab and the ACCESS Art Symposium. His contributions include over 300 exhibitions and concerts, among them: “GOLEM” at ZKM Karlsruhe; “SIBYL” at IRCAM Center Pompidou and MAXXI Museum Rome; “APEIRON“ at Ars Electronica Linz; “QUANTUM ENIGMA” at Harvestworks Center New York and STEIM Amsterdam; “TERROR ENGINES” at WORM Center Rotterdam; “DEMONS” at the Venice Biennale; “NEST” at ARCO Art Fair, Madrid; “FLOAT” at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NYC; and “WWAI” at Siggraph, Los Angeles. |
| Title of the investigation at the residency | You Are the Field: Quantum Entanglements and Presence |
| Description of investigations and findings | “Quantum Entanglements” is a site-specific installation and performance merging large-scale quantum algorithm-driven video projections, generated stochastic soundscapes, and biometric feedback to interrogate the collapse of boundaries between human perception, machine intelligence, and quantum reality. By transforming the Birca Center’s space into a dynamic sensorium, the work will visualize entangled states of matter and consciousness, to warp projections and sound. Rooted in quantum fields theory, this project reimagines the center as a participatory lab where viewers’ physiological data becomes code, collapsing wave functions into audiovisual phenomena. The result is a visceral, intellectual, and destabilizing dialogue on agency in an AI-quantum epoch. “Quantum Entanglements” weaponizes its indeterminacy to destabilize the viewer’s sense of control. |
| What are you most curious about or invested in in your own practice? | New Geometry and Entanglement Entropy Entanglement entropy measures the degree of quantum correlation between different regions of space and plays a central role in quantum information theory and quantum computing. Because entanglement captures how information is shared across spatial boundaries, it offers a natural bridge between quantum theory and the geometric structure of spacetime. |
| What questions did you bring to investigate and what questions are you leaving with? | How the universe behaves at the deepest level? It’s about energy, space, vibration, and presence. In physics, a field is something that exists everywhere in space. It’s not visible, but it influences everything. Temperature is a field. Gravity is a field. Sound is a field. It stretches across space and carries energy. Quantum physics says that everything—every particle—is just an excitation in a deeper field. An electron is a ripple in the electron field. |
| Transformative, creative moments at the residency | A quantum field vibrates. Those vibrations are particles. Quantum fields are probabilistic. A particle doesn’t have one position—it has a cloud of possibilities, a field of potential. Quantum fields are connected. When one part changes, others respond. This is called entanglement. There is no empty field, even vacuum has fluctuations. The stage is a field. When you enter it, you change it. Your presence is an excitation of field. |
| Keywords for the work done at the residency | Activism, Collaboration, Ecologies, Future thinking, Ritual |
| Research locations | Baltic Sea, BIRCA grounds, White Space (BIRCA), Wood at BIRCA |
| Further documentation | Lisek_time_research_acceleration |
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Robert B. Lisek
