Design Luminary: Gravitational Waves Explored through Cymatics Photography

view the full collection of over 1000 images here…
 

Astronomers have used spinning stars called pulsars to create a galaxy-sized gravitational wave detector, revealing the presence of ripples in space-time across the entire universe. This project ‘Cymatic Water & Light’ creates experiments in the studio to emulate the process in the study of wave phenomena. These works are created using physics, photography, liquid and light alone, without the use of CGI, AI or any other form of digital production.
 

Gravitational waves were detected with solid data for the first time on earth by the LIGO (USA) & VIRGO (Italy) observatory scientists on June 28th 2023 a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein's 1916 theory of relativity.

Images used to explain gravitational waves from NASA & the science community in general have all been created with CGI or AI and are lacking the realism needed to visually convey this important discovery confirming Einstein’s work. I therefore decided to explore the physics behind gravitational waves in the studio by creating these waves in a more visible & easily understood way through cymatics using only physics and a camera to clearly demonstrate these waves. At certain frequencies, the waves resonate perfectly to create Faraday or standing waves. This is where the waves organise themselves so well through the chaos that the liquid takes on a pattern that appears not to move but remains static in their peaks and troughs. What is interesting in Faraday waves, is the order, the connections and active link formations, almost like seeing electricity travelling through a circuit. functional and alive with ordered physics. 

From the very beginning I have aimed to explore new forms of expression through research and process methodology through the techniques of analog photography used since 1850; inspired by pioneers of photography such as Henry Peach Robinson, Édouard Baldus and Gustave Le Gray. The images seen here are very low resolution, the originals are incredibly high res and detailed, each of these works is an original shot on 5 x 4 or 8 x 10 inch transparency film, scanned at high resolution with industry standard colour profiling applied. These images can scale to billboard sizes without showing any sign of film grain structure. There are no post production changes made to the colours, no retouching, no artificial intelligence (AI), special effects or other processes applied of any kind to the original image.
 

The confirmation of the existence of gravitational waves is a very important discovery in the scientific community. Albert Einstein predicted them in 1916 in his general theory of relativity. The data from LIGO (USA) & VIRGO (Italy) confirming their existence will aid many aspects of Astro Physics including the finding of new black holes which will now be a far simpler as telescopes themselves cannot see then, but now we can search for wave traces and locate them easily. A remarkable advance in itself; we are certain to find one very close to Earth now we know how to look for them.

Gravitational Waves evoke an analogy often used by scientists: the comparison between a complex, 3-dimensional spider web, and our “spongy” universe, with galaxies morphing into wall-like sheets, leaving huge voids of nearly empty space. This particular large-scale network can be seen as a reflection of the universe as though it had emerged through a cosmic cataclysm, caused by an entanglement of gravitational waves… making tangible an unfolding and effective understanding of space-time displacement. From this emerges a social space in the very act of becoming, the connection points acting as springboards for a continued symbiosis with our imperceptible universe.
 

A symbol of the interrelation of beings on earth and in space, Gravitational Waves are a heterogeneous immaterial architecture. Each point of interconnection becomes a social node supporting the entanglement of different perspectives. The idea of suspending the void, of capturing and separating it from the surrounding empty space, prompt reflections on the ways we attune with the Universe, floating as it were with our feet on the ground.
 

The data now shows that our universe is absolutely humming with gravitational waves. Confirming broad implications about my work which has always explored the language of nature to guide me, its texts were written far before our coming into being and their exploration in the studio is profound using the unequivocal data confirming the existence of gravitational waves.
 

This universal gravitational wave movement creates a very low-frequency rumble that rhythmically stretches and compresses spacetime and the matter embedded in it. The question now is: Are the long-wavelength gravitational waves with wavelength timelines ranging from years to decades, even to light years —also produced by black holes?
 

The black holes' orbital dance prior to merging vibrates spacetime analogous to the way waltzing dancers rhythmically vibrate a dance floor. Such mergers over the 13.8-billion-year age of the universe produced gravitational waves that today overlap, like the ripples from a handful of pebbles tossed into a pond, to produce the background hum. Because the wavelengths of these gravitational waves are measured in light years, detecting them required a galaxy-sized array of antennas to enable the collection of millisecond pulsars. Scientists are still not 100% sure that they are produced by supermassive black hole binaries. That is definitely the best guess, and it's fully consistent with the data.
 

Now with data confirming their existence, the next step is to fine tune & increase the sensitivity of our sensors and expand on our knowledge of astro physics because these findings are helping build an ancient tapestry view of our galaxy. Projects have already been announced to further this exploration by launching a grid of laser modules satellites with precise mirror and laser arrays inside, these will perfectly align in deep space, despite being 100,000’s klms or more away from each other. They will measure the waves with far greater data resolutions, and so the rabbits burrow gets deeper, as indeed will human knowledge.
 

We can now explore the inter connections of gravitational waves and astro physics. The gravitational wave predictions in Einstein's general theory of relativity, describes gravity as the curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy.

Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime itself, analogous to the way a stone creates ripples in a pond when thrown into it. These waves propagate outward at the speed of light, carrying information about the dynamic processes that generated them.
 

Astrophysics, on the other hand, is the branch of astronomy that focuses on understanding the properties, behavior, and interactions of celestial objects and phenomena. It seeks to unravel the mysteries of the universe, ranging from the smallest particles to the largest cosmic structures.
 

The interconnection between gravitational waves and astrophysics is profound and transformative. This body of work visualises these concepts using physics, liquid, light & photography alone. This unique process, now for the first time allows us to have a greater understanding of the universe.
 

You can view the ‘Cymatic Water & Light’ artworks released from the series on the Distil Ennui Studio website.

A catalogue of selected artworks has been released by the artist as a collection of unique ‘one-off’ prints, and is available to view here in an illustrated pdf.

Read a conversation with the artist and writer, curator Paul Carey-Kent ‘From water to the universe’ for Seisma Magazine…