KARLSRUHE.- As prelude to the exhibition Infosphere, the ZKM | Karlsruhe is presenting the large-scale exhibition micro | macro by Japanese artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda. The series of works entitled supersymmetry and the installation commission by ZKM entitled the planck universe are being presented for the first time as a world premiere in the ZKM atriums 1 + 2 on an exhibition area of about 7,000 m2. Both works were created during Ikeda’s research stay at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The installations are synchronized with each other and transform the exhibition into a large audiovisual symphony. The rooms in the ZKM are part of a monumental “super installation”.

supersymmetry consists of 80 screens and forms a corridor in which visitors are enwrapped by images. Mathematical and physical images appear like a flash of light and blinking, synchronized with sounds as well as the humming and droning of scientific equipment. A second part of the installation on the second floor directly above shows light boxes on which particles move over microscopic, brightly shining areas. The complex entanglements which ensue within this installation are reminiscent of the superposition principle in physics.

the planck universe consists of two overwhelming projections which unfold on an area of over 375 m2 . The installation explores human perception on the smallest microscopic level as well as the largest level of endless space beyond the observable universe. Pictorial worlds which have been enlarged to our proportions by the Planck scale (10-35 m) can be perceived on the large-format floor projection of the planck universe [micro]. Scientists use the Planck scale to describe the smallest units of our universe, so-called “strings”. So while visitors enter an immersive area in the planck universe [micro], in the planck universe [macro] they experience a macro scale of 1026 m, which lies beyond the observable universe, by means of an immense wall projection over three floors with engaging sound.

The works at the ZKM are closely interwoven with architecture and exhibited synchronized with each other. While Ikeda still explicitly deals with the CERN’s research work in supersymmetry, in the planck universe commissioned by ZKM he immerses himself like never before in the physical theory beyond experimental practice. The field of tension and imagination exhibited by micro | macro unfolds in the realm between theoretical quantum physics, empirical experiments and human perception.