Ghost in the Big Machine
This 25-foot-wide drawing was inspired by a convex wall in the American University Museum.
Because of the tight radius of the curved wall and the length of the drawing, a viewer cannot see both sides without traveling, on a viewing path similar to a planetary orbit.. Einstein’s theory of spacetime tells us that light travels in a straight line, through space, but space is curved. To emphasize this concept: the drawing is curved around the wall; the frame is curved; the line connecting the two ends of the piece is curved; the rendering of the orbital path of the stars around a black hole is curved; and the viewer’s path around the piece is curved.
It is an image with two discrete parts: left and right; space and time; beginning and end; theoretical and material. The two sides are tenuously connected by an amorphous line that resembles dust, gas or cosmic debris. On the left: the black hole at the center of our galaxy with nine stars orbiting it. A black hole can be described as a zero-dimensional point of infinite density, a singularity where spacetime and general relativity break down catastrophically. However it is described, it remains unknowable and intangible.
The right side of the drawing — the tangible side — is a detail of the Webb telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) light path. It is a rendering of a machine built for imaging the infinite.