Fertile Void

What is the fabric of the universe and how might its interrogation shape forms of knowing and being in space and time? Celebrating the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, Fertile Void is a festival that grapples with questions posed by the quantum era. It does so by focusing on cosmological inquiries, cross-disciplinary research, and new technologies, aiming to bridge the gaps in understanding that so often mark engagement with quantum phenomena. Broadening the field of quantum science to include interdisciplinary fields such as quantum biology, Fertile Void’s approach seeks to move towards a science that accounts for the pluriversal proposition that the world is entangled yet relational—both one and many.

Quantum cosmology connects both human and non-human life as well as the Earth and the cosmos itself. In this sense, it resonates with the interdisciplinary nature of other cosmological approaches, among them Ayurvedic teachings (the very word ayurveda can be literally translated as ‘the science of life’) said to be 5,000 years old, Inca cosmology of the seventh century, Jewish mysticism dating from the mid-1500s, the divination systems of the Ifá in West Africa, or Blackfoot metaphysics in what is today known as the United States. Each of these traditions exemplify modes of inquiry that could be harnessed to counter a reductive, western-centric understanding of quantum sciences and their possibilities—each asks questions about the relationship between living matter and inertia, the materialization of the world from seeming nothingness, and the patterns and movements that align to emerge as phenomena. Might contemporary quantum approaches be translations of these older forms of making sense of the world, reappearing in a different shape? New research seems to suggest as much, as technologies functioning with quantum processors confirm that space-time is not just curved, but granular: both malleable and made up of subatomic and discrete pods or cells. This means that the world itself consists of a complicated simultaneity of sameness and difference, of oneness and plurality. Some quantum science hypotheses have proposed that these cells are singular nodes of information, which cannot be destroyed but live on irrespective of their macroscopic appearance. This echoes theories of dark matter, the unknown substance that has been measured across gravitational fields and is thought to make up a significant portion of the universe. Some initial studies have suggested that dark matter might be information that has accumulated in pockets of the universe over time. If proven, what might that mean for human notions of history, geopolitics, and cultural memory?

Fertile Void: Quantum Cosmologies between Science, Stories, and Speculation looks at the promises and narratives of quantum technologies through the lens of culturally situated, more-than-human, and counter-hegemonic epistemologies and the arts. Through artistic interventions, performances, discourse, installations, and workshops, the festival investigates how different ways of knowing and being can contribute to understanding the social realities that emerge from quantum theorems, just as they become actualized by technology.

Free entry. All events and conversations will be held (predominantly) in English. Translation into German is provided.