WAVE JUNCTION
2023 Quantum Logistics Park, Dublin. Commissioned by IPUT Real Estate, curated by Aisling Prior, supported by Fingal County Council’s Public Art Programme.
Quantum mechanics (the study of the smallest things), tells us that on scales smaller than the atom the world takes on an elusive quality where particles have the properties of both waves and particles and vice versa. The microscopic perspective reveals a world that is probabilistic, fluid and open, where our reality is an entanglement of waves.
Wave Junction is a dramatic new public artwork on two planes. A vertical timber arch arcs skyward, while from the same starting point, a horizontal cast concrete bench hugs the ground and snakes along a curving path. Embedded in each plane is a narrow strip of neon lighting illuminating the curvature. At night the arch lighting draws a dramatic arcing line against the darkness, while the recessed lighting in the bench creates the impression that the whole sculpture is floating just above the ground. The two curved black lines of the bench and arch combine into an elusive form that undulates in wavelike motions, holding a dramatic presence in the landscape as simultaneously sculpture, backdrop, feature and seating area.
Quantum Park is a confluence of energy, as a logistics hub it is the manifestation of the digital exchanges taking place across world computers. Over head the park is crossed by the flight lines from the nation’s air traffic. Under foot there is a warren of services and the immediate surroundings are defined by the circulation of motor vehicles. From a remove the logistics hub reveals the incredibly intricate networks of communication and trade systems that we humans have created.
In this busy context Wave Junction holds a dramatic but quiet presence within the landscape of the park. The undulating curves of the arch are simultaneously, the rolling background wave movements that underpin reality or echoes of a distant mountainous skyline in an otherwise flat environment. The bench invites engagement as a meeting point and a place to have lunch. As a seat the curving bench envelopes the individual within the artwork as the thick black lines curve around to the sides and the arch dips and arcs overhead.
Despite the multiple ways in which quantum mechanics has revolutionised society through its use in computers, the internet, lasers and communication systems the central principle of the wave/ particle duality is not fully understood.
In Quantum Park, a landscape where the mechanics of the quantum world are employed as commonplace, Wave Junction makes reference to the bizarre and incredible reality that lies behind it all. In its luminous and quirky form the sculpture magnifies and platforms one of the fundamental mysteries of our universe and firmly roots it in the everyday.
Photography courtesy of IPUT Real Estate