Taking the works in Libby Heaney’s solo exhibition The Evolution of Ent-: QX as its point of departure, the panel discussion invites Mónica Bello (Curator, Art Historian), Nora N. Khan (Curator and Critic) and Libby Heaney (Artist and Quantum Physicist) to expand on the possibilities of Quantum Computing inside and outside of the art world.
Utilising the critical and satirical approaches, Libby adopts in the creation of the surrounding screen-based and material works to the 360 projection Ent- , the panellists unpack key ideas at play in the exhibition. These include fiction and narrative as a tool for enquiry, the role of capitalism and consumer-based content when talking about advancements in technology, as well as the use of speculation and science-fiction when presenting works that sit between the borders of fact and fiction.
With Quantum computing forming part of a broader conversation about possibility, myth / conspiracy, and the position of Big Tech in our techno-scientific-socio futures, the panel asks us to rethink the way new technologies are revered and idolised to the point of abstraction, and instead how we can allow for more slippery and non-binary explorations into the field to emerge in parallel.
