Dmitry Gelfand

The title refers to the sensation of an image or light trace lingering in the retina after the source of the image is already gone.  Here, this physiological metaphor is further enriched by a multi-scale layering of spherical self-images* and by the circumstances that led to the creation of this unrepeatable lasergram.  Afterimage was exposed during our very first collaborative session with QuTech researchers Laurens Feije and Gerben Timmer.

In Time Synthesizer, accumulative strata of microscopic hydrogen bubbles trace emerging turbulences along a flowing surface of water. Seeded in rapid succession by an electrode wire, the bubbles form time lines that vividly reveal a gamut of surface velocities across the entirety of the flow field. The bubbles are illuminated by a multi-coloured laser sheet, transforming them into prismatic lenses which expand the viewer’s depth perception.

“Hilbert Hotel” is a curvilinear ion trap that electrically levitates its myriad microscopic guests. These hollow glass microspheres float along startlingly square-shaped orbits, tracing the quadrupolar electric fields that keep them airborne.

Laser-lit clouds of microscopic soap bubbles embracingly trace the air flow around an orifice. At a certain distance from the inhaling hole, a horizon forms, separating the flow between inbound air and the rest of the substrate. Once the bubbles traverse this vacillating boundary they become entrained filaments that spiral inward. The vortical trajectories of these luminous microlenses mirror the formation of an event horizon and ergosphere surrounding a black hole.

A dark vortex in the middle of a water-filled basin emits prismatic bursts of rotating light. Akin to a radiant ergosphere surrounding a spinning black hole, Orbihedron evokes the relativistic as well as quantum interpretation of gravity – the reconciliation of which is essential for unraveling black hole behaviour and the origins of the cosmos.

Two counter-rotating vortices, joined together by a slender whirling bridge, drift through a long aquarium. Illuminating the vortex pairs from below the body of water, an expanded laser beam creates a ceiling projection of halo-encircled black holes connected by a wormhole. The vortices may collide with one another (as in the LIGO detections), and if the wormhole link rips apart, the black holes immediately dissipate.

Acoustically levitated water droplets resonate, vaporize and reassemble into spheroids, toroids and oscillating polygons while spinning nearly devoid of shear. This performance by Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand simultaneously taps into the 3-dimensionality of sound, the elusive physicality of water, as well as the rotational dynamics of celestial and subatomic bodies.

Arising from underneath a bath of silicone oil, low frequency sound waves mobilize a pillow of air just above the liquid’s surface, preventing falling oil droplets from coalescing with the bath. As these palpitating spheroids bounce on the air-oil interface their repeated impact incites capillary waves that interlock with the waves of neighboring droplets. This close-range attractive force can result in the orbital motion of droplet pairs and clusters. During more stable modes of excitation, self-organizing geometric rafts emerge in accordance with the closest packing of spheres: the distance between droplets decreases with increasing acoustic frequency, leading to dense lattice formation.

In 10000 Peacock Feathers in Foaming Acid we use laser light to scan the surfaces of nucleating and dissipating soap bubble clusters. Unlike ordinary light, the laser's focused beam is capable of crawling through the micro and nano structures within a bubble's skin. When aimed at specific angles, this penetrating light generates a large-scale projection of molecular interactions as well as mind-boggling phenomena of non-linear optics. Bubble behaviors viewed in such proximity evoke the dynamics of living cells (the lipid membranes of which, are direct chemical descendants of soap films).

Within a transparent chamber filled with water, sound waves are transformed into light emissions by employing a phenomenon known as sonoluminescence. After adapting to the absolute darkness surrounding the installation, one begins to perceive the fleeting configurations of glowing sound fields.