Albert Einstein published his theory on the existence of gravitational waves roughly 100 years ago. Incontrovertible evidence of their existence was not presented until 2016, when the US-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) published the results of its experiments. The observatory made these results available as open data to the scientific community.

Gravitational wave on video

Tuomo Rainio embeds this open research data in his interactive video piece. Scientific data thus manipulates the temporal reality of the video image: it bends, breaks and stretches under the influence of gravitational data waves.

Rainio’s piece seeks to comprehend and interpret data through artistic inquiry. He does not seek to explain the scientific phenomenon, but instead utilizes it to create a new visual language.

The photograph, the moving image and programming

Rainio works in the genre of experimental digital imagery. Using self-created software, he explores the expressive potential of digital imaging. Many of his works address the construction and deconstruction of images.

The work functions best in its desktop version. Hover and click your mouse and see how this alters what you see.

The work was commissioned by Kiasma for ARS17+.