.
DRAWEVERYWHERE &
GOOGLE QUANTUM AI
THE CREATIVE EXCHANGE
PBS NEWS FEATURE:
Journalist Mike Cerre visits the Google Quantum AI campus to get the scoop in the unique Artist in Residence program and to witness the valuable transformations the program has delivered.
In the PBS piece, Research Scientist Dr. Erik Lucero & Principal Artist Forest Stearns describe the program the duo co-founded in 2018.
The Artist in Residence program is an ONGOING collaboration between scientists and artists to amplify the company culture and inspire the field of quantum computing.
Early in the collaboration, the duo focused on the build-out of the GQ2 quantum laboratory.
The program has transformed through the pandemic to include collaboration with remote artists.
We call this phase of the unique Artist in Residence program the Creative Exchange.
Credit: PBS NEWS, Journalist Mike Cerre
“Since this next generation of computing relies more on the nature of physics than mathematical computation, like existing computers, quantum computing's connection with nature became the unifying theme for the art everywhere, from the lobby sculptures of some of the hardware and 3-D installations in the company's cafe to wrapping the quantum computers themselves in art.”
- Special correspondent Mike Cerre reports for PBS Arts and Culture Series, CANVAS.
-
Amna Nawaz:
Advanced technology labs are not places you're likely to find much creative artistic expression, let alone color. But a scientist and an artist have joined forces to help inspire the development of the next generation of computing at Google's Quantum A.I. lab.
Special correspondent Mike Cerre reports from California for our arts and culture series, Canvas.
Mike Cerre:
Your typical sterile technology office park building, until a scientist and an artist collaborated to turn this advanced technology lab for building the next generation of computing into an art museum to help inspire the innovation.
Forest Stearns, Artist in Residence:
We have created a space where there is no edge between the hardware, the art, the architecture, the scientist and nature itself through the windows.
Mike Cerre:
Forest Stearns, a Google artist in residence and Erik Lucero, the Google engineer charged with developing its first quantum A.I. computer, have a mutual fascination with art and science.
Erik Lucero, Director, Google Quantum A.I. Lab:
I think a lot of the work that I have done throughout my career has been to try to capture what I think are beautiful things that we make in electrical engineering and in physics.
Mike Cerre:
An accomplished photographer as well as a scientist, Lucero offered Stearns and artist in residency at Google Quantum A.I. after seeing Stearns' Draweverywhere work imprinted on satellites in space.
Forest Stearns:
Having figured out how to make the largest art exhibit in space, put the light bulb of let's put art on technological things to amplify humanity.
So you asked him, what is quantum computing?
Forest Stearns:
I asked Erik, what is quantum computing? And instead of sending me a white paper, he sent me his gorgeous portfolio of photographs of the quantum computers.
Mike Cerre:
Since this next generation of computing relies more on the nature of physics than mathematical computation, like existing computers, quantum computing's connection with nature became the unifying theme for the art everywhere, from the lobby sculptures of some of the hardware and 3-D installations in the company's cafe to wrapping the quantum computers themselves in art.
Forest Stearns:
The quantum computer to me looked like a beer keg.
(Laughter)
Erik Lucero:
We started with Yosemite. So it's lovely to experience flat, and then it's a completely different experience when you see it adorning a quantum computer. I feel like that was when — I don't know, I get chills thinking about having all these machines kind of like hugged by this art.
Mike Cerre:
Chill is the operative term here, since the chandelier-like guts of the quantum computer need to be kept running at more than 400 degrees below zero inside these refrigerated containers called cryostats.
Forest Stearns:
We have 16 artists internationally. Some of them are traditional oil painters. Some of them are digital artists. We have craftsmen that work in metal and we have sculptors that work in 3-D.
Ravis Henry, Park Ranger, Canyon de Chelly National Monument:
My name is Ravis Henry. I'm a park ranger at Canyon de Chelly National Monument.
Mike Cerre:
Park ranger Ravis Henry is also an accomplished Navajo artist and jewelry maker. Stearns and Lucero discovered him and his work while in the Southwest exploring national parks for the art project's creative exchange.
Forest Stearns:
He does his work in metal craft. It is silver and copper. And we take this piece and it goes from its local materials all the way to a quantum cryostat wrapped around within the scientific endeavor.
Erik Lucero:
I actually had the opportunity to paint this mural that you see behind us. I basically finished my day working in the lab, change into my paint clothes and grab a paintbrush with Forest and finish the mural.
Forest Stearns:
Art is very experiential, and we are creating an experience in here where people have inspiration to show up and be great.
JACOB AGUILAR, Google Technician:
I mean, everything with vibrant color in here really just helps, I think, express our creative side in here, and it really just keeps the lab in a creative thinking space, just because, when stuff is just too technical, and it's just basic black and white, it really closes off your mind.
Mike Cerre:
Would you hang the Galapagos in your living room?
William Giang, Google Technician:
Yes, I definitely…
(Crosstalk)
William Giang:
… over the kitchen table. Yes, we asked for — if we could actually have one and any of the — or a copy of it.
Erik Lucero:
It's important to note that there's real humans that are working on these projects, and we care deeply about the places that we live, where we have come from and the planet that we live on. And I believe these research tools are what are going to help us actually stay here and protect our Earth.
Mike Cerre:
The intersection of art and technology is as old and rich as Leonardo da Vinci and as American as the 19th century painter Samuel Morse. In addition to his anatomy portraits, he developed the first telegraph and Morse code. His first electronic message, "What hath God wrought?"
Sometimes, there's a perception of a love-hate relation between art, science and technology. Do you think that's misinterpreted?
Erik Lucero:
I would challenge that it exists.
Mike Cerre:
In what way?
Erik Lucero:
I see so much about the way that those things to me are one and the same. When you have the opportunity to do great science, there's just an opportunity of looking at it with a particular perspective that can make it look artistic.
Forest Stearns:
I am celebrating the fact that quantum physics is hard and it's way out here. And when something is way out here, it takes art to bring it back to right here.
Mike Cerre:
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Mike Cerre in Goleta, California.
The value of Art / Science collaborations
Illuminate creative innovations in the scientific endeavour.
Enrich a diverse workplace culture.
Create a world class built environment for the attraction, inspiration, and activation of the worlds best talent.
Art on Quantum Computers
The Artist in Residence program has expanded the Art / Science collaboration.
Credit: DRAWEVERYWHERE
The GQ2 Quantum Computer Laboratory is illuminated with thought provoking artistic integrations.
Artwork transforms scientific spaces.
Each of the Quantum computers has a number of elements that are hand built and tested in order to run as a fleet in the NISQ era. When the cryostat is finalized and put to work, each of the Quantum computers graduates into its final artistic cover.
During that time the COVID pandemic happened. Thankfully, Lucero and Stearns continued to collaborate remotely, and together with an amazing team of collaborators, they were able to produce the quantum campus. This new era of remote work ushered in the need to create a way to collaborate with artists more remotely while still producing world-class work in alignment with the common conversation of creative permission in the lab and office space. This is a successful endeavor, allowing the program to open up the creative collaboration to artists outside of the local region and into the international community.
The Draweverywhere & Quantum AI Artist in Residence program collaborated with sixteen artists around the world with the challenge of speaking the language of nature and wrapping a quantum computer with their art.
Each artist went at this challenge in an amazing and unique manner. From full-size traditional oil painting to metal-crafted jewelry, Drawing-based photoreactive surfaces to sculptural 3D surfaces seem too sharp to approach.
The quantum cryostats are named after sites around the world that resonate with our team who build and maintain these amazing machines. And yet, sometimes the systems are named after colors that then get translated into landscapes, and sometimes we celebrate colors.* A cryostat has many forms as it is built. Starting from a surreal hanging sculptural jellyfish made of exotic metals, through a series of overlapping shrouds to create an environment colder than space, and finally with a Mu metal shield that covers. the hanging apparatus in the highly functional 80x20 rack. There are many of these quantum computers in the GQ2 lab, and each of them resonates with nature in its own style and manner.
The process of commissioning and producing an integrated quantum exhibition:
Each piece of art is designed to completely wrap around the cylinder and overlap, with a continued flowing graphic to be viewed in the round. When the pieces are successfully integrated into the overall scientific system, they transform from being a piece of 2D art and become an illuminated focal point of the beautifully utilitarian 3D sculpture. The painting is photographed in high resolution, (by a local artisan.) Forest then cleans the file and prepares it for print, (by a local printer.) The printed canvas is then taken to a sewing shop to have a backer and velcro onto the piece, (by a local shop) in order for the piece to be part of the quantum computer in a utilitarian sense. The whole process was researched and developed by Forest as the artist painted and tested many iterations of this process. It was a challenge, but it was worth the effort.
Finally, the pieces are collected and hand-delivered to the lab where the Quantum Mechanics are invited to be part of the application of the piece to the bigger beautiful sculpture that is a Quantum Computer.
There is no edge between the Art, the Architecture, the scientific hardware, and the nature which is celebrated through the exterior windows and directly installed onto the quantum computers.
It is important as humans build technology that we do not lose sight of our connection to nature. Hopefully, as we continue to build technologies, we can always use these tools to be better stewards of this world that we share with all of the life around us.
In a traditional setting, the artwork licensed from the collaborating artists would be exhibited flat on the gallery wall.
In this scientific setting, the artwork is printed and sen onto a canvas for exhibition around the cylindrical surface of the quantum computer: 36” in diameter and 44” tall
Photo Credit: Google Quantum AI
The Quantum computer wrapped in the Yosemite painting morphs into a a view of the beautiful utilitarian architecture of the quantum system.
We are Speaking the Language of Nature.
From abstract themes to specific locations.
We started locally -
We started with Yosemite. So it's lovely to experience flat, and then it's a completely different experience when you see it adorning a quantum computer. I feel like that was when — I don't know, I get chills thinking about having all these machines kind of like hugged by this art.
-Erik Lucero -
INTERVIEW BY -
MIKE CERRE FOR PBS ARTS AND CULTURE SERIES, CANVAS
We have expanded internationally -
Meet the Artists of the Creative Exchange:
YOSEMITE
The gateway into the iconic Sierra has many paths to explore
ARTIST:
Forest Stearns
Oakland, CA, USA
Media / Substrate: Acrylic on stretched canvas 44x109”
PINK
The quintessential Southern California sunset
ARTIST:
Toons - Anthony Martin
Los Angeles, CA. USA
-
QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art, Why did you choose specific details to focus on?
ANSWER 1: TOONS-
I would have to say my journey to get to the point of where I would create this series of paintings was several Southern Californian cultures.From custom cars,our beautiful weather,amazing artists and hip hop!QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?ANSWER 2: TOONS-
I chose these materials: spray paint,pinstriping enamel,gold leaf and epoxy resin because I wanted to create depth,layering and dimension.I wasn’t %100 sure how it would show up on a print out but I think it came out pretty good. The dilemma as a creator sometimes is your limited on the scope and level you can afford to go on projects depending on timelines and budget allocated for a given project so sometimes you can’t always do what you would like to do.
Extra Sauce: I wanted to create a dimension of wonder by looking and figuring out the ways (techniques) I used to create the pieces. I love for people dig into the piece because then they discover all of the hidden surprises and layers of fun.QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?ANSWER 3: TOONS-
I figured because it was a Google project that it was going to be serious lol So I wanted to inject positive energy into my work to hopefully spread that energy and positivity through time and space. As I came to know the engineers and awesome folks working on this project it gave me more inspiration to create and I’m grateful I was able to participate on a monumental project.
Media / Substrate: Acrylic and spray paint on panels, triptych 44x109”
SILVER
The look back at Earth across the silver horizon
ARTIST:
Richelle Ellis
Los Angeles, CA. USA
Media / Substrate: Acrylic and spray paint on panels, triptych 44x109”
CANYON
Ancestral homeland story cloth through traditional media
ARTIST:
Ranger Ravis McQuade Henry
Canyon de Chelly, AZ USA
Media / Substrate: Sterling Silver & Copper Surface 5x12”
SAHARA
THE VAST EXPANSE OF THE DESERT AS VISITED BY ORBITING SATELLITES
The vast expanse of the desert as visited by orbiting satellites
ARTIST:
Vicky Vanthof
&
Fraser King
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
-
QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art? Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1 - VICKY VANTOF:
This region was selected as the backdrop for the words written by Emi Mahmoud – a climate scientist, physicist, and talented poet. Emi has pushed the boundaries of what's imaginable and is a constant advocate for refugees and disadvantaged communities worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa has played a significant role in her journey, and her life experiences in this region have shaped her into the leader she is today. This mosaic visually highlights the current challenges faced by many in Northern Africa, including the vast spread of desertification, which is closely linked to increasing droughts and climate changes.QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce your piece?ANSWER 1 - VICKY VANTOF:
Every day, satellites capture Earth's observations on an unprecedented scale in terms of both coverage and frequency. In the case of this map depicting sub-Saharan Africa, it was produced by combining more than 11,000 satellite scenes from Landsat-8, which were taken in 2022. These images were then merged with a high-resolution digital elevation dataset to give a vivid representation of the landscape. Landsat-8 was the satellite of choice for several reasons. First, it's part of a long-standing mission that has continuously collected images of Earth's land surface since 1972. Additionally, Landsat data is freely accessible for anyone to use, making it an ideal resource for a wide range of applications. Beyond its practical advantages, Landsat provides not only valuable scientific data but also a unique aerial perspective of diverse ecosystems. In this piece, the stark transitions from deserts to savannas and tropical forests are clearly evident. Moreover, the southwestern land border, including the Guinean Forests of West Africa, is an area often obscured by cloud cover when viewed by optical systems. This is illustrated by the region showing no imagery. The striped pattern across the full mosaic represents the unique path of the satellite in orbit and the distinct moments when images were acquired, giving it an artistic brushstroke-like appearance.QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?ANSWER 3 - VICKY VANTOF:
It would be very cool if this quantum computer, wrapped in pixels observed from NASA satellites, is used for storing and processing remotely sensed Earth observation data. Both private and public organizations are amassing vast amounts of satellite data from around the world, operating at increasingly higher spatial and temporal resolutions. This data necessitates not only specialized storage capabilities but also rapid processing speeds and advanced techniques utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning to handle global-scale analysis. While we have access to global-scale data, we are still in need of advanced global-scale computational methods capable of managing and analyzing these massive datasets effectively.
YAKUSHIMA
The emerald island vibrates with verdant life
ARTIST:
Eriko Yamada
Tokyo, Japan
-
QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art, Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: ERIKO YAMADA -
Yakushima is a magical island filled with unique episodes and creatures. I wanted to capture the mysterious atmosphere of the deep, ancient forest while picturing a cycle of life as the Island is known for a place where life begins. There are some mythological elements in the piece to make you chuckle and/or inspire your imagination as well.QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?ANSWER 2: ERIKO YAMADA - Logistics was a big reason for the choice of material. The final piece had to be shipped from Tokyo to California in a mailing tube. (I’ve actually ended up using a pvc plumbing pipe which “looked like a bomb” according to the post office staff) Living in Tokyo doesn’t give you a large space to work with either and I decided to create a triptych painting on canvas. Acrylic paint was the medium I chose because it’s durable, quick to dry and easy to control for me. I used painting brushes but also used paint rollers, sponge, Q-tips, toothbrushes, my fingers to add some texture and depth.
QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?ANSWER 3: ERIKO YAMADA -
I hope it will be used to optimize and get more accurate weather forecast. It will change how we plan and operate on a daily basis. It will also make visiting Yakushima Island a lot easier!
MAMMOTH
The surreal textures of an underground adventure
ARTIST:
Adam McCauley
San Francisco, CA, USA
-
QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art, Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: ADAM McCAULEY -
As a kid growing up in Missouri there were tons of underground cave systems that we’d explore on school trips and for fun, so I related to the prompt of making a painting of Mammoth caves, which is a rather monumental cave system. There’s something primal about the underground world, a metaphor of the subconscious and a classic symbol of the hidden parallel of our reality. In creating the painting, I had to begin with the idea of a complete lack of natural light, which landed me on the concept of how the lifeforms in caves see and experience their world around them - through sonar and phosphorescence and vibration. So, I projected myself into how a bat or a cave cricket might see their landscape.
QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?
ANSWER 2: ADAM McCAULEY -
During Covid lockdown, I began making landscape work that focused on the Bay Area using a combination of photography, paint, collage and drawing. The methodology that guided this work was to be unfussy, unprecious, direct and free of ”local” visual description, exactly the same way that I work in my travel journals. The pieces began as larger works on paper and progressed to even larger works on wood panel. At the end of the lockdown, Forest Stearns saw this work and commissioned this painting for the cryostat project and wanted me to continue to explore this direction. I wanted to emphasize the perspective of the creatures inside the caves, how they might think in terms of food and temperature zones, passages, shelter. The piece is a combination of acrylic paint, drawn materials, collage, photography.
QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?
ANSWER 3: ADAM McCAULEY -
I share the same concerns of many about where A.I. will take us. I understand it’s potential for giant leaps forward and I understand it’s potential for doom. Hopefully this project will constantly remind the scientists working on these machines of the vital importance of the human condition and the art will absorb into their hearts and minds and find it’s way into the A.I.
Media / Substrate: Acrylic and multimedia on panels, triptych 44x109”
ANACAPA
At the edge of the land lives an undulating ecosystem
ARTIST:
Forest Stearns
Oakland, CA, USA
Media / Substrate: Acrylic on stretched canvas 44x109”
REDWOOD
Upriver to the spawning grounds of the moving mountains
ARTIST:
Alme Allen
Mckinleyville, CA, USA
Media / Substrate: Acrylic on stretched canvas 44x109”
SMOKY
To pair the on-site study of ornithology with the artisan’s illuminations
ARTIST:
Holly Wach
Providence, RI, USA
-
QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art, and why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: HOLLY WACH -
I've always connected deeply to the Appalachian Mountain Range, where my family has roots. The Smoky Mountains in this range is one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet, once a shelter for animals escaping the last ice age. In this piece, I wanted to learn about and celebrate its rich biodiversity, focusing on its native trees, abundant wildflowers, rare birds, notable insects, and unusual salamanders. It's a tribute to the interconnected magic of the Smokies, with the signature smoke ( a product of the exhale of its thick vegetation) that inspired the region’s name as a central element.QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of the material choices and fabrication methods that you made to produce this beautiful piece?ANSWER 2: HOLLY WACH -
My artistic journey shifted seven years ago, transitioning from oil to watercolor, inspired by my fascination with birds. However, for this specific piece, I needed a more durable surface and medium, so I returned to my roots. I began with a charcoal underdrawing and returning to traditional oil paints. Mediums harking back to our ancestors' primitive tools and the materials of the master Renaissance painters—timeless classic artistry and materials surrounding the technologies of the future.QUESTION 3:
What do you think the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for, and what do you believe its purpose should be?
ANSWER 3: HOLLY WACH -
While working on this project, my fascination with Quantum Physics was piqued, particularly "all things connected everywhere." My hope is it has the potential to unlock discoveries, technologies, and possibilities that bring us closer to a harmonious and prosperous future. Or maybe just back to nature.
SANGAY
The undulating existence of fire and ice
ARTIST:
Lux Meteora
Madrid, Spain
-
QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art, Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: LUX METEORA-
It was a privilege for me to paint a cover depicting the Sangay, an active stratovolcano sitting on the jungles of present day Ecuador, known as “flaming mountain” in kichwa. It is a landmark that has been feared and respected for generations, transcending human civilizations and looking at them all from afar. It is a sight to behold, the snow-capped cusp reaching the skies, staring down from the heights into a trembling greenery. It is the center of a vast natural park teeming with diversity, wrapped in smoke and clouds, spitting fire and ash, alive in the most vibrant way. I chose to depict this colorful scene in all depth possible, with condors soaring over a plethora of greenery. I did research to pick a few native species, ranging from amphibians to lichens to colorful flowers, and included them in the painting. I leaned towards abstraction, so branches and leaves aren’t all too delimited, instead merging with other masses, the way their mycorrhiza is connected. I chose a vantage point of view for a close-up view of the flora and the majestic presence of the volcano beyond.QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?ANSWER 2: LUX METEORA-
I worked on stretched canvas using oil paint, a medium that’s been trustworthy for centuries, durable and color-steady. I also introduced oil sticks on some areas that needed a haze.QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?ANSWER 3: LUX METEORA-
During my research about quantum technologies I came across a point I loved, how quantum computers are best at modeling, well, quantum mechanical problems. It struck me as meta, and lovely: Using their own fabric to think about themselves, a system closer to the systems we try to understand deeper. On a more prosaic level, I believe in intent transmission, and so I would hope for Sangay to generate a quantum computing imbued with the virtues of the magmatic, the grandiose, yet deeply grounded, inextricably part of this earth.
GALAPAGOS
Evolution and faith coexist on the waves of artistic expression
ARTIST:
Matt Beard
Eureka, CA, USA
-
QUESTION 1 :
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art, Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: MATT BEARD -
The Galapagos Islands are synonymous with modern humanity's origin story since Darwin's observations of the diversity of finches on each different island spurred his formational thinking on the theory of evolution.
Quantum theory leads us to ask questions about the role of the observer in the formulation of the observed reality. As observer's, are we part of the creative process? Are we not merely existent within our own reality, but is our consciousness itself an integral part of our own origin story?
To bridge these ideas I turned to the biblical creation story in Genesis as not simply the creation of heaven and earth, but also as a further metaphor for the creation of human life and consciousness itself, of which heaven and earth might merely be a reflection.
A framework of circles, arranged in a subtle sine-wave pattern, and formed by Galapagos finch silhouettes and feathers, emanate from a central point, the creation of light on the first day. To the left and right the days of creation proceed outwardly, each finch and feather suggesting the biblical created order: first- light and dark (the moment of conception, existence from non-existence, the animating idea of life itself), second- waters above and below (the womb within a mother's body), third- land and plants (the formation of the body in the womb and the beginning of organized life processes), fourth- sun and moon (conscious awareness and the cycles of wake and sleep), fifth- birds and fish (spiritual and subconscious animations), and sixth- beasts and humans (desires of the body, and ultimately humanity is birthed and indwelled with the image of God). The seventh day is empty for God's sabbath rest, as represented by Darwin's empty arch on the outer edges- which had recently collapsed and was chosen as a wordplay cue to the collapse of the wave-function upon observation in quantum physics, hence the eyes as a symbol of humanity created in God's image, who looked upon his creation (observed it) and called it good.
That's a mouthful, but not even remotely necessary to enjoy the artwork. It's an homage to the miracle of life and the mystery of our conscious experience of it. If that's not quantum, then I'm in the wrong building.QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?ANSWER 2: MATT BEARD -
The final form of the vertical cylinder is very much at odds with the horizontal form of the canvas that wraps around it. Compositionally I tore my hair out over this. My solution was to view the composition as not just one image but a multitude of vertical image vignettes to be observed as the viewer circles the computer, moving metaphorically forward or backward in time, much like a particle in a medium moves in circles as wave energy passes through.
It began with the sine-wave form that underlies the placement of the finches/feathers/circles. Maths and feathers. Two of my favorite things. I played with these on small sheets of paper, wrapping them into cylinders, until I felt like a functional framework emerged on which I could hang the imagery that I already had in mind.
And in the further spirit all things quantum, whereby direct observation affects reality, each animal or plant or land mass in this painting was observed personally by one of Google's quantum engineers, Mike Shearn, on a recent trip he took to the Galapagos islands and his photos became the reference material used throughout this painting.QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?ANSWER 3: MATT BEARD -
I'm pretty sure this machine will be used exclusively to either prevent bad actors from hacking into mattbeardart.com, or to prevent WW3 from breaking out yesterday. I feel the greater purpose of the two would be to stop global war and I hope and pray the engineers allocate this machine's computing time accordingly. text goes here
MINT
The ephemeral veil of dancing light cast over the crown of Earth
ARTIST:
Genevieve St. Charles Monet
Portland, OR, USA
-
QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art, Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: GENEVIEVE ST. CHARLES MONET -
To bring to life the electrifying and wondrous nature of the Aurora Borealis, I worked with details from Arctic Norway. Encompassing many of the incredible animals, locales, and indigenous peoples, I wove together a geometric story piece that tells a tale of interconnectedness and harmony between the earth and astral planes.QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?ANSWER :GENEVIEVE ST. CHARLES MONET -
I love using geometry to lead the eye through an airy obstacle course of detail. When starting this piece, I began with stream-of-consciousness line drawing with pencil and paper, using the natural arcs of my arm, wrist, and hand to crate pathways that would come to be occupied by Humpback whales, arrays of arctic Terns in flight, and the twists of light beams that weave throughout the piece. I wanted the final linework to have a smooth and metric feel, emphasizing flow and flux; to accomplish this precision, I used a vector program to create the shapes and lines and Photoshop to render the color palette and textural details.QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?
ANSWER 3: GENEVIEVE ST. CHARLES MONET -
Much like the Aurora Borealis illustration that encases it, the quantum computer exemplifies interconnectedness and harmony through temporal and vibrational means. My hope is that quantum computers serve as powerful facilitators of the advancement in areas we're struggling, namely, climate and energy science.
SALMON
Temporal migrations into ageless mountains
ARTIST:
Arian Stevens
Bend, OR, CA
-
QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art, Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: ARIAN STEVENS -
These days it seems like the Bristol Bay Region in Alaska is under constant attacks to introduce a foreign owned pebble mine into its epicenter. Everytime a victory is announced and the project is killed, like a slasher in a horror film, the project finds its way back from the dead once again with new legislation to push forward with the mine. The mine would sit in the middle of some of the most pristine land in our country and needless to say the largest salmon fishery in the world. All it would take is one tailings pond to breach and introduce toxic chemicals that would spread through the vast waterways, lakes, rivers and eventually into the ocean potentially ruining the whole region for generations, and possibly forever.
The final image shows the stakeholders, the land and the fish.QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?ANSWER 2: ARIAN STEVENS -
This image is a composite of two digital photographic images combined to create one final image. The top image is from Kulik Lake located in the northern section of Katmai National Park in Alaska. The second is a group of sockeye salmon staging to spawn at the mouth of a small stream flowing into Kulik Lake photographed with an underwater housing.QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?ANSWER 3: ARIAN STEVENS -
I believe these quantum computers will be used to propel humanity through complex problem solving. Whether we take heed or not is up for debate.Its purpose should be to find the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.
CYAN
Exploring the form and variety of Cyan
ARTIST:
Jeremy Hara
Eureka, CA, USA
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QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place (which for me is The Quantum Research lab) that you brought to life in your piece of art, Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: JEREMY HARA-
My art was dealing with cyan. I was creating a site-specific work for a Quantum Computer called "Cyan" and was a very specific size based on the dimensions of the cover. My piece, also called "Cyan", is an abstract painting using water-based spray paint created by Montana Colors. My exploration of cyan in my work or my examination of color systems or primary color systems seems natural as a painter, but switching to spray paint from brushes has made me re-examine color systems. People are taught that the primary colors are Red, Yellow and Blue (RYB), but this is wrong. Our old RYB primary system comes from Issac Newton's studies of prisms (ROY G BIV), and was reinforced by the Munsell Color System created by Albert Henry Munsell in the early 1900s. Painters are also taught that RYB are the primaries. A lot of this confusion is created when painters start mixing colors. Paint color is made of pigments are not "pure" colors but colors created by minerals and chemistry. These pigments have different chemical and physical properties, such as opacity, strength, or size that make them react differently when mixed. Certain colors like blue and purple were hard to come by before industrial processes and modern chemistry. Learning to mix colors becomes a skill unto itself. In painting with spray paint the mixing is removed. Instead of eight or a dozen colors on my palette, I have all 98 colors. This led me to re-examine color systems. This starts with understanding the primary color systems. The primaries are actually two sets of colors. The Additive primaries are Red, Green, and Blue(RGB), which together make white light and the Subtractive primaries, the opposites of the additives, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black(CMYK). The "K" stands for Key Color which comes from printing, in most cases it is black, and so it has become shorthand for black. Cell phones, TVs, and Devices all use LEDs that are Red, Green, and, Blue. Yellow is created with green and red light. If your eye sees green and red light together is sees yellow. The cones of our eyes are also Red, Green and Blue detectors. Paint or ink systems are based on the subtractive system. A yellow paint when struck by white light absorbs all the colors of light except yellow which it reflects into the eye where it is seen as red and green light, which means yellow. CMYK is what printers use to create all colors. CMYK is also the opposite of RGB and White. Red and Cyan, Magenta and Green, Blue and Yellow, and Black and White are all opposites. Cyan is the color directly between green and blue, but because it is not a commonly used color name, it is poorly defined in common usage. It has become all the colors between blue and green and that is what my painting focuses on. My painting uses masked layers and shapes to create an undulating surface of Cyan.QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?ANSWER 2: JEREMY HARA-
I have been painting for 32 years and 6 years ago I switched to water-based spray paint as my primary medium. This medium has led to a new approach and a new understanding of color and color theory. I have begun to re-examine the primary color systems and have made many works based on the RGB and CMYK primary color systems. I have also come to understand most people don't know what cyan is. Cyan is the color directly in between Green and Blue, but it commonly understood as all the colors between Green and Blue. I used this common understanding to create a painting utilizing all of the colors in the Montana Water-Based paint line between Green and Blue. Working with spray paint has also caused me to start working more with masking and stencils. Since this painting was being stretched around a cylinder, I worked to make the left and right side of the canvas match up into a circular piece with no beginning or end. All of these techniques came together in the Cyan analogous color scheme of undulating bands of colors.QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?ANSWER 3: JEREMY HARA-
I hope the quantum computer will be used to expand our knowledge and what we think is possible. I hope it will enable to model complicated systems in ways that allow us to understand them in greater detail. I hope it will be used for good. I hope it is used for things in the future we never imagined as possible.
Media / Substrate: Spray paint on canvas 44”x109”
MAGENTA
Rhythm breaths in the conversation around Magenta
ARTIST:
Anne Bown-Crawford
Sacramento, CA, USA
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QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place (which for me is The Quantum Research lab) that you brought to life in your piece of art, Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: ANNE BOWN-CRAWFORD-
The specific details I choose to focus on are a direct result of my creative exchange with the quantum
mechanics and scientists.This details are:
- Quantum entanglement
- Sonic frequencies
- Collaboration
- CuriosityExamination of materials through different lenses. I believe that when this type of creative exchange occurs, in scientific terminology, resonance happens. When people of similar frequencies come together, even though they work in different disciplines, the output is not a simple sum of their individual work, but is exponentially creative.
QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices
and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?ANSWER 1: ANNE BOWN-CRAWFORD-
The materials are a mix of known and unknown, combined to challenge myself.
Fabrication techniques used:
- Digital photography
- Coding (Processing) applied to those images
- Adobe tools - Photoshop & Illustrator
- Acrylic paint & some beautiful - - Brushes
- CanvasQUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?ANSWER 1: ANNE BOWN-CRAWFORD-
My hope is that the quantum computer will be used to bring much needed resources not presently available to so much of us: Production of tools that we can use to understand how to step outside of fear. Enhanced, readily available, advances in healthcare. Clean air and water for all._______________
Title of piece: Magenta Resonance
When people of similar frequencies come together, even though they work in different disciplines, the output is not a simple sum of individual work, but has an exponential result that is resonant of all in the conversation. This work is a result of my creative exchange with the scientists here at the lab, a resonant narrative.
_______________
The other pieces are part of the Quantum Resonance series.
Each one named for it’s color:
Cyan Resonance
Yellow Resonance
Black Resonance
Media / Substrate: Print from Digital file of vector based illustration, acrylic multimedia added post print 65x44”
BLACK
Exploration into the varietal forms, shades and textures of black
ARTIST:
Ando Pndlian
Los Angeles, CA, USA
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BLACK
The multilayered network of details and the combination of qualities, such as shape, color and form with the precision of hand assembled artistry makes the Quantum Cryostat a ‘frozen’ work of art in itself. The Creative Exchange incorporating the Quantum Computer wrap is where the coexistence of Art and Technology is interrelated in the simple arrangements of solid vs. void, light vs. dark in the intuitiveness process of the becoming.
The BLACK cryostat wrap is an expression the transformational interplay of geometric forms and shape shifting that develops the lock-stitch and form-making of organic structure to be arranged and constructed. The interspatial volumes ‘voids’ where the light “between the folds” of the shapes influence the corresponding shape(s) and where it materializes thus reveals itself into existence within the artwork.QUESTION 1:
What is important about this specific place that you brought to life in your piece of art? Why did you choose specific details to focus on?ANSWER 1: ANDO PNDLIAN - Exploring and discovering the innovative, highly detailed components inside a Quantum computer became influential to the design approach when creating the ‘BLACK’ Quantum Computer wrap. The design process begins with 2-dimensional digital overlays of balanced geometric abstract shapes of black tones on canvas. The graphic lines then become the “blueprints” which are developed and transformed into expressions of 3-dimensional sculptural forms that are intuitively positioned and correlate with the graphic elements. Conceptually, creating the parallels between the Quantum computer hardware details to the details of the BLACK 3 - dimensional sculptural forms.
QUESTION 2:
What was your reasoning and technique of material choices and fabrication methods that you made in order to produce such a beautiful piece?ANSWER 2: ANDO PNDLIAN -
Using a laser cutter and etching machine allows for the evolution of ideas from 2-dimensional digital abstract shapes into 3-dimensional sculptural forms using such materials as wood, acrylic, perforated screens and spray paint.QUESTION 3:
What do you think that the quantum computer that you wrapped will be used for? What do you feel the purpose should be?ANSWER 1: ANDO PNDLIAN -
Who knows, the future looks bright and I am grateful to have my artwork be wrapped around a quantum computer like a warm hug.
Media / Substrate: Spray paint and found object sculpture in panel 65x44”
FOUR CORNERS
What happens when the circle gains four corners
ARTIST:
Forest Stearns
Oakland, CA, USA
Media / Substrate: Acrylic on stretched canvas quadriptych 85x220”
Photo courtesy of Google Quantum AI
From the Google Quantum chip to the quantum computer wrapped in the Yosemite painting.
Documentary time lapse in the GQ2 laboratory. By: JD Brynn / Cinedata: Draweverywhere & Quantum - Filmmaker in Residence
Abstract and landscape paintings by Forest Stearns, Artist in Residence Co-Founder