Laird Robert Hocking

Statement

As a kid, I grew up exploring coastal British Columbia, sometimes bringing home treasure that I found. I would sometimes feel an intense need to find out what the view is like from a mountain visible in the distance. Similarly, as an adult I find myself intensely curious about, for example, "What do 3D cross-sections of 4D Menger sponges look like?". In both cases, an answer exists - I just have to go out and find it (either by climbing the mountain, or by doing the math). In this spirit, I see mathematical art less as a creative process and more one of exploration and discovery. Just like when I was a kid, I rarely find anything interesting. However, I occasionally stumble up a treasure which I want to take home (with a 3D printer).

Artworks

Scientifically accurate black hole visualizations are everywhere, with the earliest work dating back to 1978 and the most famous probably the black hole "Gargantua" in the 2014 film Interstellar. However, these are just 2D animations. In this project, I take black hole visualization to the next level by making a scientifically accurate digital hologram of a black hole, enabling the viewer to observe the black hole in glasses-free stereo 3D from different angles. I put the black hole in a small enclosed space to better observe in 3D its effect on its environment - an effect to my knowledge never previously explored. The pillars appear to bend as if they are made of rubber, while the wall behind the black hole seems to pop outwards.

Oppenheimer is known as the “father of the atom bomb,” but he could also be called the “father of the black hole.” In 1939 Oppenheimer published a solution to Einstein’s equations of General Relativity, showing a ball of gas undergoing gravitational collapse, forming a black hole. This was a key step leading to black holes being accepted as real objects. Here, I use his solution to create a hologram providing a scientifically accurate visualization of the appearance to the eye of a ball of gas contracting into a black hole. As the viewer moves from left to right, they first see a sphere of distortion that gradually grows larger while also getting darker in the middle, eventually taking on the appearance of a fully formed black hole.