Long View Study No. 18 (The Invisible Universe I)

At the bottom of the Earth, the 10-meter South Pole Telescope (SPT) is mapping the farthest edges of the visible Universe. In the process, cosmologists have come to real- ize that what we can see makes up only 5% of the mass and energy of our Universe. The invisible remainder consists of 23% dark matter, an exotic form of matter that has never been directly detected, and 72% dark energy, a mysterious substance fueling an accelerated expansion of space itself. Researchers are attempting to understand these phenomena in order to unlock some of the deepest mysteries in cosmology; namely, where we came from and where we are headed. They hope to 'see' warped space and warped time by novel means such as harnessing dimples in space-time (described by Einstein in his theory of General Rel- ativity) as giant "cosmic lenses." Combining gravitational lensing observations, cosmic background radiation studies, and simulations using supercomputers may one day explain this strange form of mass-energy and the big-bang singularity from which it, and we, were born. My latest artwork imagines a slice of the invisible Universe, referencing the telescopic shape associated with light beams, ultrasound imaging, and radar sweeps. Visualizing the 'unknown' and 'unseen' intrigues me and I'll be exploring the theme further in up- coming studies. This piece was created with found printed matter, cut paper and graphite.