Paolo Radi at the Biennale 2022 of Changwon

Paolo Radi, Roman visual artist, has been invited to participate in the 2022 Changwon Biennial in South Korea. The theme treated by Radi is the artistic interpretation of the concept of "entanglement" of quantum mechanics. It is worth emphasizing that classical mechanical, that Newtonian,  concerns the macro dimensions of matter, while quantum mechanical concerns the micro dimensions of matter. While with classical mechanical it is possible to describe phenomena with the sole aid of equations, in quantum mechanical this is not sufficient as experimentation is required in order to validate the description of a certain phenomenon. The elementary example is that of the cat in a box. On the basis of physical parameters, animal temperature, ambient temperature, thermal dispersion, own energy consumption, etc., we can study an equation that determines the life period of the cat. But to ascertain that the theory is valid it is necessary, after the calculated days, to open the box and check if the cat is still alive or not. This in a few words what quantum mechanical postulates. Entanglement is a quantum theory phenomenon that affects two elementary particles and tells us that the properties of two entangled particles influence each other. Radi illustrates the concept from an artistic point of view by placing two interpenetrating oval plexiglas discs, with an opaque surface, on a mirroring surface also oval in shape. The physical characteristics of the two disks, for example the dimensions, are not influenced by their mutual position according to the assumptions of classical mechanical. But their image reflected by the mirror constitutes an entity that varies in size, physical properties, depending on the view position of the observer and therefore a variation in the dimensions of a reflected disk corresponds to the same,  not necessarily equal, variation in the dimensions of the other reflected disk. The mirror is therefore the medium that generates the entanglement between the two images. The installation was made at the entrance to the museum in the access plaza.

Tags: Paolo Radi - Radi - entanglement