Zane Zelmene

A Guide to Invisible landscapes

Solo show

2022

RIXC gallery, Riga, Latvia

Virtual reality installation

/virtual reality headsetand controllers, computer, monitor, 12 spheres, vinyl stickers /

 

     In the exhibition, the interactive artwork depicts landscapes from dream experiences using virtual reality installation and objects in the gallery space.

     Based on the many-world interpretation of quantum physics by the scientist Hugh Everett, each time a quantum experiment is performed with the possibility to have various possible results, all results come to pass but we see only one outcome; the one that is measured/observed in this world. In fact, all the outcomes have come to fruition, but each in their own world. These invisible worlds can be considered to be completely real. They obey the laws of physics the same as our world. Each time an experiment is performed and measurements have taken place, this world is either separated or braches into a new history. The new world is identical to the original world to the last atom, however, it will have a new history, slightly different and conflicting to ours, starting from the event that caused this branching off.

     However, dreams consist of simulations of what could have been and what could be in the eyes of the dreamer.The first hypothesis proposes that dreams depict actual events, that take place in the alternate world, that came into being when it branched off from the original world. Taking into consideration that in the eyes of the dreamer the simulations are alternate history and future constructions, the artist asks a question: where do these alternate histories originate from? The most rational answer, of course, is that they originate in the dreamer’s mind. But if the many-world theory is correct and dreams consist of simulations of what could have happened and what could happen in the dreamer’s world, that branched off from the dreamer’s original world, then human dreams could be portals to life in one of the branched off worlds –based on the many-world interpretation of quantum physics.