Project: Random Revolution.
Partner: Lancaster University,
Barbican Life Rewired, Royal Society.
Random Revolution: an immersive journey into the quantum world. Powered by the research of Pr Rob Young (Royal Society Research Fellow) and commmissioned by the Barbican Life Rewired Hub.
What if our digital landscape was driven and kept secure by pure randomness?
Year
2019
Sector
Quantum Physics
Discipline
Computer science
Technology
Exhibition
Scenography
Lighting design
Motion design
Ethos
Interactive
Randomness
Driven by nature
Immersive
Procedural graphics
“Randomness plays a vital role in digital networks”
Einstein didn’t believe that randomness was at the heart of the physics that governs our world. Arguably, randomness could hold the key to making our digital world more secure.
Randomness plays a vital role in the digital networks that make modern life possible. It keeps our communications and financial transactions secure, and is central to computer simulations and stock market analysis.
Random Revolution explores the laws that are governing the internet, our lives and nature.
“From procedural graphics to the randomness of visitors”
Random Revolution confronts pure randomness in procedural graphics and projection pattern with the randomness of visitors behaviour. It visually compares traditional binary states with quantum states in a play of light, perception and optics.
Visitors can visualize their own data shadow, and perceive a random stream of number linked to their presence.
“Quantum mechanics can be used to generate randomness”
The quantum world is ruled by chance: nature’s building blocks (matter and energy) can simultaneously occupy opposite states. If such systems are observed they instantly collapse into one or the other state randomly, with no way to predict the outcome. This a phenomenon called superposition.
A team at Lancaster led by Pr Rob Young (Royal Society research fellow, head of the Quantum technology centre and founder of Quantum base) have developed a groundbreaking innovation using this phenomenon: a quantum tunneling device.
The intrinsic uncertainty of quantum mechanic can be used to generate powerful streams of random numbers and sequences which can then be used to encrypt and decipher our browsers, messages or transactions.
“The quantum world is ruled by chance”
Will true randomness make our systems more natural and less predictable for the human mind?
We live in a post-digital society, where our reliance on software, hardware, and the networks that connect us, grows exponentially. It is crucial to think of the way we design those networks.
Reflecting on technological advancements in information technology, Random Revolution wants to open a discussion on the role of randomness in our lives and possible futures for our digital networks.
Project supported by the Royal Society and Lancaster University
Project supported by the Royal Society and Lancaster University.
Scientific direction: Pr Rob Young
Creative direction: Cellule studio in collaboration with Cecilia Gonzalez
Curator: James Upton
Co-producers: Cellule studio and Cecilia Gonzalez
Content and video: Cellule studio
Photography: Gareth Williams
Programmer: Will Young
Soundscape: Arthur Astier
Additional visuals: Garth McKee, Gabriel Thomas.
Special thanks to KitMapper
Quantum Computing
Big Data
Interactive Architecture
Quantum Physics is a branch of physics relating to the very small. At the quantum level, elementary particles can exist in two states simultaneously, until they are measured. This phenomenon is called superpostion. When such systems are measured they collapse into one state randomly. Quantum computing is the use of quantum mechanical properties such as superposition and entanglement to perform computation.
Qubits are fundamental to quantum computing and are analogous to bits in a classical computer. When qubits are measured they give a 0 or a 1 based on the quantum state they were in, which is unpredictable. This multiply exponentially the capacity of calculation of a computer.
Email encryption, computer simulation, probability modelling, many of modern society’s essential processes are fueled by long number streams generated by mathematical algorithms. Quantum computers would use the physical properties at quantum level to create perfect random stream and large data processing, increasing security and encryption, and overall computer capacities.
Big Data is the science of processing data that is too large, fast and complex to be analysed using traditional methods. With the advent of the internet and the internet of things, computers are dealing with extremely large quantities of data arriving in at an extremely fast rate and in a variety of complex formats (numbers, text, audio, video…). Big data seeks to capture, store and extract information from these kinds of data, with acceptable results and in an acceptable time. It englobes fields like statistical analysis and machine learning. Data analysis can help predict business trends, streamline user experiences, or build complex models of an individual’s hearts!
The paradigm shift in surgery is to plan the best healthcare provision adapted to our specific biological architecture and machinery. The combination of medical imagery with machine learning and omics science target for a better understanding of individuals as well as population health.
Interactive architecture is the art/science of creating spaces and buildings that interact with their visitors. By incorporating sensors, processors and effectors in the core of the architecture,we can create intelligent spaces that acquire the ability to gather information from the physical space, understand it and act in consequence on it. This allows architects to create a real-time, personalised interaction between a space and its visitors – between a smart object and a smart subject. For us designers, they become a vector for interactive art. We aim to create ‘spaces’ that respond to our presence and help us understand complex notions of the physical and natural world that we are constantly interacting with.
Quantum Computing
Quantum Physics is a branch of physics relating to the very small. At the quantum level, elementary particles can exist in two states simultaneously, until they are measured. This phenomenon is called superpostion. When such systems are measured they collapse into one state randomly. Quantum computing is the use of quantum mechanical properties such as superposition and entanglement to perform computation.
Qubits are fundamental to quantum computing and are analogous to bits in a classical computer. When qubits are measured they give a 0 or a 1 based on the quantum state they were in, which is unpredictable. This multiply exponentially the capacity of calculation of a computer.
Email encryption, computer simulation, probability modelling, many of modern society’s essential processes are fueled by long number streams generated by mathematical algorithms. Quantum computers would use the physical properties at quantum level to create perfect random stream and large data processing, increasing security and encryption, and overall computer capacities.
Big Data
Big Data is the science of processing data that is too large, fast and complex to be analysed using traditional methods. With the advent of the internet and the internet of things, computers are dealing with extremely large quantities of data arriving in at an extremely fast rate and in a variety of complex formats (numbers, text, audio, video…). Big data seeks to capture, store and extract information from these kinds of data, with acceptable results and in an acceptable time. It englobes fields like statistical analysis and machine learning. Data analysis can help predict business trends, streamline user experiences, or build complex models of an individual’s hearts!
The paradigm shift in surgery is to plan the best healthcare provision adapted to our specific biological architecture and machinery. The combination of medical imagery with machine learning and omics science target for a better understanding of individuals as well as population health.
Interactive Architecture
Interactive architecture is the art/science of creating spaces and buildings that interact with their visitors. By incorporating sensors, processors and effectors in the core of the architecture,we can create intelligent spaces that acquire the ability to gather information from the physical space, understand it and act in consequence on it. This allows architects to create a real-time, personalised interaction between a space and its visitors – between a smart object and a smart subject. For us designers, they become a vector for interactive art. We aim to create ‘spaces’ that respond to our presence and help us understand complex notions of the physical and natural world that we are constantly interacting with.
