QUANTUM Opens Its Doors For People To See And Prise Open The Secrets of Science
Bengaluru hosts the Science Gallery, the city’s unique that brings together science, art and design, to explore the edges of the unseen and the unknown. An exhibition that turns one of physics’ perplexing ideas into something the common people can walk through, question and touch.
This exhibition opened on Saturday at the City’s Science Gallery that has opened its latest exhibition season with a provocation: that the universe is stranger, and more interesting, than certainty allows for.
The exhibition brings together over 34 works of science, art and design that turn superposition, entanglement, tunnelling and the observer effect, the strange fact that observation changes outcomes, into things visitors can walk into, touch and argue about, not just read.
Bringing together artists, scientists and researchers from six countries, across four disciplines and 14 multidisciplinary artists, QUANTUM takes on the ideas that have reshaped our understanding of the universe, and that are quietly becoming the infrastructure of the technologies we will live inside next.
Designed as an interdisciplinary exploration of one of science’s most perplexing frontiers, QUANTUM does not try to teach quantum physics as a subject. Rather than teaching quantum mechanics as a subject, the exhibits invite visitors to feel their way through it, through installation, play and encounter.
Highlights include Observer Effect, an immersive interpretation of the iconic double-slit experiment; Quantum Jungle, an interactive installation that visualises quantum behaviour through light and touch; and Quantum Lens, a mixed reality experience exploring phenomena beyond human perception. India’s Quantum Story traces the country’s own contribution to the field through archival photographs, manuscripts and correspondence, while Women in Quantum Physics brings overdue recognition to the physicists the field has too often left out of the frame.
Building A New Future
The preview gathering, held on the eve of the opening, was attended by Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar as the Chief Guest. Other notable dignitaries included Home and IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge, and Transport Minister Byrathi Suresh. Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development M. B. Patil and Board Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw were also present.
Jahnavi Phalkey, Founding Director, Science Gallery Bengaluru, said on the occasion, ”The most exciting technologies of the next decade will not stay confined to academic and research institutions. Spaces made for the public, like Science Gallery Bengaluru, ensure our local and global communities are part of that future from the very start.”
“The most exciting technologies of the next decade will not stay confined to academic and research institutions. Spaces made for the public, like Science Gallery Bengaluru, ensure our communities are part of that future from the very start,” She said
Chief Minister, DK Shivakumar, said in his inaugural address, “Karnataka is building towards the quantum future we will need, through Q-City and the state Quantum Mission. With the QUANTUM exhibition, Science Gallery Bengaluru is building the curiosity that future will run on. It is a pleasure to have Ambassador Gor with us this evening, a reminder that Karnataka’s quantum ambitions are part of a much larger, global effort.”
State Minister for Home Affairs, IT/BT and E-Governance Karnataka, said, “Every frontier technology needs two things to matter: the labs that build it, and a public that understands it, and QUANTUM is where Karnataka’s Department of Science and Technology and Science Gallery Bengaluru bring their half of that work together. Ambassador Gor’s presence tonight is a welcome sign that our collective work is part of a much larger, shared effort with partners like the United States.”
Kiran Mazumdar Shah, BoD and Founder of Biocon, said, “Quantum science is no longer a distant frontier, it is the next great technology revolution. QUANTUM at Science Gallery Bengaluru transforms curiosity into participation, inspiring visitors to engage with the science that will shape tomorrow.”
Society Stepping Into A New Territory
Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, Member of the Board said, “Science Gallery Bengaluru is a truly unique partnership between the state and society. We want to instil the spirit of science in our citizens and the comfort with public interaction in our scientific institutions. With this new exhibition, QUANTUM, we step into new territory, bringing the latest ideas in science and technology to the public of Bengaluru and beyond. Quantum is about understanding the basics of life and its structures, even tinier than the atom, that we all learnt about in school.
This exhibition is special, because it invites us to ask wholly new questions about the worlds we occupy, and I hope QUANTUM will awaken people to our deepest connections with each other and the universe.”
Senapathy Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Axilor Ventures, Member of the Board, said, “Quantum physics and other emerging technologies are going to transform most industry sectors and Science Gallery gives a platform for showcasing the impact these technologies will have on society. I am pleased that Ambassador Gor is with us today to amplify these narratives.”
State Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development, said, “Industry’s next breakthrough begins with curiosity as Science Gallery Bengaluru’s QUANTUM turns that curiosity into participation through discussions, workshops and public programmes exploring light, sound and quantum mechanics. The presence of Sergio Gor, U.S. Ambassador to India, further reflects our shared commitment to nurturing the talent shaping the future of science, technology and industry across India and the United States.”
The exhibition is the commencement of the season-long programme of public lectures, workshops, masterclasses, film screenings and interactive events that bring together artists, researchers and scientists from across disciplines. Through these programmes, visitors will have opportunities to engage with contemporary quantum research beyond the exhibition galleries while participating in conversations around science, technology and society.
Developing A Serious Interest In Science
QUANTUM is also where our next generation of Mediators become your conversation partners at the Gallery. Through our flagship Experimentor Programme, young adults are trained to mediate the exhibition for the public, turning public engagement into a serious, interdisciplinary practice rather than a one-off volunteering stint.
The exhibition is guided by Academic Advisors Anil Ananthaswamy, award-winning science writer and author; Shobhana Narasimhan, Professor of Theoretical Sciences at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research; and Arindam Ghosh, Professor of Physics at the Indian Institute of Science, with curatorial guidance from Mónica Bello, Director of Platform Dali at Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí.
It is supported by content partners including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Raman Research Institute (RRI), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the American Institute of Physics, German Physical Society (DPG), and several leading research institutions from across the world.
QUANTUM builds on exhibition-seasons including CALORIE, CARBON, PSYCHE and CONTAGION, each of which took a single idea: food, climate, the mind, contagion, and used it to ask what science looks like once it leaves the laboratory. As Asia’s first and India’s only Science Gallery, we remain committed to spaces where audiences do not just consume research, but argue with it, add to it and are changed by it.
The team at SGB extends a warm welcome to visit QUANTUM, built for people of all ages, science enthusiasts, artists, students and the simply curious. QUANTUM continues something SGB has been building for years, proof that curiosity works better as a public activity, and that hard, unresolved questions are worth sitting inside, especially when reality exists as a field of possibilities until observation collapses it.
