Sciences Participating with Arts & Culture in Education

TransLuminal

What does it mean to go beyond the speed of light?

TransLuminal is a multilayered, illuminated mural that explores the delineation of boundaries and the movement beyond them. Light provides the conceptual framework for the exploration through its origins in the Cosmos, its spectral properties and diverse symbolisms. The parameters are outlined by real scientific data and theory—interpreted through image transfer, the application of paint, texture, and other media on Plexiglas and Mylar, one layer over the other—and reinterpreted through the interactions and reflections of the many individuals who contribute to its co-creation. The scale of the collaboration is made explicit in the penultimate layer, which consists of a grid of 200, 6x6 inch sections each painted by a member of the Dawson Community.

In all stages of production, from the construction of the light box to the filming of the documentary, TransLuminal seeks to evoke hallmarks of the S.P.A.C.E. initiative. It is rooted in disciplines but enlarged through interdisciplinary collaboration. Its content is both rigorously directed and organically emergent. It provides challenges that draw on expert knowledge while being generally accessible to all. It incorporates mentorship and facilitation so that enrichment of student learning and community engagement can be placed at the heart of the endeavour, enriching the Dawson culture. The TransLuminal project aims to set light to another spectrum of what is possible in S.P.A.C.E.

The conception of TransLuminal graphs a union of precision science and creative expression. It begins by recognizing that the known universe has a boundary and that what lies outside can be an invitation to speculate, and to wonder. The base layer demarks the boundary and consists of sampling data taken from an all-sky survey of galaxies in our local universe that spans a mere 370 million light years. The origins of such galactic structure can be traced further back, through eons of cosmic time, by measuring tiny temperature fluctuations in an otherwise uniform primordial radiation permeating the observable universe. Though very cold now, this first light, whose temperature variations are integrated into the base layer in the form of color variations, was once unbound from a roiling plasma of particles only 370,000 years after the Big Bang. Significantly, this time, when light was released, marks a transition from an opaque to a transparent universe. Subsequent layers exploit opacity in combination with colour and texture to convey the complexities of deciphering such phenomena and to create interesting visual effects through the refraction of the underlying light source.

Contributions from the many collaborators in the Dawson community imbue TransLuminal with other layers of meaning. A majority of the sections were generated from a structured game of chance and facilitated creative expression. Spinning a wheel and flipping a card randomly assigned individual palettes of colour and texture to guarantee that the predetermined spectrum of painted sections was achieved. After painting, participants were directed to reflect on their TransLuminal experience with short texts. Following a data-inspired web of dark matter and galactic magnetic field lines, these texts will be used to transform the piece during the exhibition and thread together new, discovered meanings of the TransLuminal concept.