Nanocade

The project

These exhilarating virtual artworks take you on a series of fantastic voyages, tracing the journey of light from the sun to various locations in time and space, on Earth.

The Light Journeys are the result of an extraordinary creative collaboration between physicist Dr Andrew Parnell, artist Paul Evans and the team at HumanVR. Through a process of discussion with Andrew, Paul was able to translate some astounding, abstract ideas into narratives. His sketches and storyboards formed the basis of each journey.

As Andrew himself has said, communicating quantum mechanics is notoriously difficult. A rare achievement then, and a chance to understand something that might otherwise have remained beyond our reach.

The artworks

Nanocade

Artworks enabling exploration of a variety of mind-blowing length-scales by the artist Paul Evans, developed during his extended residency within the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Harvesting Light

A virtual reality journey following photons from their origins in the sun, passing through the earth’s atmosphere and culminating in the activation of a quantum solar cell.

iOS users – launch on the YouTube app for the full 360° experience.

Neu-Tron Spin

A virtual reality environment in which spinning neutrons interact with a photonic structure from the Cyphochilus beetle, created for Festival of the Mind 2018.

iOS users – launch on the YouTube app for the full 360° experience.

The Delft Service

Animation featuring designs based on research undertaken during the artist’s visit to The Institut Laue-Langevin neutron research facility in France.

The Structural Colouring Book

Sixteen pages of absorbing activities and surprising facts about eight ‘star species’, each of which has evolved structural colour to suit its own biological purposes.

The team

• For more information about Dr Andrew Parnell’s work, visit his staff page

• To see more of Paul Evan’s artwork, visit pkevans.co.uk or follow them on Twitter @Origin010