Nighttime nanotech art installation at UW-Madison

Zero@Wavefunction, an interactive art installation in which passersby can use their shadows to manipulate molecules projected in giant scale on a screen or wall, is making its outdoor debut on campus.

From 9:15 to 11 p.m. each evening until June 15, visitors can “play” with the exhibit’s buckminsterfullerene molecules between the George W. Mosse Humanities Building and the Elvehjem Museum of Art, near the corner of Park Street and University Avenue. The installation will be projected on a wall of the Humanities Building on the upper patio.

The work is a collaboration between media artist Victoria Vesna and nanotechnology researcher James Gimzewski, both faculty members at the University of California-Los Angeles. Its interactions illustrate the way in which nanotechnologists approach work on a miniature scale and appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds. The piece has attracted participation from dancers and musicians, among many others.

The exhibit is a continuation of Nano All Around Us, a recent conference and public exposition on nanotechnology, held on the UW–Madison campus and coordinated by several university engineering and physics faculty.

For more information, contact Michael Redmond, redmond@engr.wisc.edu or (608) 263-1584.