|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Besides being an astrophysicist, I am also a visual artist. This page refers to some of the work I'm doing in the arts. Furthermore, I am actively involved in helping to create more awareness of the sciences among the general public. This means quite a bit of work for the media. I write columns for the national daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad, and for the monthly Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
My exhibition Sterrenzaad ("Starseed") opened on Sunday September 3rd in the Oranjerie of the Hortus Botanicus (Botanical Gardens) in Leiden, Rapenburg 73. Sterrenzaad explores the artistic consequences of life between the stars.
The exhibition ran for two weeks only, but I am very happy with the response (and sales).
I wrote a brief essay about Sterrenzaad for "kunstenaarsMateriaal kM".
A quote from a brief essay I wrote about uncertainty in art and science (in Dutch, I'm afraid) was picked up by Cultuurnet. People who are interested can find the complete text in this PDF file.
In November 1998 I participated in the project Corpus Callosum, an initiative of the artist Bram van Waardenberg of Rotterdam, about whom more information may be found here. My part of the exhibition explores the imagery of the classical construction of a perfect pentagon. The mathematics is practically absent, what matters is the visual possibilities of the construction and its environment.
If you want to see one of my latest sculptures (which I made in collaboration with the Amsterdam sculptor Alex Vermeulen), you're too late; it has been sold to a private collector. As the design notes show, it's a work about the reversibility of time. If you have a fast modem and some time to waste, you may want to look at stage one, or two, or three of the construction of the work.
The Foundation "Stichting Tegen-Beeld" has put almost a hundred poems, by all sorts of poets in all manner of languages, on the walls of Leiden. Ed Visser is making a Website of Leiden wall poems. This also contains a picture of our house with the poem A savage sea by the 17th-century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho. It reads: Araumiya / Sado ni yokotau / amanogawa.
Aan alle brief- en epost schrijvers die reageerden op mijn optreden in Paul Witteman's programma Een Geweldige Tijd: hartelijk dank! Even een onduidelijkheid rechtzetten: de afstand tot de naastbijzijnde ster (Alpha Centauri) is niet 1 jaar, maar 4,3 jaar. Dat wist ik ook wel; wat ik wilde benadrukken was de gemiddelde afstand tussen sterren in het vlak van de Melkweg, en die is zowat 1 jaar. Voor mensen die de berekening over tijdreizen willen nagaan, staat hier een beschrijving in PDF formaat van de beginselen van de speciale relativiteitstheorie (om het te kunnen lezen heb je de gratis Acrobat Reader plugin nodig).
