In physics, quantum noise refers to the noise of uncertainty arising from random fluctuations in a system. Tapping into these random fluctuations as a unique realm of possibilities and predictions, Refik Anadol’s QUANTUM MEMORIES: NOISE series uses Google Quantum AI’s most cutting-edge, publicly available quantum computation research data and algorithms to explore the possibility of a parallel world. For this project RAS developed a custom procedural coherent noise implementation by utilizing beyond classical measurements for computing surflets. These data and algorithms allow Anadol to speculate alternative modalities inside the most sophisticated computer available, and create new quantum noise-generated datasets as building blocks of these modalities. The piece is both inspired by and a speculation of the many-worlds interpretation in quantum physics – a theory that holds that there are many parallel worlds that exist at the same space and time as our own.
“ I am really inspired by simulations in general. In my artwork, you can see two types of algorithms: one is a noise algorithm which creates landscapes, the other is for fluid dynamics. I am extremely inspired by water, in life, and nature. So I wanted to know what would happen if an AI could learn how to move in water, and what could it create? And how would it feel, when a machine creates a sensory experience? Are we getting closer to how we might watch water in the sea? Of course not, but the attempt is in the simulation. „