“Tinguely Entangled”: a round of applause for the one-of-a-kind Music+Physics collaboration

Written By Marilena Longobardi

On the evening of 25. March 2023, the ambitious Physics + Music performance “Tinguely Entangled” took place at the Tinguely Museum in Basel.

The performance went beyond hopes: it was welcomed with sold-out seats and was applauded by a standing ovation. Lukas Loss, pianist and director of the Basel Infinity Festival, opened the evening by explaining the genesis of this collaborative project between the festival and the NCCR SPIN. Beat Jans, president of the canton Basel-Stadt, followed with a speech to open this one-of-a-kind event.

The concert was articulated around a script designed by Lukas Loss and NCCR SPIN scientist Henry Legg with contributions of physicists Arianna Nigro, Rafael Eggli, Valerii Kozin, and Jung-Ching Liu. The focus was on central concepts of quantum physics – superposition, entanglement, coherence, tunneling – explained to unveil the basis of quantum computing to a broader audience. The five physicists were reciting the story on stage and through videos, while live music and visual arts illustrated the content. Linda Leimane had not only created the composition of the music but also orchestrated the position and movements of the musicians on stage, to better capture the essence of quantum physics. That is how the twelve musicians – basses, celli, percussionists, flutes, and clarinets – were positioned in a circle in and around the audience, and were moving around it in a choreography illustrating the phenomena being explained. A video projection by visual artist Luca Scarzella on stage accompanied what the physicists were telling in a mix of informative and immersive character. The whole performance managed to create a unique experience mixing sound and visual arts, as well as live and electronic music.

The one-hour performance was followed by an apero where about twenty scientists of NCCR SPIN interacted with interested members of the audience.

All in all, “Tinguely Entangled” was a visionary art and science collaboration, as the Basler Zeitung put it, and was a highly innovative outreach moment relying on the expertise of many minds. The NCCR SPIN hopes to combine the Arts and Sciences in future productions, thus bringing to life multidisciplinary outreach events!

“Tinguely Entangled” in the media:

For the organization of this event, the NCCR SPIN would like to thank:

  • Lukas Loss for the project genesis, conceptualization and management

  • Linda Leimane for the musical composition

  • Luca Scarzella and his team for the visual arts

  • NCCR SPIN Scientists Arianna Nigro, Rafael Eggli, Valerii Kozin, Jung-Ching Liu, and Henry Legg for their contributions to writing the script and their performance on stage and in videos

  • Lukas Loss and Henry Legg for writing the final script

  • Marie Le Dantec for the organization and the communication of the project within NCCR SPIN

  • The twelve musicians who allowed to bring this performance to life

  • The Tinguely Museum and their staff for enabling this event to happen in such a fitting place

  • Silas Thommen and his „Live-Tec“ company which provided the technical equipment

  • Daniel Loss and Dominik Zumbühl for enabling this unique collaboration to happen

Photos: Impressions of “Tinguely Entangled” (Credits Oren Kirschenbaum)

Marilena Longobardi
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