Translating the Quantum World to Human Scale: An Art-Science Collaboration

In the spring of 2014, master's degree students in the Information Experience Design (IED) program at the Royal College of Art (RCA) and physics PhD students at Imperial College London (ICL) entered into a one-month collaboration with the purpose of translating the concepts and methods of quantum physics to a human scale. Engaging in both high- and low-tech approaches, the students used (for example) balloons, lasers, speakers, lenticular printing, and physical computing to create spatial and experiential installations. The final result of the PhysicSpace project was an exhibition entitled "Physics Happens in a Dark Place," held in the basement of London's historic Shoreditch Town Hall. This article describes three of the seven installations from that exhibition.