ether vortex and other fantasies about infinity

ether vortex and other fantasies about infinity”
solo exhibition
Gallery of Finnish Fine Art Academy, 22.3.-7.4.2013.


Ether Vortex and Other Fantasies About Infinity

“The finite world is constructed by a medium called ether. Ether is everlasting. Ether is a unity, which parts can move in a relation to others. So, it has potential for vortexes.”

From the book “Sähkö eetteripyörteitä” (in Engl. Electric Ether Vortices) by Kauko Armas Nieminen (1929 – 2010)

In the year 1957 vice notary Kauko Armas Nieminen experienced a sudden illumination that the universe is constructed from vortexing ether. Still, his theory didn’t only deal with the physical reality. It was a complete philosophy, which borrowed from many different sources, like the teaching of Jesus, Stoicism and Hinduism. The scientific world didn’t take Nieminen’s theory seriously, but that didn’t stop him to write about it in many different books. There had been talks about ether since the days of Isac Newton, mainly because there was need to fill the space with some kind of substance in order to light to travel across it. These theories were largely abandoned in the 19th century.

I can not say for sure, why I find Nieminen’s theory so intriguing. I feel great sympathy for people working from outside of the system, whether they are from the fields of science, art or music. I wanted to deal with Nieminen’s theory within an art context rather than a scientific one. This manifested as sound installation Ether Vortex, which is also a homage to Nieminen, who died as unknown do-it-yourself scientist.

The particle physics research center CERN investigates the standard model of particle physics, which could combine four basic forces (electromagnetic, weak and strong nuclear interactions and gravity). The work Particle Collider (prototype) is a smaller version of the LHC-accelerator (Large Hadron Collider) located at CERN. The work collides N- and O-atoms together with the speed of 343 meters per second. It is still unsure, if there is any Higgs Bosons left from the collision or if the missing parts of the standard model is found with the help of this work.

Beyond Event Horizon video work focuses on the mystery of the black hole. An area called event horizon frames the black hole. It is not possible to get any information about the black hole beyond the event horizon, because the gravitation force of the hole cancels even the speed of light. It is suspected that time itself stops beyond event horizon.

Particle Collider (a prototype), plastic tube, speakers, max/msp sound work

Beyond Event Horizon, video projection to a black wall in a dark room. video animation made by processing programming language. animation consisted of a twirling whirl of white pixels


Ether Vortex 8 channel sound installation in a completely dark room Stereo sound documentation, although it doesn’t really capture the experience inside the room