Black holes have long fascinated both scientists and the general public. These enigmatic objects, initially considered purely theoretical, have also served as a profound source of inspiration for artists worldwide. A diverse array of such artwork is featured in Conjuring the Void: The Art of Black Holes.
Authored by Lynn Gamwell, who spent a decade as director of the New York Academy of Science’s Gallery of Art and Science, the book blends her extensive experience in exploring the intersection of mathematics, art, and science. This made her a fitting speaker at Harvard’s interdisciplinary Black Hole Initiative conference a few years ago, where her focus on black hole art planted the seeds for what would become her book.
“I was just astounded at how much art there is [about black holes], and I was specifically interested in Asian art,” Gamwell told Ars. “There’s just something about the concept of a black hole that resonates with the Eastern tradition. So many of the themes—the science of black holes, void, nothingness, being inescapable—relate to the philosophy of Buddhism and Taoism and so on.”
Gamwell begins her book by outlining significant scientific advancements in the study of black holes, from Isaac Newton and John Mitchell's 1783 notion of “dark stars” to the breakthroughs enabled by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and notable accomplishments like the LIGO collaboration's 2016 detection of gravitational waves produced by merging black holes, as well as the Event Horizon Telescope's first-ever image of a black hole in 2019. This scientific overview serves as a foundation to introduce the wide range of black-hole-inspired art that Gamwell discovered during her research, featuring works from early 20th-century illustrations to contemporary artistic innovations.