Boiler Room. Cero absoluto: Superfluid. Jose García Vallés

This time artist José García Vallés examines the phenomenon of superfluid liquids, as a state of matter in which particles, under extremely low temperature conditions, lose their individual identity and start to act as a set. This means that they fail to generate turbulence when they hit an object and thus do not undergo any kind of loss or stagnation because of the absolute lack of viscosity found in these. This type of conduct—lying closer to the principles of quantum mechanics than to classical physics—indicates the fifth state of matter or Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC), which is what explains that a liquid can go through a solid or go up a wall.

Based on his study of these phenomena, the artist has set up an interactive installation in which an iron structure holds up a string of LED light tubes, which is activated when it detects the spectator’s presence in the room, generating a continuous movement in which the tubes act in a synchronised pattern. This visual experience would be something close to what we would get if we could observe this macroscopic conduct of light according to the laws of quantum mechanics.

The artists has forced light to act as a quantum liquid around an obstacle, creating a sort of chaos—insofar as this is virtuality—in which the light pulse moves collectively without there being any dissipation between the tubes. This turns it into a matter-light hybrid which spurs on the public under the hypnosis of its incorporated cinematics.