Term Paper: Art & Physics
Contiuum: Reality in the views of Physic and Arts Many things happen spontaneously. Many things exist simultaneously. The law of nature would be a description of what has been maintaining this order. While the truth of reality might never be found via experimental means, physicists approach the problem from philosophical standpoints and artists approach through creativity. Einstein in his General and Special Theory of Relativity proposed visualisations to a Minkowskian four-dimensional reality composed of chance-driven space and time variables. This notion of infinite possibilities is then explicitly used in Picasso’s Cubism painting, Bottle, Glass, Fork. Although Einstein and Picasso never discussed such matter together, their works agree on the same view that the world is defined by possibilities, and our existence merely a coincident upon clashing of space and time.
The general theory relating space, time and perceptual relations begin with an interpretation of the Euclidean continuum. Einstein visualises this concept of distances between arbitrary measurements with reference to rigid bodies (Einstein, Chapter 24): a marble slab with rods assembling quardrilateral figures, forming a physical “grid” on the plane. Assuming that the rods are uniform in dimensions, the formation of a perfect square would require four of these rods. Likewise, each corner of the square would be surrounded by a total of four squares. It is then deducible, that the second square would only require the addition of three rods, since its fourth side is already settled by the first square. If we are to continue with this process, “the arrangement of the remaining two sides of the [fourth] square is already completely determined [by the previous three squares laid]” (Einstein, 93). This elimination in uncertainty constrains such visual experiment into a very rigid frame; the rods are now defined as absolute unit partitions for distances.
So how does this model serve to relate our
The general theory relating space, time and perceptual relations begin with an interpretation of the Euclidean continuum. Einstein visualises this concept of distances between arbitrary measurements with reference to rigid bodies (Einstein, Chapter 24): a marble slab with rods assembling quardrilateral figures, forming a physical “grid” on the plane. Assuming that the rods are uniform in dimensions, the formation of a perfect square would require four of these rods. Likewise, each corner of the square would be surrounded by a total of four squares. It is then deducible, that the second square would only require the addition of three rods, since its fourth side is already settled by the first square. If we are to continue with this process, “the arrangement of the remaining two sides of the [fourth] square is already completely determined [by the previous three squares laid]” (Einstein, 93). This elimination in uncertainty constrains such visual experiment into a very rigid frame; the rods are now defined as absolute unit partitions for distances.
So how does this model serve to relate our
Cited: Einstein, Albert. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory. Lawson, Robert W., editor. Three Rivers Press, New York, 1961. Picasso, Pablo. Bottle, Glass, Fork (1911-1912). Oil on Canvas. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1972.