As quantum technologies edge closer to reality, the conversation surrounding them is expanding far beyond laboratories—into society, ethics, and culture. At the heart of this shift lies an often-overlooked player: the artist. In Studio Quantum ` , a Europe-based artist-in-residence program led by the Goethe-Institut, artists and scientists collaborate as equal partners to imagine quantum futures. Through a dialogue with Amy Karle—an American artist and futurist who participated in the program—we explore the role art can play in navigating the uncharted dimensions of the quantum world.

 

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Where Science Meets Poetry

 

Studio Quantum is a newly launched international residency program by the Goethe-Institut. Its mission is to investigate emerging quantum technologies through an artistic lens. Taking place in  multiple cities across the worldincluding Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, etc.—the program fosters collaborations between artists, research institutes, tech companies, and universities.

　　What sets Studio Quantum apart is its scope. Rather than simply using art to explain quantum science, the program invites artists to explore the social, ethical, and ecological implications of quantum technologies. Selected residents engage directly with quantum scientists and engineers while also participating in public events that open the conversation to wider audiences. These encounters give rise to new forms of expression—and new ways of thinking—at the intersection of quantum and art.

　　The residency builds on the Goethe-Institut’s earlier success with Living in a Quantum State, a global initiative that sparked dialogue on quantum futures in cities like Dublin, Berlin, London, Beijing, and San Francisco. Studio Quantum inherits that momentum, but takes it further—deepening the creative encounter between quantum research and cultural imagination.

　　“It’s not a program that’s necessarily trying to explain quantum,” Amy Karle explains. “It’s about helping people feel it.” In 2023, Karle spent two weeks in Berlin, Germany  and 2 months remote as part of the residency, immersing herself in collaborative exchanges with scientists and engineers.

　　“When you face quantum physics,” she reflects, “you’re really confronting how we deal with not knowing.” For Karle, the essential question is not technical mastery, but how art and design can help us speculate on the kind of futures quantum might enable.

　　“Art lets us perceive beyond what we understand,” she says. “It gives us access to alternative ways of knowing—of thinking—beyond the limits of rational thought. It helps us sense the subtle shifts before they take shape. And design? Design gives us the frameworks to build toward preferable futures using new technologies. So if we even glimpse the potential of quantum, we also glimpse our responsibility to act—and to imagine.”

 

 

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When Art Meets Quantum, Death Transforms

 

Karle’s residency culminated in an immersive installation titled Echoes from the Valley of Existence, an interactive, adaptive installation that integrates quantum principles, biometrics, and AI to visualize how our biological and digital remnants can resonate through space and time, even into a quantum future. The space becomes alive with their digital echoes—fluid, unpredictable, ever-changing. You are no longer just a body—you are data, pattern, resonance.By sending a selection of these “echoes” including messages and DNA to the Moon, Karle leverages quantum concepts such as entanglement and the no-cloning theorem to explore the profound interconnectedness and uniqueness of human existence across cosmic scales.

　　"At the heart of Karle’s exploration lies the question, 'How does living in a quantum-integrated world reshape what it means to be human and what it means to be alive?'. In the quantum realm, objects can exist in multiple states simultaneously (superposition) or become instantly linked across distance (entanglement). These phenomena challenge our intuitive grasp of reality. Karle creates experiential encounters that make these invisible but fundamental qualities feelable—through sensory experience rather than scientific abstraction, inviting audiences to participate in, internalize, and reflect upon their implications.

 

During her residency at Studio Quantum, Karle deeply investigated the convergence of quantum technology with biological and artificial intelligence, probing the possibilities of existence across realms and states—including life, consciousness, and one of the most profound human questions: What is death? Having previously faced a life-threatening illness, she approached this inquiry with personal urgency. In the quantum view, she notes, a system remains indeterminate until it is observed. That notion—of reality itself being uncertain—resonated deeply with her reflections on life, death, and identity.

​　　“Quantum mechanics invites us to reconsider the very boundaries of life, consciousness, and identity,,” she says. “When these questions intersect with quantum technology, they open new ethical and existential frontiers.”

　　Her work engages themes explored in quantum biology and posthumanism, asking how emerging technologies might redefine what it means to be human. In this context, art becomes a tool not of explanation, but of ethical illumination—a way to visualize and feel our place in a shifting ontology.

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Not About the Answer, But the Question

 

Looking back, Karle says the most powerful aspect of Studio Quantum wasn’t about understanding how quantum works—it was about embracing what we don’t yet understand.

　　“One thing that really struck me,” she says, “was how scientists, like artists, aren’t always looking for answers. They’re looking for better questions.”

　　This resonance between disciplines—science and art as parallel practices of inquiry—became central to her experience. “We don’t have to translate each other,” she reflects. “We can sit with the same questions, and explore them in different ways.”

　　Those “different ways” often bypass words or formulas. Karle believes that quantum realities—so abstract and complex—demand modes of understanding grounded in emotion, embodiment, and intuition. Her work is not just about illustrating quantum concepts, but creating spaces where people can experience quantum presence.

　　“My art practice is always about asking better questions,” she says. “The more I can refine my questions, the more clearly I can glimpse possible futures—and maybe even evoke a sense of awe or revelation.”

　　For Karle, art is not merely decorative or explanatory. It is a critical tool. A way to reach toward futures not yet born—and to shape them with intention. In a quantum world of uncertainty and entanglement, perhaps it is not the answer that matters most, but the courage to ask the right question. (Text by Akihico Mori)