QUANTUM SMACK!

Artist Statement by Susi Milne

High tide and sunrise coincide on a chilly winter’s day at the edge of the North West Pacific Ocean 0717hrs early. Wow! I thank my lucky stars for what is coming next as I strip down and wade out to just above my knees; dive purposefully into the water – fast – arms then head first. My body pushing off the ocean floor upwards and outwards through a forward moving trajectory. Then SMACK, I am miraculously transitioned into the QUANTUM! Those nanoseconds in the air before the full body plunge-dive are like a supernova. All of my laypersons fascination with fractals, black holes, quasars and the dark energies/matter/ether come into play here.

When my earth body hits that icy water at fast forward dive speed, electromagnetic fields stretch out and I enter another dimension. My primary impression is of experiencing some kind of intense cellular level vision that blows my brain up with a spectacle of blues; azure and aquatic, cyan, aquamarine, deep indigo, navy, turquoise, Finnish blue, midnight blue, sky blue and royal blue – they entirely fill my brain from edge to edge with pleasure.

The real time QUANTUM SMACK! plunging into the icy waters promotes a fundamental somatic healing way for old traumas to leave my body. I seem to encounter the stars close up as I dive quickly into the freezing ocean. To me, it feels like a quantum experience. I allow myself to Deeply Love in and for these moments, and it is beautiful.

Credits

Visuals: All visuals created by Susi Milne 2023. Watercolour on rag paper; blade-cut specialty card paper; video footage of cut out waves over watercolour waves; poetry and audio. Painting influenced by Katsushika Hokusai.

Audio: The ultimate quantum experience is the existence of the black hole or at least the theory of that. A black hole spontaneously emits elementary particles. The typical energy of these particles is proportional to Planck’s constant, so the effect is purely quantum mechanical in nature. Here I have used the sonification of typical black hole data to help the viewer to come into the QUANTUM SMACK!

Gratitude: Thank you ever so much to the grunt Gallery, Dr. Boschman, and the zoom group for the project. A very special thank you to Sebnem Ozpeta for the exquisite editing.

Watercolour wave painted in blue and green is combined with an image of the sunrise.
Still from QUANTUM SMACK! by Susi Milne

Susi Milne Bio

Susi Milne is a Canadian artist known for her drawings, watercolours, and mixed media art pieces. Her works range from paintings, paper and textile sculptures and video/photo based art to poetry/performance art. Milne’s eclectic practice is
informed through life and work as “Living Art”. A dedicated and picturesque history with several founding artists run centres in Vancouver include serving as the President of the BOD at grunt Gallery, Vancouver through the 2000’s; early years as program director at the Western Front Society, Vancouver, and an ongoing engagement with the robust Vancouver art community that carries into the present day.

Milne has exhibited and performed her artwork and performance/poetry nationally and internationally over the years. Recently, Milne’s work was featured in the IMAPON exhibition SPACE 2022 at McBride Park, Vancouver. Her on line exhibition PERSONA through IMAPON LOCO MOTO Arts; features eighteen watercolour/pen and ink paintings that were all sold into private collections. Daily creative media content is published on her Instagram (@tibbedragon777).

Milne’s watercolour paintings were featured in prestigious literary journals 2017-20. Milne’s iconic image for the #METOO movement appeared nationally and internationally (2017). Milne lives in an art abode overlooking the seaside of the Pacific Northwest coastal mountain range.

Created during grunt gallery’s 2023 Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen Digital Storytelling workshops with Mount Pleasant residents. grunt gallery was founded in 1984 in Vancouver, BC with the vision to become an internationally renowned artist-run centre and further the practice of contemporary art. Through the exploration of our diverse Canadian cultural identity, we are able to offer public programming in the form of exhibitions, performances, artist talks, publications, and other special projects in the community. Our mandate is to inspire public dialogue by creating an environment conducive to the emergence of innovative, collaborative, and provocative contemporary art.
grunt gallery logo

2 thoughts on “QUANTUM SMACK!”

Leave a Comment